Web hosting: the basics for your business
It’s 2017 and the Internet Revolution seems to be growing out of the “Wild West” period, where everybody knew the importance of their business having an online presence, but not everyone understood how it worked.
This made it easy for web agencies to sell their products and services with a very high-mark up due to a lack of common knowledge on the subject.
As digital knowledge improves, businesses are starting to understand the typical prices they should be paying for a service or product. This doesn’t make it any easier, however, as people can often fail to compare apples with apples and end up being just as confused.
So what’s included in a website package?
Outside of the initial design and build of a website, businesses will pay either monthly or annually for the running of the site, which comprises:
- Domain name
- Web hosting
- Maintenance
Chargeable extra services can be added on to a deal to make a site more efficient or to add extra functionality, such as
- SEO (Search Engine Optimisation)
- Online marketing/advertising
- Copywriting and content creation
- A/B split and MV testing
- SSL (security) certificates – may or may not be necessary depending on the nature of your business
- Extra technical specs (RAM Disk Space, CPUs)
Some of the basics: Web Hosting
Your business isn’t getting online without this fundamental necessity. Websites are stored on servers – a kind of big digital warehouse. What kind of warehouse do you have?
- SHARED – shared with others, splitting the cost of the warehouse
- PRIVATE FLEXIBLE – You’ll start with a small warehouse to yourself, with the ability to expand it as your business grows
- DEDICATED – Robust, just for you
On top of this, you can add extra RAM, disk space and CPUs to boost performance – the more you have the more it costs!
Knowing what your website needs
For small businesses that just require an online presence, then a shared hosting solution should be sufficient. If you need extra space, you can pay for some more – that simple.
Growing businesses who expect their website to also require growth, such as new pages or services, blogs, ecommerce etc should consider a Virtual Private Server (VPS). It’s flexible and is controlled by your hosting provider. They can add and remove resources very quickly and ensure you’re only paying for what you need.
Large websites that are fairly static and aren’t expected to grow would suit a dedicated server. It’s private so you won’t be sharing it and it’s also a physical piece of kit. This means to modify it you’d need an engineer and some handy tools to physically add and remove components.
We can help
If you’re not sure whether you’re getting value for money, call us on 0800 130 3514 and we’ll give you some free advice.