What is managed dedicated hosting and how does it differ from shared hosting? What use are cronjobs, and do I really need SSH access? Is an e-mail inbox the same as an e-mail address, and isn’t one mySQL database actually enough?
We answer all these questions in this article on buying web hosting.
Table of contents
Find the right web hosting offer by paying attention to these 6 points.
1. Discounts and Special Offers
The price plays a major role in web hosting. Especially if you plan to run your website in the long term. Over the months and years, the costs for domain and hosting quickly add up to several hundred euros.
Discounts and special offers can help you get started. A welcome bonus, especially for founders and start-ups. Please note, however, that most discounts and special offers only apply to the first year.
Reputable hosting providers clearly indicate the price to be paid in the following year. When comparing providers, you should compare the follow-up costs and see the discount as a bonus. What good is a cheap first year if all subsequent years cost you dearly?
Attention: Contract terms!
Pay attention to the contract term! Many bargains tie you in for 24 or even 48 months. A web host that lures and binds you in this way is not convinced by its offer. The usual contract term is 12 months.
2. Webspace and Data Transfer
Webspace and data transfer are two essential aspects of any hosting. The storage space indicates the amount of data included for the website and co. Data transfer indicates the amount of data that can be sent and received.
Webspace
It’s easy to underestimate the required webspace if you’re only looking at the live website. But let’s start from the beginning: Text-heavy websites with a few images require much less webspace than image-heavy websites with high-resolution photos. A photographer’s portfolio needs more storage space than the collected works of a writer. And then there are backups.
Regularly BackUps (backup copies) cause the memory requirements to skyrocket. After all, backups are usually made of the entire website. A backup copy is therefore just as large as the entire website. Weekly backups therefore quickly fill up the webspace. Tip: Delete old backups regularly!
When estimating the required webspace, you should also consider any staging instances (test environments).
Data Traffic
The issue of data traffic only really plays a role in the top league. Hosting packages relevant for small and medium-sized websites usually include unlimited traffic.
3. Different Types of Web Hosting
There are various ways in which web hosting companies host a website. The individual types differ mainly in terms of speed, security and flexibility.
Dedicated Hosting
With this model, you book your own server for your website(s) in your hosting provider’s data center. You either have full control over the machine or your hosting provider takes over part of the administration for you – this is known as a managed dedicated server.
Dedicated hosting starts at around EUR 100 per month and is the ultimate in terms of speed and flexibility. Of course, the speed always depends on the hardware you have booked. Security depends largely on you and your settings.
Advantage: Maximum performance and flexibility for large to very large online stores and portals
Disadvantage: Great effort in terms of administration, security and costs, often limited bandwidth, exclusively for professionals
VPS Hosting
With VPS Hosting (Virtual Private Server Hosting), you do not book your own hardware for your website(s), but a virtual server. With this virtual machine, you have a similar number of configuration options as with dedicated hosting, but only a fraction of the performance, as several virtual servers are operated on one physical server.
VPS hosting starts at around EUR 10 per month and is very similar in handling to (managed) dedicated hosting
Advantage: High flexibility and secure performance for medium to large online stores and websites
Disadvantage: Great effort in terms of administration, security and costs, often limited bandwidth, exclusively for professionals
Shared Hosting
With shared hosting, several hosting customers share a physical server on which several websites are operated. Security is usually extremely good with shared hosting providers, but this comes at the expense of flexibility.
Shared hosting solutions are managed and administered by the hosting provider. Customers have the option of making settings for their hosting package via a web interface such as cPanel. Shared hosting starts at around EUR 2.50 per month.
Advantage: Best price-performance ratio, can be used without prior knowledge, good basic protection against cyberattacks, usually unlimited bandwidth, suitable for small to large company websites and small to medium-sized online stores
Disadvantage: Less flexibility than with dedicated hosting and VPS hosting
4. Speed and Location
When it comes to web hosting, there are three factors that are relevant in terms of speed: The speed of the hardware (server), the connectivity (connection to the Internet) and the location of the data center. All three parameters affect page load time and therefore the search engine ranking.
The speed advantage of dedicated hosting is lost if the server hardware is outdated or poorly configured.
Similarly, with VPS hosting, the fastest virtual server is useless if the data center is located in Japan but the accesses mainly comes from Europe.
Therefore, pay attention to the location of your hosting provider. This should be as close as possible to your target group. For example, if you want to attract visitors from Europe, a server location in Austria is ideal.
5. Functionality and Benefits
There are some functions and technologies that modern web hosting should offer. Among other things, these are important in order to operate current content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal and other web software.
Domains
A web hosting package without domains is like a telephone without a number. Only with a domain will your website be accessible worldwide. Please note: Domain costs make up a significant proportion of your total costs. A cheap web hosting offer quickly becomes expensive if the domain prices are high.
If you want to switch to a new hosting provider with your domain, you only need the Auth-Code to transfer your domain in a few minutes. You can get this from your previous provider.
Multidomains
Multidomains means that you can run several websites on one hosting package. This is particularly useful if you operate several small to medium-sized company websites as a freelancer or agency, for example.
E-mail Inboxes and Addresses
Please note: There is a difference between an e-mail inbox and an e-mail address. You can create several addresses, so-called aliases, for an e-mail inbox.
For example, you can create an e-mail inbox for yourself with several aliases: One for private contacts, one for professional contacts and one for newsletter registrations. You will then receive mail from all three email addresses in one mailbox. With one and the same access data.
If you would like to create an e-mail address for your sister or your employee, you must create a separate mailbox for them. Again, you can create several aliases for such a mailbox.
Therefore, pay close attention to whether a web hosting provider offers you 50 e-mail addresses or 50 e-mail inboxes!
Provider Change / E-Mail Transfer
If you switch to a new provider, your existing e-mail accounts must of course also be transferred. This is not free with many providers! Helloly offers you a free e-mail migration tool for this purpose.
Provider change / Website Migration Service
One of helloly’s unique selling points is its website migration service: If you want to switch from your hosting provider to helloly, our support will move your website for you!
PHP
The server-side scripting language PHP is mainly used to create dynamic websites and web applications. PHP is required for almost all modern content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal.
Some web hosters offer Multi PHP. This means that you can choose between several PHP versions. This often makes sense, as certain plugins or web applications require a specific PHP version.
mySQL Databases
Many web applications and especially content management systems store their information in a database. In web hosting, mySQL has established itself as the de facto standard. Pay attention to how many databases are included in your hosting package.
Even if your WordPress website only needs one database, for example, it is useful to have additional databases available. This is the only way you can also create a staging instance (test environment) of your website to develop it further aside from the live version. Of course, the test environment also needs its own database.
TLS/SSL certificates
A TLS certificate(formerly SSL certificate) is required so that your website can establish a secure connection with visitors. A TLS certificate ensures that data is transmitted between a website and its visitors in encrypted form. You can recognize a secure connection to a website by the “s” at the end of the HTTP protocol in the address bar. https:// stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure.
Cronjobs
Would you like to publish blog posts automatically at a specific time? Or make an automated backup of your website regularly on Wednesdays at 7 p.m.? Then you need web hosting that offers you cronjobs. Cronjobs can be used to execute automated tasks at specific times or at defined intervals.
SSH Access
A feature for professionals who want to access their web hosting securely and encrypted via Command Line. SSH stands for Secure Shell.
Website Builder
Running a website and managing web hosting used to be time-consuming, complicated and reserved for professionals. Today, anyone with a little effort and interest can design and operate a website. The easiest way to do this is with a website builder.
A website builder allows you to create a website without any knowledge of HTML, CSS and PHP – simply by placing text and media elements and other widgets such as a map or form.
If you are a beginner or don’t want to make your life unnecessarily difficult, a website builder might be just the thing for you!
Some web hosting providers let you test the website builder free of charge in advance so that you can get a feel for how it works.
6. Service and Support
A reliable web hosting provider won’t leave you out in the rain. Pay attention to the following services and support benefits so that you are in good hands in the long term.
Customer Reviews
Customer reviews on portals such as Trusted Shops or Google quickly give you a feel for the service and support performance of a web host. With Trusted Shops, the reviews come exclusively from real customers, as the rating is only possible after the purchase has been completed.
Comparison Sites
In addition to customer reviews, you can also use comparison sites such as HOSTtest or Webhostingvergleich to get an idea of the hosting providers available.
Database with the most Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A well-stocked FAQ section with the most frequently asked questions is also an indication of a high level of service and well-functioning support. Many ambiguities can be resolved with a quick search in the FAQs.
This is often faster than writing a support ticket or dialing the support hotline. At the same time, it frees up customer support for trickier issues, which ultimately benefits everyone.
Personal Support
Sometimes even FAQs cannot help. In this case, the personal support of your provider will help you.
With most web hosting providers, you can reach the support by email, phone or chat. A support team in your time zone that speaks your language will provide you with the best support.
The support should also have an open ear for you while choosing your web hosting package or help you with questions about technical details.
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