How to Choose a Website Host Provider

Before you start

What is hosting and why do you need it?

Think of your website as a file folder and each loose-leaf page inside it is a page of your website.

Hosting is the filing cabinet that holds your website files so people can find them when they enter your domain address in a browser. In this case, your domain address is the folder label.

In many cases, people will use the same company for their domain name, website hosting, and email hosting. Email hosting is the same as website hosting except for emails.

However, you can choose to use separate providers for each of these services if you have more specialized needs. For example, using a domain registrar like GoDaddy, a website host like Bluehost, and an email host like Microsoft Exchange.

When do you NOT need hosting?

There are two instances where you will not need to purchase website hosting.

If you are using an all-in-one solution

In the last 5-10 years or so, a number of all-in-one solutions have come to market that will take care of all your website needs including registering your domain name and providing hosting. Some popular examples of these are Wix, Shopify, and SquareSpace.

While we appreciate the merits of each of these platforms, our platform of choice is WordPress, as we find it allows for much more flexibility and has become as user-friendly as the others with page builders like Elementor (which we ❤️).

If you are using a headless solution

We won’t go down the technical rabbit hole here, but there are some emerging technologies that eliminate or reduce the need for website hosting such as JAMstack, while also offering lightning speed and highly secure websites. These solutions are still making their way to the mainstream, and therefore an unlikely solution for a DIY website at this stage. If you are interested in this solution for your website, just send us an email — we’d love to help!

Step 1: Search and compare hosting providers

There are numerous host providers available which can make it difficult to narrow down. Below are some popular providers to consider:

When choosing a website host, there are a few things you want to consider.

Reputation

It should go without saying, but you always want to check out the reviews for any company you work with. In the case of a hosting company, you want to understand what their support is like and how reliable their hosting service is.

Customer Support

When your website goes down, you want to make sure that there’s someone on the other end who is responsive and can address your issue quickly and competently–24/7 support is critical with a hosting provider.

Specialized Services

Many hosting providers offer specialized solutions, for example, WordPress hosting or eCommerce hosting. These solutions often take some of the administrative work out of managing a website, such as updating WordPress when new releases come out.

Website Traffic

While we all dream of having hundreds of thousands of visitors to our site each day, this is unlikely the case for most people. However, if you are one of those lucky few, then you will need to consider a host that can scale as your business or blog grows.

Shared or Dedicated Hosting

There are typically two types of hosting options:

• Shared hosting means you are sharing a server with others. This is a less secure option as if another site on your server becomes compromised, your site has a higher risk of also becoming compromised. However, this is usually the most affordable option.
• Dedicated hosting means you have your own dedicated server. This reduces security issues, and is also more scalable. This is almost certainly the default choice if your website sees thousands of visitors every day.

Cost

Cost is often the result of many of the criteria outlined above, in particular, traffic, dedicated hosting, and specialized services. While most people opt for the cheapest option, think of your website like your digital storefront or office front–it’s an investment in your brand and your business, so don’t like cost be the primary driver in your decision.

Step 2: Choose a hosting plan

Most host providers have multiple tiers of hosting plans that you can upgrade to, so if you choose a plan that doesn’t suit you in the beginning, you can always change it.

Generally, we recommend starting with the lowest plan based on your current needs and then moving up from there.

Step 3: Purchase plan and set-up your account

Once you’ve decided on your hosting plan, simply complete the purchase and then follow their instructions to set up your account.