Nigel Wilkinson
Managing Director of Daneswood. Nigel has been in sales and marketing since the 1980's and run digital marketing agencies since 2000.
Having a website or online shop is just part of having a business nowadays, people expect to be able to find you online and be able to buy online as well.
Website hosting is essential for any website, but what actually is it and why is it so integral?
What is Hosting?
A hosting provider is essentially a service that looks after and stores your website files, so it’s accessible to everyone online.
Without website hosting, there would be no website for your customers to find or visit.
Websites are hosted on servers. Think of a server as a filing cabinet, and your website is the files that are stored in it.
The server where your website is hosted will communicate with the browser you’re using, like Google Chrome or Safari, to present the website on your users’ screen.
Why Your Site Needs to be Hosted
To put it simply, no hosting means no website. This is something all websites require for others to access it.
If your website is hosted by a provider but you’re behind with payments, they could potentially take your website down and delete it completely, so ensuring your payments are up to date could save your website.
Purchasing hosting from a reputable provider will ensure your site’s more secure. A secure site means you will have a level of protection against your site breaking or being hacked.
In the scenario that anything was to go wrong with your website, your hosting provider will be there to provide you with the support you need, to restore the site and also help you understand the problem. A good provider will address any issues before you or your clients have a chance to notice them.
To ensure you get the most out of your hosting, ensure you get back-ups and updates for your website, so you know your site is up to date and easy to function for visitors
What Features Hosts Usually Provide You With?
Most hosting providers will not only give you space on their servers to host your website but will usually give you the following:
• Ongoing Support: Depending on the content management system your website is built-in; hosts will give you guidance on various aspects of the system. This could be plugin updates or backups of your website.
• Email Hosting: Whether you already have your own domain name, or you’ve purchased one from your website’s hosting service, you’ll be able to create a variety of email accounts that include your company domain name. E.g. support@daneswood.co.uk
• FTP Access: FTP access is what will allow you to upload files from your device to the server your website is hosted on. Your files and new content are then available to be viewed by others on the internet straight away.
• Website Security (SSL): An SSL is a secure socket layer; these are small data files that make your website secure. You’ve probably seen HTTPS before a website’s domain name in the web address bar, the ‘S’ stands for secure.
Are you looking for a secure and reputable hosting provider? Contact the team here at Daneswood to find out about the secure servers our websites are hosted on, here.