So, you’re looking to build a new website…
There are a lot of decisions that go into such a project, but one of the most important involves hosting.
The GOAT of “hosting”
Like Jeopardy, website hosting can get very complex, very quickly. So we’re going to focus on the basics for now. Chances are, you don’t need to be an expert on hosting—you just need to figure out what is best for your situation.
Put simply, web hosting is the place where all your website files live. It’s the server the general public connects to in order to load your website. There are, generally speaking, three types of hosting to consider:
Option 1: Hosting Company
A web hosting service is what allows your organization’s website to be discoverable on the internet. Well-known hosting companies include GoDaddy, Hostgator, and BlueHost.
These providers offer cheap shared hosting for just a few bucks a month, but the downside is that your server resources are bare-minimum and you share those resources with other customers. So, any issues that other sites might be having (high traffic, malware issues, etc.) can potentially impact the performance of your site as well.
This drawback may not be a serious concern for you—it’s really dependent on the needs of your organization. For example, if it’s not a big deal for you to have occasional website outages, this option will be sufficient. A “mom-and-pop” business without a large e-commerce presence, like a single-location coffee shop, should be just fine using a hosting company. If their website went down for an hour, it would not drastically affect the business, either reputationally or financially.
Mom-and-pop shops can usually hire a web hosting company and kick back.
Option 2: Managed Hosting
The second type of hosting is a “managed” solution. This is what Makeway does by partnering with cloud service providers like DigitalOcean, Amazon Web Services, or Google Cloud Platform.
Think of it like a hybrid solution: you don’t have to do all the work yourself, but you also maintain control.
Sticking with our coffee shop example, you may opt for a managed-hire solution if you have several shops and also process bulk B2B orders online. In this scenario, if the website goes down for just an hour, you could miss out on a valuable e-commerce order.
To learn about the benefits of having Makeway handle your website hosting, click here.
Think of Managed Hosting as a hybrid solution.
Option 3: Do-It-Yourself / Enterprise
The third and final option is a do-it-yourself / enterprise approach. You can use Google Cloud, AWS, or another service that gives you virtually complete control over your website hosting environment and its data.
In our coffee shop example, the do-it-yourself approach is appropriate for Starbucks and Dunkin, which clearly have outgrown options 1 and 2. These giant companies need to handle hosting and ensure customers never have issues retrieving files.
With a do-it-yourself / enterprise approach, you can always serve up the goods.
Fit to You
Those are the three options you should be familiar with. Ultimately, it comes down to what’s best for your organization.
For additional resources, head to this handy FAQ page.
And, if you’re still unsure, drop us a line! We’d be happy to help talk you through the options and provide an honest assessment about your best approach—even if that means you don’t need our hosting services. Reach us anytime at [email protected].
