How to host a website? 3 easy steps.
1. Buy a domain nameAny website needs a name. Therefore, the first step is to register a domain name for your future website. The name of the website will become your permanent address where users can find you on the Internet. A unique domain name can be registered through a reputable company or purchased from the current owner.
2. Select a Hosting Provider and Hosting PlanWith a domain name, you should think about choosing a reliable hosting provider. Hosting services allow you to host your website on the provider’s server and eventually make it available to the whole world. Domain name registrars often also offer web hosting services, e.g. cheapname. But you can also use a domain name and hosting from different providers.
3. Choose a Hosting PlanChoosing a type of hosting is an important step in the process of hosting your website. There are five main types of hosting solutions: Managed WordPress, Shared, VPS, Dedicated Server, and Reseller. Choose a hosting based on the tasks that you plan to solve. For small personal blogs, business card websites, independent portfolios, and smaller businesses, shared hosting is the best option to start your journey. VPS and dedicated servers can be great solutions for highly loaded online stores, digital service providers, and information resources. These plans offer a high level of control and ensure that computing resources are allocated to the unique needs of a customer.
Why You Need Web Hosting
When it comes to hosting your website on the web, a hosting service is the first thing that stands in your way. The hosting service itself is easier to compare with renting space for your store or storefront. Your website’s name (domain name) resolves to the address of the server where your website is stored, such as your city’s address book containing addresses of stores or other public places. The only difference is that when the user enters the name of your website in their browser’s address bar, they are instantly sent to your website, and your hosting provider provides the resources they saved to display the requested page.
Due to the fact that the concept of web services has evolved rapidly over the last decade, the field of web hosting has evolved a lot and today offers a large selection of various solutions for any request and need. These so-called “bundled offers” differ in the technology used for the server, the level of control offered, traffic quotas and resources. In a competitive environment, hosting providers try to create solutions that are out of the box for any customer and fit any budget. However, you can’t get everything for a penny. That being said, today anyone can find a suitable website hosting option without spending too much on a service they don’t need.
Hosting providers simplify and help their clients with all the preparatory stages and do everything possible so that you do not abandon your idea due to initial problems. Later in this article, we’ll discuss how to choose the type of web hosting that’s right for you, as well as introduce you to other details and additional services that any reliable hosting provider has.
Step-by-step hosting instructions from the website
Follow these instructions and in just four steps, you will have a website hosted for everyone to see online.
1. Buy a domain name
To get your hosting service up and running, you need to register a domain name. The vast majority of hosting providers will help you purchase a domain name. When buying a domain name and hosting plan in a package, you are often looking for a better price than buying separately.
There are also hosting companies that do not offer domain name registration services. In this case, you must purchase the domain name from another registrar.
It is worth remembering that a joint purchase greatly simplifies the process of further customization. This option should be considered for beginners to avoid the need for additional settings.
2. Choose a web hosting service provider
The next step is to choose a web hosting company. This is an important step because in order for your website to be available on the Internet, you need a place to host it. Although you can host yourself (which we’ll get to later), this space is usually provided by a web host/hosting provider. In order to choose the right hosting provider for your website, there are some important aspects to consider, which we will discuss below.
There are many factors involved in choosing a web host. There are hundreds of hosting providers available, ranging from local teams to national providers such as Namecheap. They all differ in terms of price and the services they offer.
Web hosting incorporates more than just making your website available online. Hosting providers also offer other essential services such as technical support, firewall protection, email services, domain name registration and more.
The best way to judge a good hosting is not the price . You’ll never know if you need to spend $20 versus $200 per month unless you know the technical requirements of your website. What follows are tips on the features a web host provides. Consider the specifications your website might have, as well as other features you may need, to factor into your hosting selection.
- Uptime GuaranteeThe First things first, you want to make sure your website is available 24/7/365. The last thing you want your visitors to see is a blank screen when they type your address into their browser. Look for a hosting provider with an uptime guarantee of 99.5% or higher. If you plan to run a small website with moderate traffic levels, uptime may never be an issue. However, if your website grows, uptime is incredibly important so you can avoid any downtime or upgrade complications.
- RedundancyWhen a small website fails from working due to hosting provider issues, you may be able to recover without being affected. When downtime happens to a business that relies on its website as its main source of revenue, this can result in lost revenue. So when a hosting provider offers “redundancy”, this simply means that they will compensate a website if there is an outage as a result of server issues on their end.
- Database typeThe most common database type used by WordPress and other content management systems (CMS) is MySQL. Some websites require other databases, such as SQLite, so first check what type your website needs, and then see if it’s available with your respective hosting provider. When using WordPress, databases can be easily managed using plugins like WP Reset.
- Bandwidth BidBandwidth is an indicator of the amount of data ( or traffic) that has been transferred between the website and users during the customer’s interaction with your resource. To determine what type of hosting you need, think about what your website will be like. If you plan to rely on media materials, e.g. video clips or advertising videos, audio recordings or even the intention to broadcast to your audience in real time, you should definitely consider plans with a higher bandwidth quota of up to 150 GB per month. Website owners who rely primarily on text content and use additional platforms to store their podcasts, movies and images, in most cases a basic 10 GB will suffice.
- ScalabilityWhen thinking about your website hosting needs, don’t forget your goals and future prospects. Any smart project or business venture reaches a point where the limits of the purchased hosting plan simply start to be insufficient. Be sure to pay attention to the hosting provider’s tools to increase the capacity of the current plan or move to another type of hosting, without additional complications or additional charges.
- AccessibilityAccessibility simply it means that the hosting provider is equipped with the necessary tools to manage and configure your hosting plan. Many hosting providers use cPanel to manage their clients’ accounts. This popular and trusted dashboard is an industry standard, allowing you to manage your databases, monitor and customize backups or emails, and more. If your chosen hosting provider doesn’t provide a control panel with your hosting plan, this means you’ll have to do the technical heavy lifting.
- Customer ServiceHosting is a fairly complex product. Many things can happen behind the scenes and are invisible to ordinary users. That’s why 24/7 support is a big plus for any hosting provider. The ability to get help from your provider, at any time and in the way that is convenient for you (chat, correspondence, phone call to the hotline) should be considered a very important factor when choosing a hosting plan.
- SSL CertificatesIf you want to protect the security of your visitors and/or plan to collect credit card information and process online transactions, you will need an SSL certificate. Now a key component in Google’s ranking algorithm, if you want to improve your search engine optimization (SEO) ranking, an SSL certificate improves your chances. Some hosting providers, such as Namecheap, provide SSL certificates for free, depending on the hosting plan chosen.
- BackupsWhy back up yourself when you Can your hosting provider take care of them? you? In case something unexpected happens and your website is attacked by hackers or your computer system goes down, it is best to run regular backups so that you have a fresh version of your website to return to.Solid hosting providers offer backups every 24 hours, so in the rare case something goes wrong, you’re in good hands. Namecheap shared hosting customers (Stellar and Stellar Plus) can now take advantage of the free AutoBackup tool.
- Email ServiceIf you want to get an email address from your hosting provider, make sure to check that your hosting provider offers email service. Most hosting plans, regardless of provider, include email with unlimited accounts. However, it’s always best to check that they provide enough for what you need.
We’ve now covered the basic types of services you can expect from a web host. Getting these benefits from one place will save you time and money, so before you sign on the dotted line, make sure you have a clear idea of what you’ll receive in your service plan.
Choose the web The right host is easy if you know what your website needs from a host. To help you with that, ask yourself the following questions.
What kind of website am I building?
Different types of websites come with different technical requirements. . For example, a WordPress website will have different technical requirements than a static HTML website. First of all, think about how you are going to build your website. You’ll then be more familiar with things like coding languages and the databases your web server needs to work with.
Do I need email hosting?
We have discussed the benefits of setting up email addresses associated with your new website’s domain name. It would be a shame to miss out on this by overlooking whether your web host provides email hosting to suit your needs.
How much data will I store and deliver?
The bandwidth you will need from your web server is not just a matter of traffic; it also depends on the file upload size of the web pages. If your website is cluttered with data-heavy pages, more storage and bandwidth will be required from your web host. On the other hand, a predominantly text-oriented site, such as a personal blog, will need less storage space and less bandwidth, while a photo gallery with lots of high-quality images will need more.
How much traffic do I expect?
Your traffic will most likely start out fairly low, but if you plan to ramp it up to higher levels, you’ll need a flexible plan where you can increase your bandwidth capacity as time goes by.
What is my hosting budget?
Give a rough idea of how much you can afford to spend on hosting. If your budget is limited, your service may not include all the bells and whistles. If your budget is a bit more flexible, you might get some extra benefits like free SSL.
How technically proficient am I?
The beauty of the Internet these days is that anyone, regardless of experience, can create a website. Certain types of website administration tasks will require a little more experience. If you don’t have the experience to manage your server, leave it to the professionals and use a fully managed web hosting service where everything is done for you. If your website building plans involve a personal blog or small business, managed WordPress hosting like EasyWP from Namecheap is a solid choice.
3. Choose a Web Hosting Plan
Now that you know some of the features web hosts offer, it’s time to choose a hosting plan to get your website online. When browsing through various web hosting products, you’ll see five main packages on offer: Shared, Reseller, Dedicated Server, VPS, and Managed WordPress. Let’s briefly describe what each of these types of hosting is.
Shared (Website) Hosting
More or less considered the “entry level” of hosting, Shared hosting is when you and other customers have access to a physical server, so you basically share or “rent” the same key resources (eg CPU, RAM, disk space, etc.). And since you’re not paying for the full costs of the server, just the parts you’re using, the price is very affordable.
Advantages
- Cheapest hosting available (Namecheap’s Stellar shared hosting starts at $1.44/month)
- Ideal for any new, low-traffic or low-bandwidth website
- Requires minimal technical knowledge
- Easy to set up (the app Softaculous instantly installs any CMS like WordPress)
- Includes a free website builder with a drag and drop interface
- Includes 50 free positive SSL certificates (first year only)
- Automatic backups
Disadvantages
- Has specific LVE limits (may not be sufficient for websites traffic) )
- Limited amount of storage space
- Website performance may fluctuate, depending on usage levels from other customers
Shared hosting is the most popular type of hosting because it is cheap and easy to set up. It is ideal for any new, low-traffic, low-bandwidth website.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Unlike other hosting options What we’ve discussed, So far, EasyWP Managed WordPress Hosting from Namecheap is up and running in just a few minutes. With other types of web hosting, there is a learning curve when it comes to figuring out how to install WordPress (or another CMS) and managing the technicalities. Not so with Easy WP – its 30-second one-click installation takes care of everything for you. Particularly appealing to both tech newbies and more experienced developers, EasyWP is easy to use, but also offers a wide range of themes and plugins to customize your website to your heart’s content.
EasyWP It works with the Namecheap cloud platform, which is the latest cloud technology optimized 100% for WordPress. Fully containerized, Namecheap’s cloud has a 99.9% uptime and is up to 3X faster than a standard WordPress website on traditional shared hosting.
Advantages
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Disadvantages
- Less control over the technical side of your website and server management, and may not appeal to more advanced users
EasyWP Managed WordPress Hosting is the perfect option for those who don’t want to get so hands-on with the technical side of running their WordPress website. With its single dashboard and easy-to-use interface, you can focus on learning WordPress and producing quality content.
VPS Hosting
A private server Virtual (VPS) hosting falls somewhere between shared hosting and dedicated server hosting when it comes to price and performance. Consider it the next best thing to having your own Dedicated Server, as a VPS is almost as good as having a private server. A VPS, in essence, divides a single server into separate virtual servers. Just like shared hosting, there are multiple clients (websites) running on the same servers, but with a VPS, the number is much smaller and you have dedicated resources at your disposal. Similar to a Dedicated Server, with a VPS, you will have to take care of the technical tasks related to your server.
Advantages
- Solid performance and Reliable
- Cheaper than a dedicated server
- Customizable server configuration
- Enough storage space and bandwidth to power busy data-heavy websites
Disadvantages
- More expensive than shared hosting
- Requires technical knowledge if you go for a plan Self Managed VPS
VPS is popular with website owners who need more storage and bandwidth than shared hosting offerings. A VPS user can find Dedicated Server Hosting above and beyond their needs when it comes to price and flexibility. Similar to a Dedicated Server, be sure to look into a fully managed option with your VPS if you don’t have the skills or help with handling server administrative tasks.
Dedicated Server Hosting
When you buy dedicated server hosting, you won’t be sharing a server or any resources with anyone, and you’ll get an entire server for yourself. This style of hosting gives you more control. You can configure everything on the server because it is usually self-managed, which is not suitable for all webmasters.
Using this type of hosting means that you have to take care of all the technical tasks that the hosting company would do. we normally handle it for you on a Shared Hosting service. Although there is the option of fully managed dedicated server hosting, this comes at additional cost and is typically not included with most hosting providers.
Advantages
- A dedicated server means you are not sharing with other websites and will not be affected by others
- More storage space and bandwidth than shared hosting
Disadvantages
- More expensive type of hosting
- Requires advanced technical knowledge
Dedicated server hosting is the ideal choice for websites with high bandwidth and storage requirements. If you don’t have the technical expertise or time to run your own server and don’t have anyone available to help you, Namecheap’s fully managed dedicated server hosting is the right choice for you.
Hosting Reseller (Website) Hosting
Reseller hosting is another form of shared hosting. With this style of hosting, you are allowed to sublet portions of your own assigned hosting space to others. A reseller plan usually comes with a special dashboard where you can divide your space into sub-accounts, allocating storage space and bandwidth.
Advantages
- Cheaper than VPS
- Typically more storage and bandwidth than shared hosting
- Much less administrative work than VPS and dedicated servers
- Ideal for when you want more resources than the limited ones available on shared hosting plans
Disadvantages
- Performance could be affected if other accounts sharing the server use more than their share of the resources
- There are fewer resources than with a VPS
Hosting a website at home</h2
It is entirely possible to bypass the middlemen and host a website from your home computer. However, there are limitations to keep in mind:
Hosting a website requires an expensive server with a constantly running power supply, power backups in case of outages, a static IP address (the IP of your home computer is always changing or dynamic) and regular hardware maintenance.
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