Choosing a domain name is just the beginning of something bigger. The main challenge for most beginners is that they don’t know how to host a website.
Most of them believe it requires great technical skills or special skills to host their website. This is not true. Even if you don’t understand web hosting, you can still easily host your website within a few minutes. Below is the ultimate guide for beginners who wish to learn how to host a website.
How to Host a Website with Web Hosting Providers
One common way of hosting your website is using a web service provider. These services will provide the technical infrastructure you need so as to set up your site in no time.
What you need to host a website
There are two major things that you need to host a website:
- A domain name and
- Web hosting service provider
The web hosting service provider will offer you ready-to-use web servers where you can host your website. They usually take care of all the technical stuff and provide easy-to-use tools to help you manage the hosting process.
Suppose your decision has come to Siteground vs Bluehost hosting services. In that case, you must ensure that the service you choose has a good infrastructure and plenty of positive reviews for its web hosting services.
That said, how do you search for a self-hosted website? This is where now the domain comes in.
The domain name of your website is the website address people type in the browser when they want to visit your site. Basically, it provides a perfect human-friendly way to connect the users’ browsers to the website’s server associated with the domain name.
Various types of website hosting services
There are different types of website hosting services depending on the type and the use of the website. Some services are meant for small businesses that have low traffic, and other hosting services are for the big websites that have more content and visitors.
If you are working with a small website, you will need fewer resources like bandwidth and disk space. On the other hand, you will need more powerful resources for the website to run effectively.
a) Shared hosting service
Shared hosting is one of the hosting services that’s particularly meant for smaller websites in their early stages of growth. The price for shared hosting is relatively low as they allow multiple websites to share the same server resources.
b) VPS hosting service
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting also functions as a shared environment but with a more flexible set of resources to handle large traffic spikes. When you purchase this plan, you will get partitioned of the private server where you will manage your website from the hosting control panel.
c) Managed WordPress hosting
With the Managed WordPress hosting, the service provider takes care of the updates, caching of the website, and backups. You can then focus on creating content and growing your business without many challenges.
d) Dedicated hosting service
This plan gives you total control over the entire server dedicated to your website. This includes all the server resources, the ability to install your software or operating system, and advanced tools for server management.
Technical skills are highly required for this option as you will be dealing with high-performance websites with large volumes of data traffic to handle.
How to choose the right plan
Choosing the right plan to host a website is crucial.
Before choosing a plan that suits your budget and the website’s needs, you must learn about the different server configurations and pricing.
If possible, you can start with the low-cost shared option hosting plan and upgrade to a better hosting plan as the business expands.
You can save money and only pay for the services you need to improve your website. Look for the hosting plans that offer discounts and free domain names and use them to get started.
What’s the cost of hosting a website?
Depending on several factors, different web hosting companies will offer their services at different prices. The cost of the hosting service will ultimately depend on the hosting plan that you’ll choose. Your goal should be to acquire something you will utilize to the maximum.
Aim at the hosting plans that have free tools that you can use to enhance your website experience. In general, you can expect to pay between:
- $2.49 – $13.95 monthly for shared hosting
- $18 – $90 monthly for VPS hosting, and
- $80 – $506 per month for dedicated hosting
Hosting your website on your computer
Can you host a website on your computer?
Yes, you can.
Hosting a website on your computer is often done when you want to test a site locally before you put it on the internet.
Before carrying out this process, you’ll need to know how to set up a local server on the computer that you are using. This will enable you to install the local server without making it publicly available.
