Before you go online with your new homepage, you need to find a suitable web host. Depending on the complexity of the website, different demands should be placed on your web hosting here. For example, you have to ask yourself whether you want to share a server with other customers or prefer an expensive root server.
In addition to the answers to these and many other questions, we show how high web hosting costs can be and how you should best proceed in your search for the right provider.
Web hosting is necessary for every website
As a company, you can’t really do without your own homepage these days. Not only innovative start-ups or e-commerce projects, but also classic founders from retail, trade or gastronomy should no longer do without the Internet as an important marketing channel. Online use has changed too much in recent years, so that a lack of an Internet presence now represents a major competitive disadvantage.
If you want to operate your own website, you need to find a provider who can provide the desired Internet presence on a web space and connect the server to the Word Wide Web so that anyone with an Internet-capable terminal device can access it.
The type of website determines the web hosting
There are a lot of different web hosting solutions on the market, from which the right one has to be chosen. The choice of the right web hosting depends in particular on the requirements for your own homepage.
If, for example, as a founder you want to operate a pure presence website, whose content is limited exclusively to the presentation of the most important information about the company, then the demands on the web hosting are usually low.
If, on the other hand, you plan to map the processes of your business model mainly via your website, the web hosting requirements will be higher. Depending on the functional scope of the website, the complexity of the software used and the planned level of visitor numbers, the web hosting must be able to meet various criteria.
For example, if an online store is planned in your web presence, through which larger amount of goods will be sold, then it is even more important to perform an accurate analysis of your needs for the optimal web hosting.
TIP: You don’t have your own homepage yet? Use a homepage construction kit or fall back on one of our web designers, who will also support you with web hosting.
Server types: shared web hosting, root servers & Co.
So, at the beginning, as a founder, you should ask yourself what type of web hosting is suitable for you. In the following, the most common forms of web hosting and the respective target group for them are described:
- Free web hosting
Even if founders lack financial resources, especially at the beginning – please do not skimp on hosting. Free web hosting can be quickly recognized by the trained eye and will harm your young company more than it will bring you anything. - Web hosting via homepage construction kit
If money is really tight, it is better to use a homepage construction kit. This is a ready-made website that you can customize in parts and fill with content. For small presence websites with a low budget, a homepage construction kit is an acceptable solution. The web hosting is usually included in the price. - Shared web hosting
If you have your website developed by a professional, you will need your own web space at the latest. Shared web hosting is a reasonable option for most websites. This means the joint use of a server by several customers of a web hoster. For example, 50 different customers can host their homepage on a shared server without any relevant restrictions for their own website and its web hosting. - Web hosting with own server
For founders, there is rarely a reason to resort to a completely dedicated server instead of shared web hosting, which does not have to be shared with any other customers. If, for example, you plan to operate a website with several thousand visits per day, then the technical resources of a shared server are often no longer sufficient and you need your own root server or managed server for web hosting. The same applies to high software requirements, which a shared server usually cannot keep up with. Security aspects and data protection reasons can be another reason for companies to opt for their own server.
Another small tip for the initial phase: even if you are optimistic at the beginning and expect a lot of visitors on your website – start small when it comes to web hosting. Most providers allow you to upgrade quite easily and switch from a shared server to your own root server, for example.
