40+ FAQ Related to Web Hosting
Domain Name
A domain name is the address of a website that you type in a web browser’s URL bar to visit.
A subdomain is an addition to your original domain name. It can help you navigate better to different sections of your main website. Example: blog.google.com
It is very easy to buy domain names, at a low cost, from domain.com or namecheap.com. Simply use the search bar to check domain availability, then follow the prompts in order to complete the domain registration process.
WHOIS is a public database that allows anyone to look up the identity of a domain owner when they register a domain. You can keep your contact information secure from public view by activating WhoisGuard Privacy Protection service from namecheap.com. You can avail it for free if you buy a domain from them.
TLD stands for ‘top-level domain’ and refers to the rightmost part of every domain name. For example, in hostingcrush.com, ‘hostingcrush.com’ is the domain name, while ‘.com’ is the TLD. The most popular TLD is the .com extension. Other common TLDs include .net, .org, .edu, etc.
A domain registrar is the company that registers and manages a domain name on your behalf. The registrar is an organization that is accredited by ICANN, a non-profit organization responsible for managing domain names. We recommend domain.com or namecheap.com if you only need to register a domain name.
Web Hosting
Web hosting is an online service that enables you to rent or buy space to store your website files on the internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technology and services needed for the website to be viewed when someone wants access to it.
There are different types of web hosting such as shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated hosting, and colocation hosting.
Managed hosting involves the management of servers, system hardware, and system software by the web hosting provider. It is suitable for medium to large-sized business websites. You can get managed hosting with shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting.
Managed WordPress hosting is managed hosting that is especially optimized for WordPress; you get superior support and security features as the support technicians are often WordPress developers and experts. Hosting providers such as DreamHost, WP Engine, and Kinsta offer great Managed WordPress hosting plans for high traffic websites. They are specialized and well-experienced in WordPress CMS and provide faster loading times.
Begin by deciding your website needs, then research by reading reviews and comparing the key factors between multiple web hosts such as reliability, features, support, ease of use, price of sign up, and renewal rates. Our hosting comparison page will help you.
The cheapest web hosting starts from $0.99 per month on Hostinger, but with basic features. Generally, web hosts offer lower rates for long-term plans. Of course, pricing varies with the kind of features a plan includes. Check out our deals page for exceptional web hosting offers.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting, the most basic type of web hosting, allows multiple websites to utilize a single server machine. It’s cost-effective and it doesn’t require high technical expertise.
Shared hosting is ideal for those just getting started online, that is, for entry-level websites, such as blogs, non-profits, personal portfolio, startups, and small business sites.
Shared hosting is affordable, flexible, easy to use, and professionally managed by hosting providers. This means that your host will take care of server management and maintenance. You can also host WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and other popular applications through shared hosting.
As your site begins to receive higher levels of traffic, you might notice that your site performance has slowed down. As such, both page loading and uptime rates tend to fall because your site is sharing server resources with other websites.
- Check how fast your website loads from GTmetrix.com .
- Boost your site speed with a CDN solution from Cloudfare or from your web host.
- Make it load faster for regular visitors by using W3 Total Cache plugin.
- Optimize images and resize them by using Smush plugin.
- Keep your apps and plugins updated for security and performance purposes.
- Minify CSS, JavaScript files, and combine resources and compress files by Gzip.
- Use Youtube or Vimeo platforms for hosting your videos.
We recommend Bluehost, GreenGeeks, and Siteground.
VPS Hosting
VPS, which is short for Virtual Private Server, uses virtualization technology to provide you with dedicated (private) resources on a server with multiple users. It lets fewer users share allocated segments of hard drive space, memory, and processor power.
VPS hosting is perfect for those who have outgrown the resources of a shared hosting plan. It’s great for small or medium-sized businesses that can’t afford unexpected downtime on their website(s).
VPS hosting easily beats shared hosting in terms of both speed and reliability. Issues and traffic surges of other server users won’t affect your site. With VPS, privacy improves, too, as your files and databases stay locked from other server users. Also, VPS is more affordable than a dedicated server and growth scaling is fast and easy.
VPS is more expensive than shared hosting and requires higher technical knowledge to manage your server.
VPS and Cloud VPS are the same thing. Cloud VPS is, how Liquid Web describes its VPS hosting plans.
We recommend Liquid Web, ScalaHosting, and Hostgator.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting utilizes a network of virtual servers that tap into an underlying network of physical servers. You rely on a unique server configuration that lets you pull from multiple servers.
It’s a great option for medium and large-sized business websites that get a high volume of traffic and experience growth at a rapid rate.
With cloud hosting, you get blazing fast speeds, higher uptime, and great security. It is, also, easy to scale your server.
Unexpected high traffic can increase your bill. Also, you might face difficulties in migrating from one cloud platform to another (vendor lock-in). Some providers offer limited control and flexibility since the cloud infrastructure is entirely owned, managed, and monitored by them.
The best part of cloud hosting is that you can benefit from the Pay-As-You-Go payment system, which means, you only pay for what you use.
We recommend Cloudways, SiteGround, and Hostgator.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is when you have an entire server that gives you complete control over the server hardware and software. You’ll also be able to customize your server depending on the amount of RAM and overall storage you require, along with the type of CPU and operating system.
Dedicated hosting is typically the best fit for large organizations and sites that receive a large volume of traffic, deal with sensitive user data, or have a unique software configuration.
Dedicated servers provide you with an improved, solid performance. You get superior flexibility and control over your website along with high reliability, scalability, and uptime.
As you have an entire server to yourself, the monthly charges will be greater. Dedicated hosting requires advanced technical knowledge to handle server configuration, setup, and maintenance.
In that case, managed dedicated hosting with a trusted web hosting provider might be a better option.
We recommend InMotion, Liquid Web, and Hostgator.
Technical Terms
CDN (Content Delivery Network) refers to a geographically distributed group of servers that work together to deliver site content faster. CDN improves page load times, handles high traffic loads, and protects from DDoS attacks.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is a security technology that is commonly used to secure server to browser transactions. Website URLs which start with “https://” imply that your connection to the website is secure and encrypted. The technology that powers that little “s” is called SSL.
cPanel is one of the most popular Linux-based control panels for web hosting accounts. It lets you manage domains, resource usage, and services conveniently in a single place. Currently, cPanel is the industry standard and its easy to learn and use.
CMS (Content Management System) is a tool that helps you build, create, manage, and modify content on a website without having to write the code. One popular content management system is WordPress.
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a method to access and share files on the internet. FTP is often used to make changes to a website; you can move a web template, add image files, and/or upload specific files to build a website. FileZilla is one of the best FTP softwares.
Uptime indicates the web host’s server availability and reliability. If a server goes offline, all the websites hosted on that server will be offline until the server is fixed. To measure your website uptime you can use UptimeRobot.
SEO Basics
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the practice of optimizing content to be discovered through a search engine’s unpaid results, also known as organic. SEO focuses on improving site rankings to improve user experience and website usability.
SEO is a long-term strategy to help your website attain organic traffic for increased credibility, engagement, and conversions.
It involves making sure that search engines like Google and Bing are able to find your website pages to show them in search results. RankMath or Yoast plugins can help you to do this by yourself.
Keyword research is the process of finding words that people enter into search engines to view the results they want. Example: When you search for “SEO tool” keywords, you will get related results.
We recommend SEMrush which is trusted by more than 5 million users worldwide. People use SEMrush as a tool for keyword research, tracking the keyword strategy used by competitors, running an SEO audit of the website, looking for back linking opportunities, Google Ad campaign optimization, etc.
You can learn SEO from SEMrush blog or SearchEngineJournal.