Michael Parkinson, Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Marr; all legendary hosts in their own right. But, as good as they are ont’ telly, they’re not the guys you’d turn to if you need a great host for your website.
However, a solid TV presenter does share a few similar traits with a good website host. They both need to be reliable, able to deal with tough jobs, and ultimately, they need to be worth the cost.
With this in mind, I decided to take a closer look at the subject of web hosting. And if I have some time later, maybe I’ll have a gander at how a great web host should share the same core principles as Bruce Forsyth.
Before anything, though, let’s find out more about what web hosting actually is.
What is Web Hosting?
Essentially, web hosting allows you to have your website up and running on the internet, and host providers are organisations that give you the resources to make this happen.
When you create a website with a host provider, all of the information, images, videos, etc. will be stored on their servers, which act as a go-between for your site and anyone searching for it.
Without a server, no one would be able to access your website.
Hosting sounds simple in theory, but it’s a very technical process. It requires a lot of know-how on running websites, plenty of money to buy and run a server and an exceptionally fast internet connection with a lot of bandwidth.
If you have all those things, you’re well on your way to running a successful web hosting business, and on behalf of all of us at Strawberry Forge, I offer you our sincerest congratulations.
For the rest of us, though, ie. 99.99999% of the world’s population, we turn to providers for these services.
Now that you and I are all clear on the basics, it’s time we looked at the different types of hosting services available.
The Different Types of Web Hosting
Shared Hosting
This is the most common form of web hosting. Shared hosting is usually the cheapest option, but it’s also the least powerful because several websites will be running on the same drive, central processing unit (CPU) and the same server.
Because of this, popular sites and sites that use a lot of resources have an increased risk of crashing.
If the busy website isn’t yours, you’ll still find that yours will tend to lag, which could drive people off your website entirely.
Dedicated Server Hosting
If shared hosting isn’t your cup of tea, dedicated server hosting could be more to your taste.
This option gives you full, direct access to the server your site is running on, so you can add new software or change the operating system. You’ll also be the only customer using the server, which means your site will run faster and smoother.
While dedicated server hosting gives you more control, it requires you to have more technical knowledge on subjects (such as debugging) and the costs are much higher, unless you find the right service provider who can still offer you help (and yes, we do have a specific company in mind).
Virtual Private Server (VPS)
A virtual private server lies somewhere in between dedicated and shared servers.
Several sites run on one server, but each website gets its own allocated chunk. This means that in the event a more popular site you’re sharing with gets a huge spike in visitors, it won’t affect how yours runs.
Who Does your Web Hosting… Bruh?
That’s the last time I’ll write that title, I promise.
A recent comparison by websitebuilderexpert.com looked at the market’s leading host providers on several important areas, such as features, performance and value for money.
For example, 1&1 IONOS scored the highest in terms of price (4.8/5), but lowest for help and support (3/5), which means you’d be paying for a mediocre service. Are you really getting a good deal if you can’t get the help you need, when you need it?
With all of the providers listed in the comparison, you have to sacrifice one key component for another. When you’re looking for a web hosting service, you shouldn’t have to be making those choices. If you have to sack off decent customer service for the ability to have your data backed up, then clearly something has gone wrong.
This is why we recommend our clients have a word with Datacentreplus, a web hosting provider from Manchester (not the other side of the world, for a change), who excels in customer service and has access to all the right tools your website needs to run smoothly.
Stepehn Hobson, Head of Account Management at Datacentreplus says:
“It is great to be working with some fantastic businesses in the digital and creative community in Manchester. We love working with our clients and partners to really understand their server hosting needs and to be able to deliver a friendly, efficient and professional service”.
How Does All This Relate to Strawberry Forge?
That’s a good question; I’m glad you asked. At Strawberry Forge, one of our key services is SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), and we know what Google looks for when working out your online authority.
If visitors are clicking off your site because their actions aren’t registering, or if your website doesn’t have antivirus software installed, Google will think your site causes more problems than it solves for anyone who visits it. If that happens, you’ll place lower in the SERP (Search Engine Results Page) where very few people (if any) will click on your link.
We’re confident we can get your site to rank high on Google through our content, but good hosting is one of the factors that helps it stay there.
What do you Think, Bruh?
So, you must be pretty excited about web hosting by now; I mean, how could you not be?
When it comes to finding a service provider you can trust and who offers a full range of services, we personally recommend you talk to the team at Datacentreplus.
The combination of their web hosting skills combined with our content marketing expertise will help improve your site’s performance and online authority.
If you want proof, you only need to look at the list of happy clients we have.
