You’ve chosen your domain name. Now your website needs somewhere to live.
Your web hosting company provides the space where your website’s files are stored and makes them available to people visiting your website.
What Is Web Hosting?
Think of your web hosting as a filing cabinet for your website.
Every website has files: photographs, text, documents, and the code that makes everything work. Those files need somewhere to live.
Your hosting company provides that space on a computer called a server. The server stays connected to the internet so visitors can access your website.
- Your domain name is like your street address. It tells visitors where to find you.
- Your web hosting is your filing cabinet. It’s where your website’s files live.
- WordPress is the tool you’ll use to create, organize, and manage your website.
When someone types your domain name into a browser, the internet directs that visitor to your hosting server. The server then delivers the information needed to display your website.
You don’t need to own a server or keep a computer running at home. That’s what you’re paying your hosting company to do.
What Kind of Hosting Do You Need?
Hosting companies offer several types of hosting, but we’re going to keep things simple.
For the small-business website we’re building in Website Guide 101, shared hosting is a practical place to start.
Shared Hosting
Imagine a large filing cabinet with separate drawers for different businesses. Each business has its own files, but everyone shares the same cabinet.
Shared hosting works in a similar way. Several websites share the resources of one server, while their hosting accounts remain separate.
Because the server’s operating costs are shared, this is generally one of the more affordable types of hosting.
For a typical small-business website with a Home page, About Us page, Products or Services page, and Contact page, shared hosting is usually sufficient.
Other Types of Hosting
You may also see advertisements for VPS hosting, dedicated servers, and cloud hosting. These options can provide additional resources, flexibility, or control, but they may cost more or require additional technical knowledge.
You don’t need to start there. If your website grows and eventually requires more resources, you can explore other hosting options later.
What Should You Look for in a Hosting Plan?
Hosting advertisements can make choosing a plan seem complicated. You’ll see offers for storage, bandwidth, email, security, website builders, and all sorts of extras.
For this guide, we’re concentrating on the features that matter when building your first WordPress website.
1. Enough Storage for Your Website
Storage is the space available for your website’s files, photographs, documents, databases, and email.
Think about the filing cabinet again. A business with a handful of documents needs less space than one with thousands of files.
A simple small-business website generally doesn’t need an enormous amount of storage. However, photographs, videos, email, and backups can increase your storage needs over time.
Check the storage allowance when comparing hosting plans, particularly if you expect to upload lots of photographs or host multiple websites.
2. Easy WordPress Installation
We’ll be building your website with WordPress, and we want to make installing it as easy as possible.
Our chosen hosting provider, VeeroTech, includes Softaculous, a tool inside cPanel that installs WordPress for you.
No downloading files, uploading software or complicated installation procedures. We’ll walk you through the process step by step when it’s time to install WordPress.
3. cPanel
cPanel is a control panel for managing your hosting account.
Think of it as the control center for your filing cabinet. Instead of searching through complicated server settings, you have a dashboard with tools for managing your website.
VeeroTech’s hosting plan includes cPanel, which lets you:
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Add and manage domain names.
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Create and manage email accounts.
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Access your website’s files.
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Manage databases.
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Install WordPress through Softaculous.
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Manage SSL certificates using VeeroTech’s free AutoSSL.
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Manage backups and security-related settings.
4. Business Email
A professional email address uses your own domain name, such as contact@yourbusiness.com.
Our selected hosting provider, VeeroTech, includes email with its shared hosting plans. We’ll cover creating your business email later in the guide.
Quick Tip: Don’t purchase a separate business email package during checkout just because it’s offered to you. Check what’s already included in your hosting plan first.
5. SSL Certificates
Have you noticed that website addresses usually begin with https:// and display a padlock or security information in the browser?
An SSL/TLS certificate helps encrypt information traveling between a visitor’s browser and your website.
VeeroTech offers free AutoSSL, so you generally won’t need to purchase a separate basic SSL certificate.
SSL is important, but remember that it doesn’t automatically make every aspect of a website secure. WordPress updates, strong passwords, and backups still matter.
6. Backups and Support
Remember our filing cabinet? Imagine opening it one morning and discovering that important documents are missing. That’s why backups are so important!
VeeroTech includes backups with its hosting plans, providing an additional layer of protection for your website. It’s also a good idea to keep your own backup in case you ever need to restore your files.
And what happens when something goes wrong?
One of the reasons we’ve chosen VeeroTech is its excellent technical support. Whether you’re having trouble accessing your hosting account, setting up email or managing your website, their support team is available to help.
How Many Websites Do You Plan to Build?
Before choosing a hosting package, think about whether you need one website or might want several.
For example, you might start with your business website and later create a separate website for another project.
Some hosting plans support only one website. Others let you add multiple domains and create separate websites under the same hosting account.
If you plan to build more than one website, compare the available plans before purchasing.
Quick Tip: Each website should have its own folder. We’ll show you how to create a separate folder when you add your domain to cPanel in Down & Dirty Step 4.
Monthly or Annual Billing?
Hosting companies often offer several billing periods. Paying annually may reduce the monthly equivalent, but it usually means paying for the entire year upfront.
Monthly billing spreads the payments out, although the total cost over a year may be higher.
Compare both options and pay attention to:
- The amount due today.
- The introductory price, if one is offered.
- The regular renewal price.
- The length of the billing period.
- Any additional products included in your cart.
Don’t choose a plan based only on a large advertised discount. Make sure you understand what you’ll pay when your introductory period ends.
Why We’re Using VeeroTech
For Website Guide 101, we’ll use VeeroTech shared hosting for our examples and screenshots.
We selected VeeroTech because it provides the tools we’ll use throughout this guide, including standard cPanel, Softaculous for installing WordPress, business email, back ups, and free AutoSSL.
You can use another hosting provider if you prefer. Just remember that its dashboard, installation tools, and settings will look different from the examples in this guide.
A $25 Hosting Credit
VeeroTech has confirmed that eligible customers who sign up through our referral link receive a $25 hosting account credit, subject to its referral program terms.
This is an account credit, not necessarily a discount deducted from your initial checkout total.
Visit VeeroTech through our referral link
Affiliate disclosure: WebByDiane may receive a referral reward if you purchase hosting through our link.
Watch Out for Upsells!
⚠️ WARNING: DON’T CLICK ON EXTRAS YOU DON’T NEED!
When purchasing your domain name or web hosting, you may see offers for website builders, business email, security packages, and other products.
Website builders such as Wix: We’re building your website with WordPress. You don’t need a separate website builder for this guide.
Paid business email: Your selected VeeroTech shared hosting plan includes email. We’ll show you how to set it up later.
Additional services and bundles: Don’t automatically add these to your cart. First, check whether you actually need them and whether your hosting plan already includes similar features.
BEFORE PAYING: Review your cart, remove unwanted extras, and check both today’s total and the renewal prices.
Ready to Buy Your Web Hosting?
Now that you know what web hosting does and which features to look for, you’re ready to purchase your hosting plan.
Our illustrated Down & Dirty guide will walk you through the VeeroTech website, comparing plans, selecting your billing period, entering your domain name, creating your account, and completing checkout.
Down & Dirty — Step 2: Buy Your Web Hosting →
When you’re finished, save your hosting confirmation and welcome emails. You’ll need the nameservers provided by your hosting company for the next step: connecting your domain to your hosting.
| ← Previous Chapter 3 Choosing Your Domain Name |
Website Guide 101 Chapter 4 Choosing Your Web Hosting |
Next → Chapter 5 Connecting Your Domain to Your Hosting |
