
Professional and powerful hosting for an online store – a guarantee of efficient and uninterrupted operation of the online platform, prospects for business development and attracting new clients.
When choosing a company, it is important to consider several key parameters – such as performance, reliability, security, support for all necessary technologies, and the price of the tariff plan. Modern companies offer many options with certain settings and options in the package, which you can decide on based on the needs of a particular project.
What is it needed for hosting in simple words
Hosting is a special service for hosting and storing web resources. You can imagine it in the form of remote equipment that works around the clock and is connected to the Internet. The company that owns it allows clients to post projects here for a fee, guaranteeing access to them 24/7 and support for all current services and technologies.
Simply put, this is a space and capacity rental service. Keeping a separate server constantly connected to power and the network at home or in the office, monitoring its correct operation, providing all important updates and parameters, can be too expensive. It’s easier to rent it from professionals for an amount much less than the cost of providing it yourself.
Answering the question about what is hosting for?, first of all, it is worth noting that without it the online platform will not open at all. You can create a digital product, make sure it works, and launch it on a local network, but it will not be accessible to users. To the site or online store development appeared on the Internet, you need to create a unique address (buy a domain) and place the files somewhere. A hosting service provides a physical place for storing all components and deploying them during operation.
It is important to remember that the service is responsible not only for the availability of the platform, but also for the correctness and stability of its operation – high-quality service guarantees speed, instant access to data, regular backups, protection from malicious attacks, technical support, etc. And that’s why before how to choose hosting, you need, on the one hand, to decide on all the key parameters, on the other, to pay attention to finding a professional service, having read reviews, suggestions, and the company’s reputation.
Specifications, functions and types
When choosing, be sure to take into account all aspects, focusing on the needs of the online project, the characteristics of server equipment, cost and description of tariffs. And therefore, before formalizing cooperation with a specific company, it is worth understanding all the subtleties.
Basic technical hosting characteristics for an online store or another type of site:
- Processor (CPU) – affects overall performance.
- Random access memory (RAM) – matters for the speed of processing and execution of operations.
- Hard disk capacity (HDD/SSD) – determines the storage space.
- Network bandwidth – the speed of request transmission depends on it.
- Uptime – the time during which the server remains available (the indicator should tend to 99-100%). They also sometimes indicate downtime, which, accordingly, shows the duration of downtime.
Among the additional settings, it is worth mentioning the number of resources that can be placed, regularly generated backups, email boxes, support for POP3, IMAP protocols, anti-spam filters, access to the system via FTP and SSH, provision of an SSL certificate, IPv6, etc.
What functions does the hoster perform:
- The location of website files and related components on their own media is a guarantee of their safety, regular backups.
- Providing computing resources—such as a processor (CPU), RAM, and disk space—to process requests and display web pages.
- Monitoring the quality and performance of technical resources, checking and updating to increase stability, SSL certificates for encrypting transmitted information.
- Registration and management of domain names, payment acceptance.
- Email – creation and administration of mailboxes.
- Databases and content management systems (CMS) – many providers include free installation of WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.
- Maintenance – to solve problems and answer user questions.
Virtual
This is an option in which one physical server is divided into several virtual ones. Each Virtual Private Server has its own operating system and dedicated resources. This provides flexibility and control as each virtual sector operates independently. This option is suitable for small and medium-sized projects, receiving a higher level of performance and security at a relatively low cost.
Cloudy
Cloud Hosting is a modern solution that allows you to use the power of not one, but several servers at once to effectively distribute the total load and increase uptime. Working on the basis of virtualization technology allows you to run several virtual ones on one physical medium.
Each cloud machine has its own limitations regarding memory and storage capacity, processor speed, etc. Reliability, cost-effectiveness and the chance to change the settings you need while paying only for what is actually used are key advantages. Thus, Cloud Hosting is chosen by such giants as Microsoft, Google, Amazon and even Facebook.
VPS hosting
VPS is an option in which an isolated part is allocated on a physical medium for a specific project. There can be more than one such sector; each operates completely independently, which provides a number of advantages: the absence of any restrictions, freedom in choosing software, fine-tuning, and a dedicated IP address. Ideal for heavy applications, multi-page online platforms, forums, etc.
Why is it important to choose the right one?hosting for online store
Choosing hosting for an online store website, it is necessary to take into account all the nuances, carefully study the hosters’ offers in advance, and draw up a list of minimum indicators. Savings or too frivolous an attitude towards selecting a tariff can affect the success of the entire event.
Even the brightest, most beautiful, unique web resource with perfectly written code, a bunch of interesting “tricks” and cool content, professionally “tailored” for SEO, may remain in last positions in search engine results due to problems caused by the choice of unreliable hosting -provider or non-compliant.
What negative consequences can this lead to: long periods of downtime of the forum or online store and slow loading of pages, low level of security and protection of confidential information, problems with restrictions, hacking due to viruses and the inability to restore everything after due to the lack of backups.
Any of the above problems affect everyone:
- Visitors – how people will perceive the web resource, how pleasant it will be for them to be there, whether they will want to return again to where everything “hangs” and irritates with slow scripts and twitching animation.
- The technical part is the inability to develop: refine and add new functions, update and expand.
- SEO promotion – search engines also rank projects depending on speed and accessibility indicators. And if the server is regularly down, and the content on the page takes years to load, you won’t see the first positions in the search results.
- Security – theft of classified information, hacks and attacks sooner or later lead to the collapse of a business: from loss of reputation to lawsuits (if bank card numbers are stolen, for example, or something that should remain closed to the public is disclosed).
Risks of free providers
Thinking about what hosting to choose for the site, some are considering free options – there are quite a lot of them on the Internet today. And the decision to use one of the proposals can become a fatal mistake that will ruin the project, if not at the initial stage, then certainly in the process.
No system can operate without funding. And if clients are offered a service for which they do not require payment, it means that the profit comes from some hidden sources. Well, or the organizers of all this have another benefit.
Part of the risks of cooperation on a free basis is associated with the inability to organize the normal functioning of a web resource – it can slow down due to the location of a huge number of files on one sector and its overload, there are restrictions on the domain name (the name of the service is written in it, which looks ugly), visitors are shown intrusive advertising, the owner loses access to the admin panel or individual elements, etc.
Some tariffs are free of charge only at first – during the test period, for example. Money may be required for access to individual settings and capacities. They limit bandwidth, disk space, and skimp on anti-virus protection, which results in hacking and information theft. There is a chance to become part of a bot farm or a victim of scammers who sell users’ personal data.
But even if initially everything works correctly, in the case of a free service you can never be sure of anything – after all, there is no agreement with the rights and obligations of each party specified in it. At any moment, the hoster can simply disappear – and with it the result of the work.
What is the price hosting
To calculate how much hosting costs, you first need to make a clear list of technical requirements, and then choose a provider among those on the market. Prices vary widely depending on the tariff, but do not differ significantly between companies. Therefore, it is worth clearly stating the requirements, looking at a couple of companies from the top lines of the ratings, reading reviews, testing support and buying a service.
Estimated cost in 2023:
- The basic set for small sites is 50-100 hryvnia per year.
- VPS/VDS for blogs, medium-sized online stores – 100-200 hryvnia per year.
- Cloud solution – 150-200 UAH/month.
- Dedicated server capacity with unlimited capacity – about 1000 per month.
Subject to receipt of funds for 12/24 months, the total amount is always lower compared to the monthly payment.
Who is a hosting provider
This is a company that provides server space and power to host websites and applications. The customer is allocated physical or virtual space to store site data on equipment located in different parts of the world. Additionally, various tools may be provided.
The list of the best in Ukraine looks like this:
- Fornex.com – with a large number of packages, excellent reviews, equipment located in 7 countries, 10 years of history and experienced specialists.
- CityHost.ua – low prices, improved panel, speed and uptime up to 99.99%.
- HyperHost.ua – discounts and promotions, high index of continuous operation, test period, prompt technical support and other advantages.
- Hostiq.ua – “heartfelt”, as the specialists position themselves, emphasizing an individual approach, a wide range of opportunities, and assistance in any matter.
- Hostpro.ua – a lot of tariff packages, cool offers.
Criterias of choice website hosting
Picking up website hosting, look at:
- Type – based on a set of characteristics and parameters that meets the needs of the future digital product.
- Server hardware performance, uptime percentage, test results. The larger the idea and the higher the expected traffic, the wider the functionality, the more complex the technical part, the more important this point is.
- The location of the server equipment – it is desirable that it be close to the country of residence of the target audience, in developed countries.
- Scalability – the selected package should allow you to easily expand and grow, change when the concept changes, or be replaced by another
- Security systems – measures taken to counter DDoS attacks, constant audits and SSL certificates.
- Technical support – service seven days a week, prompt response, efficiency.
- Price and plans are, although not the most important, but significant criteria. It is enough to compare the amounts for tariff packages from different companies and evaluate the additional “goodies”.
- Feedback from potential clients and reputation.
Is it possible to change provider?
This can be done if you plan everything in advance and turn to professionals. To change the owner of server equipment, you will need to conclude a new service agreement, properly prepare and physically transfer all files to the new storage, update the DNS records of the domain name, test and complete the transition. Before the whole process begins, backups are created and downloaded, which will protect against losses in the event of errors or other problems.