Choosing A Domain And Hosting Provider For Your Website: A COMPLETE GUIDE
Having a domain and hosting provider is a must for any website.?
A domain and hosting provider is a company that enables businesses and individuals to make their websites available through the World Wide Web. To create a website for your business, you'll need to purchase a domain and choose a provider to host your website, then it will be available online.
What is Domain and Hosting? A domain name is a string of characters that identifies a website. It is what users type in their browser to visit your site. Web hosting is a service that provides space on a server for your website files, allowing it to be available on the internet. Now lets break both terms down.?
What is a Domain? A domain name (or just "domain") is the name of a website. It's what comes after "@" in an email address, or after "www." in a web address. If someone asks how to find you online, what you tell them is usually your domain name. Examples of domain names are: google.com. facebook.com. Domain come with different domain extension aka top-level domain (TLD), you will need to select the right TLD depending on your business, industry and availability.?
Types of Domain Extension? A domain extension is the combination of characters following the period in a web address. The domain extension may seem like a subtle decision, but it can have significant importance. It’s used to designate the category or country code for a website. For instance, in google.com .com is the domain extension and signifies that the website is for commercial use. Here are some types of domain extensions:
1. .com A .com domain extension is hands-down the most popular TLD available. It was originally used to designate for-profit businesses, but has now become the go-to for domain extensions. When deciding on a domain extension, you should almost always choose .com — if it’s available. The .com TLD is usually the best choice because it’s most familiar.
2. .net Much like the .com extension, .net is open to anyone. What was originally intended for internet service providers or networks has now become a popular alternative to .com websites. The .net TLD might be a nice option for tech- or web-based companies because it implies network and technology.
Some of the most popular internet brands in the world have a .net extension:
Many people associate .net with web-based applications and services.
3. .org The .org extension was originally designed to represent not-for-profit organizations but is now available to anyone. It’s a popular domain extension for many non-governmental organizations, nonprofits, politicians and political parties, and online communities.
Many web users associate .org with a trustworthy and reliable source of information, but they don’t typically associate it with commercial brands.
Some popular brands that make use of this TLD are:?
4. .co The .co extension was originally designated the country code for Colombia, but has become a popular option for global domains. While it’s an interesting option in the top domain extension list, it’s popularity has grown in recent years. The .co TLD is a familiar acronym for company, corporations, or commercial ventures. This familiarity has led many forward-thinking entrepreneurs to build their brands on a .co domain extension.
500.co (aka 500 Startups) is a popular brand that uses .co. It’s a venture fund and seed accelerator that targets early-stage startups. They epitomise .co because their target audience is innovative, young entrepreneurs.
These are just four of the most popularly used domain extension, you must make sure the domain extension you choose to use is available and aligns with your needs.?
What is Hosting? Web hosting is the process of renting or buying space to house a website on the World Wide Web. Website content such as HTML, CSS, and images has to be housed on a server to be viewable online.
What exactly is a server? A server is a computer that connects other web users to your site from anywhere in the world. As the name implies, web hosting service providers have the servers, connectivity, and associated services to host websites. By offering a variety of hosting plans, they cover the spectrum of hosting needs, from small blogs and large organizations.
Most hosting companies require that you own your domain in order to host with them. If you do not have a domain, the hosting companies will help you purchase one because of this it makes sense to purchase your domain along with your hosting.?
Types of Web Hosting Currently, different types of web hosting have been introduced to meet the different needs of websites and customers. These include:
Shared Web Hosting Shared hosting is when a website is hosted on the same server as many other websites. Most web hosting companies provide shared hosting. It’s cheap and easy to set-up which makes it a good fit for new sites which don’t expect a lot of traffic in the short term. It’s best suited for personal websites as well as those belonging to small and medium-sized businesses.
Shared hosting isn’t suitable for large sites with lots of traffic either. These sites need a dedicated server to accommodate a suitable amount of resources to guarantee decent website performance.
VPS Hosting Virtual private servers (VPS) also known as virtual dedicated server (VDS), is when a virtual server appears to each client as a dedicated server even though it’s actually serving multiple websites. For this reason, VPS style hosting is considered to be the stepping stone between shared hosting and getting your own dedicated machine. The main difference between shared hosting and VPS is that clients have full access to configure the VPS which is much closer to dedicated style hosting.
VPS is often used by smaller websites and organizations that want the flexibility of having a dedicated server, without the high costs implied.
Dedicated Hosting Dedicated hosting (sometimes referred to as managed hosting or a dedicated server) provides entire servers to rent. This type of hosting is comparatively expensive when placed side-by-side with shared hosting plans; for this reason, it's only really used when a website has a lot of traffic or when more server control is required.
There is more to dedicated hosting than providing a single website with entire server equipment housed in a data center. It allows greater self-service server administration facilities. This is considered a more flexible arrangement because it allows total control over the server, its software and security systems. At the same time, however, you need to have the technical expertise on-hand to manage the platform yourself.
Cloud Hosting Cloud hosting is the latest hosting type to hit the market, and it’s become extremely popular in recent years. This type of hosting operates across many interconnected web servers that supply an affordable, scalable and reliable web infrastructure. Cloud hosting plans typically offer unmetered, reliable bandwidth and an infinite amount of disk space for unlimited domains which explains why so many large businesses are turning to the cloud. It’s an effective method of running a website with resource-intensive applications or a large number of content assets such as images, but it can have a much higher cost.
Reseller Hosting Reseller hosting is a form of web hosting where the account owner can use his or her allotted hard drive space and bandwidth to host a website on behalf of third parties. The original hosting account owner is the ‘reseller’ in this instance. Reseller hosting is beneficial when the amount of space purchased isn’t required, and some of the allocated resources can be shared with another party. Sharing disk space, bandwidth, CPU, etc. while getting a recurring source of income.
Hosting providers offer specific reseller hosting plans to accommodate entrepreneurs interested in this business practice. Buying a reseller hosting plan is also helpful for anyone with multiple domains. You may design your own hosting packages for your websites or clients gives the resources allocated to the reseller hosting account.
6 Things to Consider When Choosing a Hosting Provider
When choosing a hosting provider there are certain 6 main factors you need to take into consideration these are:
Speed Users expect your website to load within 2 seconds. If it takes longer, they are very likely to leave. Google also uses page speed as a ranking factor, so slow site performance can hurt your search rankings as well as drive customers away. Although website speed is affected by several different factors, having a web hosting provider with a fast server and enough memory and processing power to accommodate lightning fast page speed is crucial for every business.?
Security Keeping your website secure should be of the utmost importance to your web hosting company. Website hosting servers should be equipped with powerful firewalls and should be constantly monitored by the hosting company for unusual activity or unauthorized intrusions. Your web hosting company should also support SSL (Secure Socket Layer) certificates—an extra layer of security that encrypts the information that travels between your server and the user’s browser. SSL is becoming standard practice for all websites, and is a necessity if you sell products or accept payments on your site.
Support Does your company have the technological know-how and the internal resources and manpower to manage a website server, or would you rather use a web hosting company that can handle all that for you? If you want your host to provide support, make sure they offer 24/7 monitoring and support and are readily accessible in case of an outage or other problem.
Scalability Take a look at your current website traffic and content. Do you expect to need significantly more resources over time as a result of higher visitor traffic or additional content like photo or video galleries? If so, it’s better to find a web hosting provider that can accommodate that expansion rather than one you’ll soon outgrow.
Price Website hosting can cost as little as a few dollars a month to thousands per month, or it can even be “free.” As with everything, you get what you pay for. “Free” hosting is usually offered in exchange for the hosting company running ads on your site, or as an add-on to a larger service package. A cheap web hosting deal probably means you’ll have limited flexibility and access to resources, which could lead to performance issues. Be sure you know your web hosting requirements so you don’t end up with a “great deal” that doesn’t fit your web hosting needs.
Web Hosting Environment Shared hosting is typically the least expensive option, though there are significant tradeoffs for the cost savings. With shared hosting, your website is hosted on a server along with other websites. You share the space and the resources with the other websites on the server, so if another website on your server experiences a big surge in visitor traffic, the performance of your site might suffer as a result—pages might be slower to load or the site could become inaccessible entirely, giving potential visitors an error message when they try to access it. In addition, shared hosting can pose security risks.
Top 9 Web Hosting Providers?
Now that you know what to look out for when choosing a hosting provider lets take a look at some hosting providers and their features.
Bluehost offers a variety of professional web hosting services. Prices start at $2.75 per month and range to as high as $13.95 per month for their four website hosting packages: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus, and Pro. The least costly basic plan includes one website, 50GB of storage, and unmetered bandwidth. The other plans all include unlimited storage and websites.
Bluehost supports 99.96% uptime, making it one of the most reliable options on this list. It offers shared, dedicated and VPS server types with 24/7 customer support via chat and phone. The company's website also provides a knowledge base for developers or others who want to troubleshoot issues.
Users can access optional services, such as professional website design and development as well as marketing, for additional fees. Other add-ons include multi-server management, a content delivery network, and access control. Bluehost offers a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Pros & Cons
Bluehost offers competitive pricing for the first term and plenty of storage, and its uptime numbers are typically higher than many competitors. Renewal rates might be higher, though, and you have to pay extra for a lot of features that are included in some competitor packages.
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2. SiteGround Best Hosting for Customer Support
With Google Cloud, SSD drives, and their own custom optimization solutions, SiteGround is able to achieve some of the fastest speeds and best reliability in the industry.
SiteGround's commitment to heavily enhance their technology and fine-tune its behavior allows them to develop powerful speed tools exclusively available for their clients. Supercacher, which is the best feature of Siteground, increases the number of hits a site can handle and boosts the website loading speed. SiteGround continuously innovates Supercacher; the recent launch of Dynamic (full-page) caching is now available on all plans giving between 50%-500% boost in WordPress performance.
SiteGround enables the new compression algorithm provided by Brotli by default on their Site Tools servers to compress websites and help them load faster. Hence, websites hosted on SiteGround get up to 15-20% speed gains. SiteGround also offers the new Ultrafast PHP setup giving 30% more speed and reducing TTFB (available on GrowBig and GoGeek) for all sites, including the latest edition of MySQL setup that allows faster database query processing.
SiteGround's StartUp plan includes one website and up to 10GB of space. Upgrading to the GrowBig or GoGeek plan provides you with access to SiteGround's SuperCacher. Additionally, the GoGeek plan uses more server resources and has ultrafast PHP enabled. All plans include free SSL certificates, email, and WP installation as well as unmetered traffic and unlimited databases. Google backing also means the energy used to support this technology is matched by investments in renewable energy for an eco-friendly option. SiteGround also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pros & Cons
Free site migrations, Google backing, and stellar uptime are all benefits of this service, as is the inclusion of features such as SSL certificates in all plans. Limited data storage on many plans and the higher cost of nonpromotional pricing are potential cons.
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3. Hostinger Best Budget Hosting
With prices starting as low as $2.99 per month, Hostinger stands out as an especially good option for hosting users who are on a tight budget.
While Hostinger's plans are exceptionally affordable it doesn't mean they're missing any key features. Even the lowest-level shared hosting plan includes SSD storage and a free SSL certificate
It's also comforting to know that whenever you need help with an issue, Hostinger support agents are available 24/7 over live chat.
Pros & Cons
Considering their prices and features, the benefits of choosing Hostinger are obvious. But one drawback to using this provider is that they don't offer phone support.
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4. A2 Hosting Best Hosting for Speed
A2 Hosting is a Better Business Bureau-accredited company offering a range of hosting packages. Prices start at $2.99 per month for shared hosting, and the company also offers reselling, VPS, and dedicated server hosting.
Monthly costs include a website builder, SSL certificate, database backups, and web hosting comes with one free domain. Customers have access to 24/7 customer support for help with technical issues via live chat, contact us forms, and phone. A2 Hosting also offers a robust online resources section for self-serve troubleshooting.
Unlimited bandwidth and a 99.84% average uptime help ensure stability for users, and free site migration makes it easy to convert to this service. A2 Hosting offers an anytime money-back guarantee for users who aren't satisfied with their hosting.?
Pros & Cons
A2 Hosting offers quick speeds to help combat bounce rates. Users also get support for a variety of development tools. Be aware, though, that pricing that starts at $2.99 a month is a potentially temporary discount, so future renewals might cost more.
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5. DreamHost Best Shared Hosting
DreamHost is a service known for providing options that meet the needs of a wide range of users. The company has over 25 years of experience in the web hosting niche and offers shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud web hosting options.
Its plans include website builders, database backups, and SSL certificates as well as one free domain name. DreamHost plans start at $2.59 per month for website builder, or website hosting; VPS hosting is $10 per month; cloud hosting is $0.0075 per hour, and dedicated hosting is $169 per month.
Support is available around the clock via chat and phone. An existing knowledge base is available for DIY troubleshooting as well as user forum. DreamHost offers unmetered bandwidth and 99.90% uptime.?
Pros & Cons
DreamHost offers web design tools better than average industry uptimes make it a great choice for web hosting. But, customers don't have access to cPanel, which might be a disadvantage for more advanced site managers.
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6. GreenGeeks Best Eco-Friendly Hosting
GreenGeeks bills itself as an eco-friendly web hosting service. It was started by experts with plenty of experience in the industry, and it offers unlimited bandwidth and an impressive 99.99% uptime. Plans start at $2.95 a month for Lite, which includes one website, 50 GB storage, a free domain name for the first year, and a free wildcard SSL. The Lite plan is for customers who are just getting started with web hosting.
The Pro and Premium are more powerful plans for clients who need the upgrades. These plans run $4.95 or $8.95 per month respectively and come with unlimited websites and additional features, such as a free dedicated IP in the case of Premium. GreenGeeks' pricing comparison page also notes you'll get increased RAM access, CPU cores, Inodes, and more with the Pro and Premium plans.
GreenGeeks provides 24/7 support via chat, phone or email, and users can also access an online knowledge base to get answers to frequently asked questions. The service provides a 30-day money-back guarantee, and customers can opt for shared, dedicated, reseller, or VPS hosting.
Pros & Cons
GreenGeeks offers above-average uptimes and page load times that are lower than the industry average. Site migrations are free, and GreenGeeks purchases wind energy credits to offset its environmental impact. Low pricing is only for the first year, though, and any refunds are offset by the regular purchase price of free domain names.
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7. InMotion Hosting Best Uptime
InMotion Hosting offers a complete suite of flexible interconnected, open-source digital products and infrastructure technologies. It provides a number of web hosting services, including VPS, dedicated, and shared hosting. Shared hosting services start at $2.29 per month, VPS hosting starts at $17.99 a month, and dedicated hosting starts at $139.99 per month.
The basic shared hosting package is called Core and comes with one website, 10GB of storage, and unlimited bandwidth. For $4.99 per month, users can get the Power and Launch shared hosting plan, which supports up two to fifty websites respectively. Numerous other hosting plans are available with additional features at increased rates.
InMotion Hosting offers a 90-day money-back guarantee. It also boasts 99.84% uptime and offers SSL certificates, database backup, and website building tools. Customers can access 24/7 support for hosting via phone, chat, or the online support center.
Pros & Cons
InMotion Hosting offers a generous 90-day money-back guarantee, free SSL certificate, and reliable uptime. Page load speeds can be slow on some of their servers, though, and account setup can require manual verification, which can lead to some delays.
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8. HostGator Best VPS Hosting
HostGator is a popular option for individuals and businesses, in part because it's easy to scale up with this service. The basic web builder plan starts at $2.64 a month and offers drag-and-drop customization that's user friendly. Other plans include VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting, which range from $5.95 to $89.98 per month. All plans include one free domain, access to website building tools, an SSL certificate, and database backups.
Service includes unmetered bandwidth and HostGator is known for stellar uptimes of 99.93%. It also offers a money-back guarantee within 45-days of making the initial purchase or renewal.
HostGator offers 24/7 support via a phone help line, live chat, and an online contact form. It also offers unlimited storage and a single email account for each user as well as a single free site transfer service.
Pros & Cons
HostGator is known for excellent uptime and offers a one-month credit if uptime drops below a certain level. It also offers free cPanel and site migrations and is known for good customer service. But the service does tend to come with slower-than-average page upload speeds, and extras sometimes included for free by competitors come at a cost with HostGator.
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9. GoDaddy Best Bundle Offer
While they are best known for their domain registration services, GoDaddy also offers a variety of high-quality web hosting services and plans.
Their entry-level shared hosting plan provides 10 GB of storage and unmetered bandwidth for one website. It also includes one year of free Office 365 email and one year of free domain registration. Premium shared hosting plans work for unlimited websites, offer more storage, and include additional features such as free premium DNS and a free SSL certificate.
If you have too much traffic for a shared hosting plan to handle, you should check out GoDaddy's VPS and dedicated server plans.?
Pros & Cons
From affordable shared hosting plans to top-of-the-line dedicated servers, GoDaddy truly offers something for everyone. The only downside is that, ideally, their money-back guarantee would be longer than 30 days.
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Step by Step on How to Purchase Domain?
Here’s a step by step guide on how you can purchase and register your domain:
1. Find a Credible Domain Registrar
A domain registrar is a company that is responsible for registering and managing domain names. It’s accredited by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a non-profit organization that controls the rules and regulations of website domain name registration.
Choosing a reliable domain registrar is crucial because it can impact a project or business for years. Pick the wrong one and you might end up paying hidden fees or even get scammed. For example, there have been cases where a domain registrar pressures users into purchasing domain names similar to the ones they hold under false pretenses.
It can be challenging to pick from hundreds of domain registrars out there as they all offer similar services. Therefore, consider the following when choosing a registrar:
Make sure to use a domain checker to check if your desired domain is available.?
2. Run a Domain Name Search
Now that you have found a registrar through which to register your domain, the next step is to perform a domain name search.
When choosing a domain name, make sure to pick the right domain extension as well – it’s the suffix at the end of a web address. Domain name extensions are also referred to as top-level domains (TLDs).
There are different types of domain extensions available, such as:
When deciding on the extension that is suitable for your domain, look for a TLD that represents the purpose of your website. Choosing the wrong suffix can confuse visitors and make your brand name prone to being misinterpreted.
For example, a .com, .biz, or .store domain might be best for an eCommerce business. On the other hand, if you plan to create a blog to keep an online journal, using a .me or .online domain can be an excellent solution. If you are still unsure about the right domain extension, we suggest using a .xyz or .icu domain name. These generic TLDs are not associated with any specific niche or website type.
Once you know what domain and extension to use, use our domain checker to find your desired domain name. Enter the name into the search bar and the tool will present you with a list of available domains. It will also display more extension and title suggestions, showing a wide range of domain ideas.
If your desired web address is taken, consider reaching out to the owner of that particular domain and offering a fair price for that name. Use the WHOIS tool to find that person’s information, like their phone number or professional email address.
Before purchasing the name, however, use an escrow service to facilitate the deal on your end. Escrow refers to the practice of hiring a third party to hold payments until contractual obligations have been fulfilled. Doing so can protect you against fraud and deception.
Another way to acquire a desired website name is to check its availability with alternative top-level domains. For instance, if you are running a technology related business but .com or .io TLDs are already taken, try .tech domain. If you need a domain for an online portfolio, opt for .space.
3. Pick Your Domain
After finding the best domain name for your project, it’s time to proceed with the checkout.
During this step, you’ll also need to choose the domain registration period. Registrars offer a variety of durations – from one to ten years. Before the initial registration period ends, the registrar will alert you to renew it.
Also, domain registration companies typically require users to pay for a minimum period of one year. However, other registrars might have a longer minimum registration period, like two years.
So to purchase a domain, continue the process from the domain checker page and press the Add to cart button next to the domain. Then, click Continue to cart.
From the shopping cart window, select the Period drop-down list and choose the registration period. Here, you can also choose to add the privacy protection add-on. Click the Checkout Now button to finish the order.
The next step is to log in or create an account to complete the payment process.
With that taken care of, continue the checkout process and choose a payment processor.
Provide your billing information and review the order. Then, finish the website domain purchase.
4. Complete the Domain Registration
As soon as you have completed the payment, you’ll be redirected to the control panel. Inside, there will be a setup box that you’ll need to fill out to complete the domain name registration.
You’ll need to fill in all the fields with the correct details, such as your name, address, and contact information. This data will be stored on WHOIS, the official domain ownership database
After submitting your details, the domain registration will be processed.
It’s possible to modify the domain ownership details using the domain management section within the control panel. Once the changes are made, you will have to confirm them via email.
5. Verify Domain Name Ownership
The final step is to verify the domain ownership through the email address you used when registering the domain. The email usually arrives within a few minutes after finishing the domain setup. Simply click the verification link in the email to verify your contact information.
If the email doesn’t arrive, resend the request from the control panel. We recommend doing it immediately, as waiting for 15 days or more will lead to a temporary suspension from the registry.
That’s all there is to it. Now you know how to buy a website domain name and complete the initial registration process.
Now that you have successful purchased your domain and hosting.
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