Building a website is an important process for many industries today. The new age of technology-based convenience and online consumers means that many businesses rely on a strong and user-friendly online presence: their website.
However, simply registering a domain name for your website doesn’t make the website active and accessible. In order to power up your site, you must host your website on a website server!
Here, we will break down what it means to host a website and why it’s important in order to launch a successful online business presence!
What Is Web Hosting?
“Hosting a website” 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 can completely design a website from top to bottom and buy a domain name for your business, but until you put the site up on a server, it cannot be accessed by anyone online.
This is why web hosting is important: no one online will be able to access your website until it is hosted on a server. If you want anyone to see your site (other than yourself), then a website hosting package is a necessary part of your website launch.
So, if website hosting is essential to businesses online, where do you begin when hosting your site?
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.
At first glance, this may seem like a hassle or an unnecessary expense. After all, there are resources found online that offer free website hosting. However, not all hosting services are cut from the same cloth. These free options are good for those who are looking for something simple without much commitment. However, free servers are typically faulty and limited – not ideal for businesses or individuals that want to grow an online presence with their site.
In addition to being somewhat unreliable, free hosting platforms often provide fewer customization options for your website, hindering your ability to create a site around your brand and business goals. Free hosting also means less storage space, which can strip your website of larger content. Sometimes, as well, users will find that free platforms only lead to expensive upgrades and payment plans down the line.
Managed Hosting Services
It is possible for a business to purchase their own private web server, however this is an expensive option and impractical for most website owners. This is because web servers require constant maintenance and skilled professionals in order for it to run optimally.
From proper climate control and taking precautions necessary to protect servers from inclement weather and bandwidth management, there are many things to consider. Luckily for you though, a trustworthy web server provides these services to your business at an affordable price!
This is why we recommend hosting your website through a managed hosting service, like Strategy! Trusting the maintenance of your website to a server should give you peace of mind, knowing that your site will be secure and accessible around the clock.
Completing a website for your business is a crucial step forward for your brand in 2021, and our technology team can take you there! Want to take your brand even further and create a completely customized website for your audience? Connect with our website and marketing experts today to see how we can help you create customized portals, mobile-responsive pages, and more!
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