Hosting is one of those things most business owners pay for without being quite sure what it is. That's fine, until the site goes down, gets hacked or crawls to a halt. Here's what it actually covers.
Hosting, in plain English
Your website is a set of files and data that has to live on a computer that's always on and connected to the internet. That's hosting. When someone visits your site, the host sends those pages to their browser.
What good hosting includes
- Speed: pages served quickly, wherever your visitors are.
- Security: an SSL certificate (the padlock in the address bar) and protection against common attacks.
- Updates: the software behind your site kept up to date, so known security holes get closed.
- Backups: regular copies of your site, so nothing is ever lost.
- Monitoring: someone keeping an eye on your site, so problems are spotted early.
- Support: a real person to help when you need something changed or fixed.
What cheap hosting often leaves out
Budget hosting usually covers only the first part, a space for your files, and leaves the rest to you. Updates get missed, backups don't exist until the day you need one, and support is a ticket queue. The low monthly price can end up costing far more.
Why it matters for your business
A slow or broken website loses enquiries, and a hacked one can damage your reputation. Good hosting and care quietly protect both.
Questions to ask any host
- Who applies updates, and how often?
- How often are backups taken, and how quickly can you restore one?
- Is an SSL certificate included?
- Who do I contact when something goes wrong, and how quickly will they reply?
- Can I make small changes, or will every edit be charged?
Every G² site includes care and hosting for £50 a month, covering all of the above, from the studio that built it.