With today’s advancements in web technology, small and big companies have the desire to have their own website. In fact, a company website has many advantages. Your awareness increases, you find new customers, and can open up additional sales channels. You have probably already come across WordPress, a software with which you can set up a website easily, conveniently and inexpensively. As with most other web applications, you need a web host for WordPress. Check out to compare the best web hosting. But what is web hosting, and what characterizes good WordPress web hosting?
What is web hosting: Where do you put your website
The question of What is web hosting can be answered quickly. Without the internet, you might design a billboard for your company and hang it on an advertising pillar or billboard. You can imagine a very simple website like such an advertising poster. Just as you need to rent advertising space to put up your poster, you need a space to store the website. Your own private computer is not well suited for this, because then your site would only be accessible if the computer is switched on. You would also need a powerful computer with a fast internet connection so that many simultaneous visitors don’t slow down the website.
In computer technology, a host is a server computer that is connected to a network and provides services for other computers. A web host is a company that rents storage space for websites – so-called webspace – on its own computers. To stay with the poster example: the webspace is the advertising space and the web host is the owner of the billboard or advertising column. A web host can not only offer storage space, but also entire servers and ready-made web applications. For example, if a hoster has ready-to-use WordPress installations on offer, we speak of WordPress web hosting.
Homepage builds versus WordPress web hosting
Small and young companies often wonder whether they should go for a website or a construction kit. Although construction kits are actually easier to use, they have some clear disadvantages. Their functions and graphic designs are very limited and only allow a few adjustments. That makes it difficult to expand if the site is successful and is supposed to grow. In addition, you are tied to one provider with them. A change to other construction kits or a conversion of the website to WordPress are only possible with a lot of effort and additional costs.
It’s different with WordPress web hosting. The web application can be expanded practically at will, and the move to other hosters is relatively easy. After installation and setup, WordPress is not much more difficult to use than a construction kit. Since WordPress is popular, there are a lot of hosters and there is a big price war. That is why WordPress web hosting is available very cheaply and highly recommended by many.
The different forms of WordPress web hosting
Most web hosts offer different types of hosting, from which you can choose a suitable one depending on the size of your website. The three most common forms are shared hosting, virtual dedicated servers, and your own hardware server.
With shared hosting, several websites from different owners run on one server. They must all resources such as memory, processor and Internet connection sharing. Even with the virtual server, different websites use the same server computer.
However, the web projects run in specially shielded environments with their own operating systems and server programs. In contrast to shared hosting, the provider guarantees you certain amounts of RAM and stable processor performance. With a dedicated – or your own – server, you rent a real, complete server computer that you can use all by yourself.
The shared hosting is the cheapest and sometimes even free of charge available. It is completely sufficient for the usual WordPress web hosting. Therefore, our what-is-web hosting guide recommends shared hosting for small to medium-sized projects. Virtual servers are better suited for medium-sized and larger websites such as web shops with many articles, blogs with several authors and numerous readers, and for video portals or forums. You only need your own hardware server for large web services with special requirements.
Secure websites through WordPress web hosting providers
A distinction can also be made between managed and unmanaged offers for virtual and own servers. With the more frequently used managed hosting, the hoster takes over the technical maintenance of the server, while with unmanaged packages you are responsible for the server yourself. Setting up and managing a server is more than just installing a few programs and backing them up. Many settings have to be set correctly so that the system is safe from hacker attacks, blackmail trojans, viruses and other malware.
If you install WordPress yourself, you have to keep yourself informed about newly discovered security gaps in special forums and close them as quickly as possible. In addition, your site must comply with the legal requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Telemedia Act (TMG) and the laws for online trading. Special WordPress web hosting providers know exactly what is necessary for this in web shops and blogs.