How To Host A Website -

Ready with the dream website for your business or blog and now looking for a way to get it up and running for the world to watch it?

Many find themselves in a dilemma as to what to do next. Should you approach a hosting company, should you go for a hosting reseller, or you don’t need to do any of it and can just go ahead with hosting a website yourself?

In this article, we will answer all of the questions that new website owners have. Right from where to host to how to do it, you will learn about everything.

If you have not created a website already, then you can also consider building a website from the hosting company that you plan to host your website with. Many hosts offer website templates with simple drag and drop features that can help you create the entire website online without any need for coding. Getting bundled packages from a web host will help you make some savings too.

So sit back and put on your learning cap on, as we are about to tell you how to host a website.

1. Choose the hosting type

First thing’s first. Visit a hosting company’s website and decide a hosting type from there. You will find a bunch of hosting types like Cloud hosting, WordPress, shared, and even VPS (Virtual Private Server). Depending on your needs, you need to select the type of hosting you want and then you can get started with the process.

a. Shared hosting: Your website is shared with many other websites on a single server. The advantage of this type of hosting is that it is cheap. However, it can face downtimes as the server is used by multiple websites. Shared hosting is suitable for smaller websites that are also mostly static in nature.

b. VPS: A Virtual private Server, on the other hand, rules out the possibility of downtimes to a larger extent. This is more expensive than a shared plan and is suitable for eCommerce websites, or sites where you have to store a lot of data and can’t compromise with its uptime.

c. Cloud hosting: This type gives you the best of both worlds. You will get uptime to a larger extent as the website is hosted in the cloud. As when one server goes down, your website is automatically transferred to another server in the network of servers in the cloud. This type of hosting is a little expensive too, but you can manage some discounts on hosting when you use online deals from coupon companies.

d. WordPress: A WordPress host makes many tasks simple for you due to the presence of predefined templates and security features that are added by clicking a button. This type of hosting is widely used among website owners and is an option to consider if you wish for the hosting process to happen smoothly and in a hassle-free manner which would need less of your time and energy.

2. Select a plan

Secondly, select the plan that you find fits best for your needs. You will be presented with a range of plans starting from Basic to Premium. These plans have different features and pricing. Some plans also give you free perks like security features and domain names (if you haven’t got one earlier, you can get a domain name as a part of your hosting plan). Once you finalize the plan which you need to take, then you can go ahead with the file uploading process.

3. Change the Name servers

Once you create an account on the hosting company’s website, you can log in and manage your activity at its dashboard. You will also have access to a control panel from there you can carry out the file uploading process. But before you do that, you need to first change the DNS. In order to do this simply login to your control panel and manage the DNS by navigating to the name servers option for your domain. Once you are done with that, you can upload all your website files online.

4. Upload your files

Access your control panel and visit the file manager. Upload all the files to the server in their respective folders. You can simply drag and drop the files to store them on the server. Once you are done, you will be able to access your site online and so will everyone else.

Importance of security

Make sure that your site also has security features, a firewall, and even antivirus installed. These aspects are important to keep bugs and viruses away from your website as they will cause downtime and will crash your website locking customers out of it.

When to approach for help?

You could carry out the entire process by yourself if you have a server that meets the requirements. Also, you must make sure that your computer remains on for the entire process. If you don’t have access to a suitable server, that’s when you must approach a professional from a hosting company or a reseller to help you to host your website.

Building a website

Hosting a website comes at least once, if not multiple times, in the lifetime of an entrepreneur, business owner or freelancer. Getting hold of the right tools will make the website hosting process very smooth for you.