What is Website Hosting?
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 15 seconds.14th February 2023
About Website Hosting
Many people click on a website and think very little more, about the work behind creating that website and keeping it online. This article is part of our explainer series and will answer the question. What is website hosting?
What’s the difference between buying a Domain Name and Web Hosting?
A domain name is an address people use to find your website on the internet, such as “elementmedia.uk”. On the other hand, web hosting stores the files and content of your website and makes it accessible to visitors via the internet. In other words, a domain name is your website’s address, while web hosting is the space where your website sits.
Can I self-host my website?
We always discuss hosting with every new build. However, we do offer design work for clients who want to self-host. There are a few things to consider when self-hosting: –
• Security – Does your hosting provider supply the correct and secure infrastructure to protect you from potential hackers and brute force attacks?
• Backups – Regular backups are essential; these protect against any costly issues with data loss or hacks. Our servers store backups in different data centres, so in the rare instance of issues with the main data centre. Are you covered?
• Maintenance – who will conduct your monthly check on the plugins and software used to build your website? Do you have the skills required to manage this?
• Quality of hosting – not all hosting is equal; we use Siteground for our servers that use the google web services infrastructure.
• Technical Support – if your website encounters issues with its core files, PHP, memory, hard drives, etc. How easy is it to get the support you need, to resolve this?
What are the benefits of having fully managed website hosting?
With a fully managed hosting plan from us, you do not need to think about anything! We do it all for you; this includes –
• Expertly managing your website files to keep things running smoothly and save you from costly and time-consuming mistakes.
• Doing all the hard work for you! Allowing you to just concentrate on running your business.
• We offer daily backups on all our hosting plans.
• We can help you scale your website as the needs of your business change.
• We fully manage the security of your website, including SSL Security Management.
• Speed Optimisation and Monitoring, we will conduct regular checks to ensure your website hosting is performing well.
• Monthly maintenance checks, including end-user & speed testing.
• Any technical issues arising from the hosting environment, or a theme/plugin update, we can resolve them for you. (3rd-party plugin support is reliant on the support developers supply).
• We can be a cost-effective solution to hiring a specific team to manage your website and online presence.
• We offer website-down emergency support even during the weekends and holidays.
What are the drawbacks of hosting my own website?
As you can see from all the points we discuss, hosting your website takes time and technical skills. This is why it’s much better to leave it to the professionals and for you to focus on your business and doing what you are best at.
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Can I change what level of Website Hosting package I am on after signing up for one?
You are free to downgrade or upgrade any hosting or management plan. We do require 30 days’ notice to downgrade any plan. We can upgrade your plan if you pay pro rata for the rest of the month.
Our hosting options are:
We offer very simple pricing and two tiers of hosting.
• Non-E-commerce – £20 pm
• eCommerce – £30 pm
On top of basic hosting and support, we also offer additional services. These allow you to invest in your business monthly and make a great improvement in your natural organic search listings.
SEO Services – What is SEO?
SEO stands for “search engine optimisation.” In simple terms, it means the process of improving your website to increase its visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in Google, Bing, and other search engines. The better visibility your pages have in search results, the more likely you are to attract attention and get prospective and existing customers to contact your business.
• SEO Booster £100 a month (Monthly work actioned)
• SEO Advanced £200 a month (Fortnightly work actioned)
• SEO Professional £400 a month (Weekly work actioned)
“So happy with the website that Dawn and Michael produced for our dance school. Every step of the journey was explained well to us (with no hidden costs!) and they were extremely patient with me – it’s the best website that our school has ever had and we are benefitting already from new enquiries, which is great. Thank you Dawn and Michael….”
Jo @ Mareli School of Dance
“We recently had our website redeveloped by Element Media and it looks amazing. The process was smooth and professional, and I would highly recommend Michael and Dawn at Element Media.”
Neil @ Durham Family Chiropractic
https://www.durhamchiropractic.co.uk/
You can read more on our Google My Business page or Trust Pilot.
Any Questions?
If you currently have a website that is not producing the traffic you need, please get in touch with us, and we can arrange a free consultation and get your website working for you.
You can call us on 0121 517 0082 or complete our online request a call back form here.