Each website needs a host if you are planning to create a new website that, too, for the first time, it is imperative to learn how to host a website. A lot of information is available about web hosting on the Internet.
The relevancy of the details depends on multiple factors, such as your type of website, technical experience, and website size. Therefore, in this guide, I have mentioned five simple steps on how to host a website. It does matter what type of website you’re building; you can easily host it with comfort if you follow the steps below.
How to Host a Website in 5 Simple Steps
Step 1. Research Web Hosting Providers
Every web host provider is different from the others. Some are undoubtedly more reliable than others. There are a number of web hosting providers on the market today. Your research process can narrow down your search results by eliminating certain hosts directly.
Many web hosting providers out there specialize in speed, while other providers specialize in customer service. Some providers are most suitable for small business websites, and others are most suited for agencies or enterprises. Now, you must be doubting how to start your research.
Don’t just start clicking into various web hosts on Google; it is way time-consuming, and it won’t be very fruitful. Even you can’t be sure about the legitimacy of the company.
Therefore, we have prepared a list of the best web hosting providers after going through their key features and performances. So, here’s the list of the best ten web hosting providers.
- Bluehost
- HostGator
- DreamHost
- SiteGround
- GoDaddy
- WP Engine
- Hostinger
- InMotion
- A2 Hosting
You can take your time to find out the best option. But the research process will show you on the right path as you proceed through every step in this guide.
Step 2: Define Your Budget
The second step in how to host a website guide is to determine the budget. When talking about budget, it depends on many factors such as the features you require and the kind of hosting you need. You must be doubting how much a web hosting cost.
You will be finding a lot of options ranging from $1 monthly to $2000 monthly. Once you get a rough idea about the money you will need, it will help you narrow down your web hosting options.
For instance, if you’re commencing a small personal blog and not anticipating tons of traffic, you can get away with spending less than $5 or $10 per month for a low-cost web hosting provider. Small business owners and eCommerce sites probably want to look towards a higher pricing tier.
Web hosting is similar to any other type of product or service where you get what you pay for most instances. While cost doesn’t automatically relate to quality, it’s normally a good sign of how many extra features and advantages you’ll notice with the plan.
If you need dedicated resources, lightning-fast loading speeds, cPanel, freebies, and 24/7 customer support, you are expected to pay a little more for those hosting services.
Step 3: Pick a Hosting Type
Now, once you research some providers and get a sense of how much you want to pay, it’s time to decide which type of hosting is best for your website.
You have four major options to choose from:
- Shared Hosting
- VPS hosting
- Dedicated hosting
- Cloud hosting
Step 4: Select Your Hosting Plan
By utilizing the information you’ve accumulated in the first three steps, it’s time for you to pick a hosting plan. Go for a provider that allows the web hosting option you need at a price point within your budget.
You’ll likely have at least a few choices that fit this description. Here are some other factors that you should keep in mind when evaluating a hosting plan.
Step 5: Register Your Domain Name
It is the last step in our guide on how to host a website. Your domain name is your digital address. If you want, you can register your domain name from your hosting provider while signing up for a hosting plan. Sometimes it will even come for free depending on the plan and provider you choose.
We recommend you keep domain registration services and web hosting services separately. It does not matter where you get it, but this step needs to be accomplished to make your website live.
Let’s look at their brief overview to figure out which one to use.
Types of Web Hosting
- Shared Hosting
Shared web hosting is a common choice for beginners planning to launch a new or entry-level website. It’s a cost-effective type of web hosting and doesn’t demand a lot of technical knowledge.
A shared plan is perfect for those websites that won’t expect high traffic volume.
As its name suggests, your website will be sharing server resources with other sites, therefore impacting your website’s performance. If another site on the same server goes through a spike in traffic, it can lead to a server crash and take down your website with it.
- VPS Hosting
VPS means virtual private servers that will be using a single server that’s been distributed into many virtual machines.VPS hosting is a level above shared hosting; in this hosting, you won’t be sharing your resources with other websites; therefore, it will improve your site’s performance. This leads to having more disk space, bandwidth, higher uptimes, and faster loading speeds with a VPS plan.
It is a great option for those websites expecting higher traffic volume and enough resources to serve those users. VPS plans provide you with more authority over your server settings as well.
- Dedicated Hosting
Today, new websites don’t require a dedicated server. The dedicated hosting type is for large websites that require enterprise-level hosting abilities,
even for those who are more tech-savvy and need absolute control over your server settings and hosting environment. A dedicated server provides you with the most resources and therefore gives the most outstanding performance.
The most crucial downside of a dedicated server is its cost, as it is the most costly type of web hosting, which is another reason it’s not perfect for new or small websites.
- Cloud Hosting
Cloud web hosting is new if we compare it to the other three options. But now it’s gaining popularity among website owners.
A cloud plan is perfect for developing websites and wanting to scale server resources as their site gets more prominent. If your site will surpass 50,000 monthly visitors, it’s time for you to go for cloud hosting. Cloud hosting is a step above shared hosting, yet it’s usually more affordable than a VPS plan.
If you choose this option, your site will be run on multiple cloud servers, which lessens your chances of having sudden downtime due to a surge in traffic or server issues. The cloud hosting plan is a great choice for new website owners who plan to grow their sites as quickly as possible in the coming years.
Going with a cloud plan from the start, you don’t need to change your hosting plan as you need to do in a shared plan.
Resources
You have to ensure that your plan provides you with enough resources to fulfill your website content and traffic needs.
The first thing to study is RAM, your storage. 4 GB of RAM is sufficient for an average website. That’s the least strong that I’m telling you.
Next, you need to consider the bandwidth given in the plan. 120 GB of bandwidth is suitable for 2,000 daily page loads of a 4 GB website. So if you are anticipating more traffic or plan to have a more extensive website, you have to get more bandwidth.
Uptime
Uptime is the most crucial aspect of web hosting. If your hosting provider isn’t giving a minimum of 99.9% uptime, then look for some other option. Today, Many web hosts give you an uptime guarantee in their plans and compensate you if they fail to fulfill that promise.
Customer Support
Customer service must be on your priority list.
During a time of crisis, you need to get in touch with your web host quickly. So go for a plan that extends 24/7 support via phone and live chat.
Apart from that, it would be best to go for those providers with a knowledge base and resource center that will guide you on how to do specific tasks on their platform. This kind of customer support can assist you in getting the most out of your web hosting plan.
Freebies, Add-ons, and Additional Features
It would be best to look for plans that provide you with the best value for your money. Many hosting providers incorporate some extra benefits in their plans as an encouragement for you to sign up.
Here are some standard features to look for:
- Free domain (usually for the first year)
- Free SSL certificate
- Free site builder
- Free cPanel license
- Unlimited email accounts
- Google Ads credit
- Automatic backups
- Free site migration
Renewal Rates
It would be best to look beyond your web hosting plan’s introductory rate to ensure that it will continue to fall under your budget in the coming years.
It’s common practice in the web hosting industry for providers to heavily discount new contracts and then raise the fees at the time of renewal. Usually, you can secure the best possible rate by binding to the most extended term length, generally up to 36 months.
But make sure you acknowledge how much your plan will cost you at the end of that period.
Conclusion
Hosting a website is not difficult if you follow the right guide. You have learned how to host a website in just five simple steps.
- Research web hosting providers.
- Determine your budget.
- Choose a hosting type.
- Select your hosting plan.
- Register your domain name.
If you follow the steps correctly and in the same order, it will equip you with sufficient information to make an informed decision.
