What is Web Hosting? Understand Its Types and Key Details

It is imperative for all businesses seeking greater online visibility to develop a website.

Choosing the right website hosting services is one of the first important decisions that should be made when starting a website. The primary purpose of hosting a website is to provide you with an online platform to conduct business.

To run a website, you will need to use some kind of hosting service, so your decision should be taken with the utmost care.

Without choosing reliable website hosting providers, you might fall into well of buying unreliable domain that might affect your website performance.

Here, we will cover everything about web hosting and further things that go into it.

How Does Web Hosting Work?

Website servers are physical computers that run continuously to keep your site up and running for visitors all the time. If you purchase servers for web hosting, it is possible to store all the data of your website on those servers.

When someone types your website address into their browser, the server of your web host will upload all necessary files. Choosing a cloud hosting provider will give you a better-performing, more secure website.

Popular Types Of Web Hosting

Choosing the right web hosting types is crucial, whether you’re just starting out or already have a thriving website. It’s like finding the perfect home for your online presence!

Shared Hosting

The most popular and affordable form of hosting is shared hosting, where multiple websites share the same resources and servers. A small business, blog, or personal website with a low to moderate traffic volume would benefit from shared hosting.

Sharing resources makes shared hosting a cheaper option than dedicated hosting when you do not require the extra perks of a dedicated server.

Pros

• Setup and management are easy: Getting started with shared web hosting is easy, even for beginners. The host will take care of all the setup and maintenance.
• Low-cost hosting: It’s a great option for small and medium businesses with low budgets and no tech experience.

Cons

• Less bandwidth and space on the server: With shared hosting, your website will have fewer bandwidth and server resources than a dedicated server.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

A VPS plan allows you to customize and manage the content of your website to a greater extent than a shared hosting plan. In addition to providing dedicated resources to your site, a virtual private server ensures high speed and accessibility for your users.

The price of a VPS plan depends on the amount of storage space required and how much traffic your website receives. Additionally, shared hosting plans are safer, easier to scale, and more flexible than shared hosting plans.

Pros

• Server customization and maintenance are easy: With a VPS hosting plan you can select the features you want and pay for only those. By offering root access, you can install commercially relevant scripts and applications.
• Improved security standards: A VPS server’s security is one of the biggest advantages over shared hosting because there is no risk of third parties accessing your site.

Cons

Budget: A VPS hosting plan may be significantly more expensive at first for someone just getting started. In addition to RAM, disk space, etc., you must pay for your virtual space.

Dedicated Server

Dedicated servers are typically only needed by enterprises who want complete control over their hosting needs. A dedicated server is one you own and don’t share with others. It’s the most popular option, the most secure, and the most effective at handling a lot of visitors without affecting your bandwidth too much.

Pros

Adaptability: A dedicated server allows total control over the server, so you can run it how you like.

Security: A dedicated server provides high levels of security for your website. Furthermore, you won’t have to worry about your website being affected by other websites.

Cons

Price: Hosting on a dedicated server is usually expensive for small businesses or individuals. This type of hosting is ideal for companies or websites with high traffic levels.

Cloud hosting

Cloud Hosting is the most recent form of web hosting that distributes your website files across multiple web servers. To share or manage your website’s resources, you will evaluate an on-demand or virtual server.

Typically, the hosting provider sets everything up, sets up and maintains the infrastructure, enabling clients to customize hardware, set up and maintain their applications, and scale their servers as needed.

Pros

• Scalability: Cloud hosting is great when you need to handle spikes in traffic unexpectedly.
• Cost-savings: With cloud hosting, you will not need to purchase or maintain hardware, reducing costs.
• Disaster recovery: Cloud hosting also helps disaster recovery, especially if you already use multiserver hosting.

Cons

Speed: A cloud server can generally be accessed via the internet, and your internet connection speed determines how fast you can connect.

Cost: Cloud hosting is usually cost-effective; however, hidden fees can sometimes apply.

Managed WordPress Hosting

The managed WordPress hosting solution is tailored for WordPress, the most popular content management system. By doing this, managed wordpress hosting providers take care of all technical aspects of managing, securing, and speeding up your website as needed.

Pros

• Improved performance and speed: Managing your hosting provides a higher uptime and speeds up your WordPress website. In this way, you won’t have to worry about the speed of your website loading.
• Managing the site: The setup is all in one place, so you won’t have to worry about different websites. Multiple websites in a single dashboard can make it work as a single hub.

Cons

Price: Many entry-level WordPress hosting plans are available on the market but managed WordPress hosting plans tend to be much more expensive.

Also Read : Shared Hosting Vs. Managed WordPress Hosting: Which One To Choose?

How to Choose a Web Hosting Provider?

Choosing a suitable web hosting company can be quite difficult, particularly when setting up your first website. The following factors are important to consider before choosing a web host for your website to help you make an informed decision.

Speed

It is expected that your website will load within 2 seconds. The longer it takes, the more likely they are to leave. Additionally, Google uses site performance as a ranking factor, so a slow site can harm your search rankings and drive away customers. Choosing a hosting provider that provides efficient website loading speeds is important.

Security

Web hosting companies should place the highest priority on the security of your website. The hosting company should install powerful firewalls on their servers and monitor them continuously for unusual activity. However, choosing a hosting service that prioritizes security and keeps your website away from cyberattacks is essential.

Support

Is your company well-equipped to manage its website servers, or do you prefer a web hosting company to handle it for you? When you’re looking for a host to provide technical support, ensure they’re available 24/7 and have 24/7 support.

Scalability

Take a look at the content and traffic on your current website. Will you require significantly more resources in the future due to a higher visitor traffic level or the addition of additional content, such as photo and video galleries? If so, it would be preferable to choose a hosting provider you can grow with rather than one you’ll outgrow in a few years.

Price

Depending on the hosting company, prices can range from a few dollars to thousands or even free. Everything comes with a price. “Free” hosting is typically offered as an add-on to a bigger package or in exchange for advertising on your site. 

A cheap hosting deal may have fewer resources and less flexibility, resulting in poor performance. Know your hosting requirements to avoid ending up with a solution that doesn’t suit your needs.

Also Read : WordPress Hosting: Fast, Secure, 1-Click Install

Conclusion

Creating a website requires website hosting. However, you have various hosting options, so it is essential to consider their pros and cons.
At WeWP, we offer high-quality website hosting services that cater to businesses of all sizes. With us, you can access various hosting options that allow you to capitalize on your managed hosting services. Get in touch with us today to choose from the best hosting solutions.