Hosting is rented space on a computer that is always connected to the internet, holding your website's files and sending them to anyone who asks. It is a separate purchase from your domain name, which is only the address, and usually separate again from your email. Confusing the three is behind most of the trouble small businesses have with their websites.
The three things people call a website
Almost every problem in this area starts with the assumption that a website is one purchase from one company. It is normally three, and they can each sit somewhere different.
| Thing | What it is | Typical annual cost |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | The name people type. A lease on a name, nothing more. Holds no files. | Modest, usually a small annual fee |
| Hosting | Space on a server that stores your site and serves it to visitors | Varies enormously by type |
| Mailboxes at your domain. Often bundled with hosting, often not | Frequently per mailbox |
A useful comparison: the domain is the address painted on the door, hosting is the building, and email is the postal service. Losing one does not automatically affect the others, and they are frequently rented from different landlords.
What a server actually does
A server is a computer in a data centre that is on all the time and connected to a very fast network. Your website is a set of files sitting on it.
When someone types your address, their device asks a directory service which server holds that name, then asks that server for the page. The server sends the files back and the browser assembles them into what the visitor sees. This happens in well under a second when everything is working.
That is the whole mechanism. What varies between hosting plans is how much of that server you get, how fast it is, what happens when many people arrive at once, and who is watching it.
The types of hosting
Shared
Many websites on one server, each with a slice of its resources. Inexpensive and appropriate for a great many small business sites. The trade is that you share the machine with accounts you cannot see, so their traffic and their behaviour can affect yours.
Virtual private
Still one physical machine, divided so each customer gets a guaranteed allocation. More predictable than shared, and more expensive. Sensible once a site is producing real work and a slow week has a cost.
Dedicated
A whole machine for one customer. Fastest and most controllable, and priced accordingly. Justified by traffic, by specific technical requirements, or by an agency running many client sites.
Managed
Not a separate size, but a description of who does the work. Someone else handles updates, monitoring, backups, and being awake when it breaks. This is what most small businesses actually want, because the alternative is that the person responsible is you.
What the cheap plans leave out
Hosting is advertised on a low monthly figure and the figure is real. What varies is what is included, and the items removed to reach a low price are the ones that matter on a bad day.
- Backups you can actually restore, going back more than a day or two, and held somewhere other than the same server.
- Monitoring with someone behind it, so a problem is noticed before a customer finds it.
- Support that can change something, rather than a queue that replies with links to documentation.
- Headroom, so your busiest fortnight of the year does not become your slowest site of the year.
- A renewal price close to the introductory one. First-term rates commonly multiply at renewal.
The question that matters most
Not which plan, but whose name everything is in.
Your domain should be registered to your business, at a registrar account you can log into, with a contact address you control. Your hosting account should be yours. If both sit inside a supplier's account, you have a service arrangement rather than an asset, and leaving means starting again.
This is worth establishing at the beginning, when it costs nothing, rather than at the point of a disagreement, when it costs a great deal. A provider who registers your domain in your own name at the outset is telling you something useful about how they intend to keep your business.
What to know about your own setup
- Which company holds the domain, and whether the account is in your business name.
- Which company hosts the site, what the plan is, and what it renews at.
- Who handles your email, which is often not the same company.
- Whether you can log into all three.
- When each one renews, and whether the card on file is current.
Writing those answers on one page takes twenty minutes and is the single most useful piece of documentation a small business can hold about its website. Most owners cannot answer all five, and the day they need to is never a convenient one.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a domain and hosting?
The domain is the name people type, which is only an address and holds nothing. Hosting is the rented space on a server that stores your site's files and sends them to visitors. They are separate purchases and often from different companies.
How much should web hosting cost?
It varies enormously with the type. What matters more than the monthly figure is what is included: backups you can restore, monitoring with someone behind it, support that can act, and a renewal price close to the introductory one.
Is my email included with my hosting?
Sometimes, and sometimes it is a separate service entirely, occasionally with a different company. It is worth confirming rather than assuming, because it determines what breaks if you move the website.
What is managed hosting?
Not a size of plan but a description of who does the work. Someone else handles updates, monitoring, backups, and responding when something breaks, rather than that person being you.
Do I need expensive hosting for a small business site?
Not usually at the start. A brochure site with modest traffic is well served by an inexpensive plan. The calculation changes once the site produces enough work that a slow or offline week has a real cost.
Whose name should my domain be registered in?
Your business, at an account you can log into, with a contact address you control. A domain held inside a supplier's account is the single most consequential gap in a website arrangement.
West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.
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