Website Hosting and Management: Understanding the Difference
In your research, you may have come across confusing terminologies regarding website hosting – shared or dedicated, virtual servers and cloud hosting. But, most importantly, how does website hosting differ from website management.
Not all hosting providers are the same – some may offer lacklustre services, and some forego proper management and regular maintenance a hosted website needs.
Consider website hosting is an important first step, but it comprises only one half of a service – not all web hosting services will dedicate the time clients need to resolve issues, or to properly maintain a website once hosted.
With this said, we’ll guide you through the ins and outs of both website hosting and management, and how you can get the best possible solution to both if you’re looking to host with us.
What is Website Hosting?
At Barrett Solutions, we provide both a dedicated and shared cloud server hosting service – this gives you the option of choice; you may want the added security and high-performance of a dedicated server, or you might be looking for a more cost-effective solution to hosting.
With shared hosting, websites are hosted in a cluster – this doesn’t mean there isn’t room to scale-up (when website traffic increases) or that your website is less-protected in the event that data needs to be recovered.
One of the benefits of cloud sharing is that problems are quickly identified when all clients are hosted on a safe and secure system.
We offer a similar service across the board for our clients, we ensure availability when issues arise, and can personalise our services to your needs.
Why do we Need Website Management?
As we’ve already mentioned, just hosting a website for a client is one step in the process – we offer an encompassing service for our customers.
Website maintenance, or management, is important for maintaining the functionality, security, and overall user-experience of a website – this is necessary for e-commerce businesses, or if you are marketing your services through your website.
Additionally, “web hosting” does not specifically refer only to websites – the same service applies to web apps, app files and middleware (software that allows functionality between different systems, such as OS’s and databases)
The reputation of your brand, or your reputation as a service provider, is important, and having a website that matches and reflects your own diligence in this matter is crucial.
At Barrett solutions, we handle server support and migrations, necessary software updates, and the overall security of your sites hosted with us. To protect your website, we backup routinely, alongside having off-site backups in the case of data loss or failure. Backups will not always be required, but they are a necessary safety precaution.
We are continually monitoring to prevent data loss and, should the worst happen, we also offer data recovery services should any issues arise through migrating to a new web host.
We also handle website development – if you are unsatisfied with your previous web host provider or wish your website to be re-designed from the ground up, then we can help. Or, perhaps you’re a new customer looking for the best option when it comes to both website hosting and management.
How Easy is it to Change Website Hosts?
This can depend on a variety of factors – typically, with the right technical expertise aiding you, migrating your website, and the data intact, can be relatively easy.
This is not always the case, as depending on the size and complexity of the website, the process can entail a great deal more – but this is a manageable occurrence, of which we deal with regularly.
Other providers, or the web hosts you are currently with, may offer some form of migration but this is typically a paid and often separate service. We can liaise with previous providers to make sure the process goes smoothly, if you’re looking to move to a new web host.
With Barrett Solutions, we endeavour to ease the process of website migrations and switching hosts – with our help, the process can be made simple and stress-free; even if your previous provider is unhelpful, or if you are unable to contact them directly and resolve issues. We often have customers in this exact predicament.
To prevent these same issues happening in the future, we employ the same measures as other website hosts to provide easy migration elsewhere, and we backup website data for exactly this reason.
Can you buy a domain name without hosting?
We often get asked about domain purchases, and what steps to take after purchasing a domain, or we have clients looking to host a website with a previous domain purchase.
You do not have to host a website, or employ the services of a web host, in order to purchase a domain name – it simply means that you can now use that domain to host a website under it at a later date.
Obviously, there are methods to handle this yourself – but for the majority of people, it is simply easier and more efficient to seek the help of a specialist when dealing with domain purchases.
Often, there can be complications with purchasing a specific domain – you may have to deal with brokers, and premium domain purchases may require a more involved process.
We can help with this, and can purchase the domain you need on your behalf without any of the concerns that come with handling this on your time.
Looking for a New Web Host?
At Barrett Solutions, we provide a comprehensive range of IT services; both web and tech services tailored to the needs of business customers – and in case of web hosting and management, we provide a complete and all-encompassing service from domain purchases, to simplified hosting, and continued maintenance and management of your site.
With competitively priced services, we aim to deliver for all types of businesses; both global and local.
If you’d like to get in contact for more information on website hosting and management, or you would like to enquire about our services, you can do so via our email – info@barrettsolutions.co.uk
FAQs
Yes, we can host multiple websites for you – all within the same system. This is both a convenient and cost-effective solution for our clients when they need to host multiple sites.
Server uptime refers to the duration that a server remains operational. High server uptime ensures that your website is accessible to visitors without interruptions.
Higher website traffic usually requires a robust hosting plan with more resources to ensure optimal performance and user experience.
Some hosting plans have storage and bandwidth limitations. It’s essential to choose a plan that aligns with your website’s storage and traffic requirements. We can help both large, and small, business with scalability when it comes to hosting.
We implement SSL encryption, regular security updates, and server-level security measures to best safeguard your website’s data.