If you’ve looked into getting a website for your business, you’ve probably heard the phrase “hosting” or “website hosting”. What does it mean, do you need it and how much should you pay for website hosting? Where can I find some good but affordable website hosting? Getting the answers to these questions could save you a lot of money as well as avoid a lot of headaches.
We’ll also cover a few common hosting scams you’ll want to avoid. They’re easy to stumble into, but hard to get out of!
What is website hosting?
Simply put, website hosting is a service you pay for to put your website on the internet. You’re basically renting space on the world wide web. Your website files are stored on a big computer (also called a server) that “hosts” your website. This server is connected to the internet at all times (except if it experiences a problem and goes offline) and allows anyone, anywhere in the world, to view your website.
When someone types in your domain name, or even better finds you in the Google search results, their internet-connected device, mobile phone or laptop communicates with the nearest DNS to look up the “address” of your website. A DNS (Domain Name Server) is different from a hosting server, and is only there to convert user-friendly domain names, like myshop.co.nz, into IP addresses, which is the actual address of your website on the internet.
Once a person’s internet browser is provided with the IP address by the DNS, it connects directly with the hosting server, saying ‘hey show me the myshop.co.nz website’ and the hosting server complies with the request, delivering up the website for that person so they can view the site, click on links and hopefully buy something! This all happens in a few seconds but this is because hosting servers are big, powerful computers that can handle a lot of requests at the same time. By the way, if you need help speeding up your website get in touch!
While you could set up your own hosting server, it would be expensive and take a lot of time and electricity keeping it up and running. It’s more economical and affordable to buy hosting from a hosting service (like us!).
What sort of website hosting do I need?
Now, just to clarify, it might appear that not all websites need hosting. You might say I can get a Squarespace, Wix or Shopify website and I don’t need hosting. That might be correct, but the website itself still needs to be hosted. The difference with these pay-as-you-go plans is that they include the hosting with their service, which is good because it’s all taken care of, but bad in that it restricts your options.
A popular option (and more affordable in the long run) is having a self-hosted website, like a self-hosted affordable WordPress website.
How much should website hosting cost?
It’s a good question and unfortunately there’s no single answer, however here are some general guidelines.
- Bigger sites need bigger hosting – Expect to pay more for a larger website or ecommerce store.
- Paying monthly costs more – You can save by paying annually.
- Bundle services – With good hosting you should get things like DNS services and email account included at no extra charge, which can save you having to buy them separately.
- Don’t cut corners with hosting – This is especially true if your website is critical to your business (eg an online ecommerce store) – it’s better to pay a bit more to make sure you get better quality hosting. Saving a few dollars on cheap hosting but ending up with a slow website that’s always going down does not make good financial sense!
- Compare prices – Check what you’re getting before comparing prices – for example, we have a hosting plan for $8/mo that includes a whole lot of extras you don’t get with other hosting services like personalised assistance, website optimisation, regular backups, free SSL certificates, email accounts and DNS services.
So, for a small business website you really shouldn’t be paying more than about $10 NZ dollars a month. For small e-commerce sites, it shouldn’t be more than $15. Check what you’re paying now, and if it’s more get in touch because for a lot of websites transferring to us is absolutely free!
In a lot of cases, we’ve had customers come to us who were paying a lot more but still struggling with bad hosting. After switching to us, their websites were loading a lot faster and they were paying a lot less.
If you’re paying more than $8 a month, then here’s a better hosting deal for you!
As an added bonus, you can transfer your domain to us for free, and save on that too (renewals from just $22/year) – then you’ve got everything in one place, making life that little bit simpler.
Avoiding common website hosting scams
If you’re a website owner, you’ll know there are plenty of different providers, all competing for your business. Many of them employ some shady tricks to get you signed up, so beware!
- Super cheap sign-up promos – This one is commonly used by many of the big hosting providers. The monthly price seems super cheap but the catch is when you have to renew the price can go up 300% or more. These new customer offers are done because these companies figure it will be too much trouble for you to switch.
- Overloaded servers – Once again beware of super cheap offers – in many cases they are provided by companies that put lots of customers on an overloaded server. This can result in super slow load times and frequent outages.
- Hidden charges and upsells you don’t need – Like domain registrars, hosting companies often try to get more money from you for things you don’t actually need. They take advantage of customers who don’t know any different, making it sound like they need an extra service for “security” reasons. Sometimes these extras are pre-selected and customers buy them unwittingly.
We have always prided ourselves on being an honest and trustworthy resource for our clients, and we invite you to contact us if you’re ever unsure of something and want a second opinion. We believe it’s better to be trusted than just find ways to increase profits at the expense of customers.
And while our hosting is incredibly affordable, we personally make sure it’s quality hosting (we use the same service). We manage the service to make sure it offers a good balance of speed, power and affordability so clients get the best of everything, at a great price, without any nasty surprises (our hosting prices haven’t increased in years!).