Building a website has become a valuable process for many companies today. Today’s technical environment and online shoppers mean that many companies count on a strong and responsive website to remain in business.
However, merely registering a domain name for your site won’t get the site up and running and accessible. First, you must host your website on an online server! Here, we will delve into the act of hosting sites and why this is so important in order for you to effectively launch your own online business presence!
What Is Web Hosting?
“Website Hosting” describes buying a space on a web server where your website files will be stored and accessed.
Think about website hosting as a farmer’s market. The parking lot where the farmers market is located is the web server. Each stand is a website, full of products and produce, or in this case, the website’s files and pages. In order to sell your products, you must have a stand and reserve a space within the lot!
Therefore, when you buy a website hosting package, you are renting space on a web server and allowing your products to be accessed by internet users.
Why Is Web Hosting Important?
You could build a website that is designed from top to bottom and purchase a domain name for your business, but without hosting your website, there is no way that anyone can see it! Hosting a website is very necessary because it allows people to have access to the web files that are stored on that server. If anyone else wants to see your website, you need to buy a website hosting package. Website hosting is vital to businesses that want to have a successful online presence. So, where do you begin when it comes to hosting your website?
Web Hosting Services
For many websites, web hosting is provided by a website hosting company that owns many servers that businesses can rent from. You pay a monthly or annual fee, and the hosting company keeps your website up and running.
If you start a new website from scratch, you may think that it will be too much work or that it will be an excessive expense. There are lots of resources available that offer free website hosting. Some hosting companies will offer you a free site to host your website, but not all hosting companies will offer you the same service. These websites are great for people who are looking for something simple to use and have some flexibility. But free hosting plans can be very unstable and only hold a certain number of files – not ideal for businesses that want to expand their website. Free hosting services are generally not reliable, and you do not have a lot of control over your website. Free web hosting means that you will have less storage space, which can cause problems when you try to upload large files to your website. Sometimes, free hosting platforms may cause customers to pay for more features or services that will cost them a lot more in the long run.
Managed Hosting Services
Managed hosting is when a hosting company handles the setup, administration, management, and support of a server and/or application. Management services vary from host to host but typically include OS updates and patching, 24/7/365 support, network infrastructure and hardware management, basic security measures including virus and spam protection, and monitoring and remediation of anything that could affect the performance of the server.
In the same way that you work with contractors to scale more efficiently and effectively, you can outsource the management of your hosting to eliminate the need for in-house hosting infrastructure or experts.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Anyone who runs a site on WordPress knows that it’s a great platform. WordPress offers a wide variety of templates, plugins, features, and tools that enable small and large businesses alike to build professional, functional websites.
That’s why 33% of the Internet runs on WordPress.
But as you may have noticed if you’ve ever run a WordPress site, failing to update one compromised plugin can take the whole site down. So can adding a plugin that isn’t optimized to work with your site.
And if you don’t know the tricks to set up secure WordPress hosting, you might also find yourself dealing with frequent hacking attempts. Around 91,000 WordPress attacks happen per minute, targeting sites of all sizes.
Signing up for Managed WordPress significantly reduces all of these concerns, as you know your site will be set up securely, monitored for suspicious activity, and updated regularly.
At Megnificent Creative, we automatically update plugins. As part of that service, we even make a copy of your site and test the plugin updates to ensure they won’t crash your site once they’re installed. We also perform daily backups, include an Image Optimization plugin to improve page-speed, and give you full access to the server and developer tools. On top of that, we’ve optimized our platform for fast page load speeds using the latest technologies.
The Tradeoffs of Unmanaged Hosting
To really understand the benefits of managed hosting, it’s helpful to first understand the alternative.
With unmanaged hosting, you rent space on servers owned by the hosting company, but it’s largely a do-it-yourself experience. You get a server with the OS of your choice, and the hosting company is responsible for operating the equipment and maintaining the physical environment in which the servers are kept. You are responsible for administering the server remotely, and that includes responsibility of software upgrades, patching, security, and monitoring.
In 2022, it is be crucial for you to have a website for your business so that you gain traction & improved visibility in the online marketplace. Megnificent Creative can help you improve your business’ presence by creating an engaging web presence with specially configured features and pages that your audience will find invaluable. Connect with our website and marketing experts today to see how we can help you.
