Web Hosting
Procuring and Setting Up Web Hosting
The information on this page is written specifically for Dartmouth Design clients, but is broadly applicable to anyone who is building a website.
What is web hosting and why do I need it?
Short Answer
Web hosting refers to the process of storing all of a website’s files on a server. If you don’t do this, then your website isn’t actually online, and nobody will be able to see it on the Internet.
More Detailed Answer
All websites are composed of files. Even the very simplest one-page website comprises at least a single file. Most files contain the code that produces a web page (.html, .php, .asp etc.). But your website might also include information in a database, as well as photos, videos, audio files, PDFs, and other documents for download etc.
So where do all these files go, and how do they end up as a “live” website that anyone in the world can visit through the Internet?
The answer is that the files are housed on a server–a computer that has been specially configured to be part of the Internet. The server serves your files up at your web address (whatever .com, .org, .net etc. address you purchased), so that people all over the world can see your site when they visit your web address.
If your website’s files aren’t on a server, then your site isn’t online, and nobody can visit it on the Internet.
Should I build my own server or use a professional web hosting company?
Short Answer
You should probably use a professional web-hosting company if you have to ask this question. 
More Detailed Answer
Some businesses choose to handle hosting on their own. They have a Networking department and their own servers. Businesses might do this because they are very large, do a very high volume of E-commerce, have particular security concerns, or have a technically savvy founder who set up their own server from the beginning.
Regardless, this option is not usually chosen as a cost-saving measure (servers aren’t cheap, and neither are the high-quality employees who manage and maintain them), and for most small or medium-sized non-technology businesses, it’s easier to use a professional web-hosting company. In this scenario, your server will be located at a secure facility managed by your web hosting company. It may be hundreds or even thousands of miles away from your company, which for most businesses poses no problems.
How much should professional web hosting cost?
Short Answer
For a small or medium-sized business, from $0 to $1000+ per year, with $10 a month being pretty typical.
More Detailed Answer
The reason there is so much variance in the cost of web hosting is that there is a broad range in the types of servers and hosting services that businesses need. The main choice is whether to rent your own private server, a shared server, or a virtual private server.
- Private Server: Well over $100 per month, and can get very expensive. You rent the entire machine and no other websites will be served via your machine. Think of this as renting your own castle. Lots of privacy, security, and service…but if you have an average “family,” you may realize you just don’t need so much space and luxury.
- Shared Server: From $0 to $20 per month. You rent space on a server that might serve hundreds of other websites. Think of this as renting an apartment in a huge high-rise. Some buildings are just better than others, and it can be hard to know who your neighbors are, but if the property management company is very good, your experience will probably be alright.
- Virtual Private Server (VPS): About $50 per month. You rent space on a server that is specially partitioned so that it can be used very securely to serve a few websites that are hosted on it. This is like renting a luxury residence in the Ritz-Carlton, and can be an excellent choice for those who want more security and services than they’d get on a shared server, but who view the private server “castle” as overkill.
Other common factors that affect the cost of hosting include whether you require hosting for a database (e.g., mySQL) and advanced scripting languages (e.g., PHP, ASP etc.), as well as whether you choose to purchase many a la carte hosting options (e.g., special anti-spam email protection, multiple databases, domain locking, anonymous registration, extra email storage, extra bandwidth, extra support etc.) Most of these add-ons are unnecessary, but if you plan to use any kind of dynamic content management system (CMS), including Joomla, Drupal, WordPress etc., then you will need mySQL and PHP support, for about $10 per month.
How do I find a good web host and get set up?
Short Answer
Visit our preferred web host, Osiris Communications, and click on “Small & Medium Biz,” or contact us and let us take care of it for you.
More Detailed Answer
Over the past 10 years, we’ve had the chance to do business with many of the big hosting companies–for our own websites, as well as our clients’.
Hands down, our favorite web host is Osiris Communications, of Santa Clara, CA. When you host your site at Osiris, you get real people who care about retaining your business and keeping your website secure. Osiris has excellent hosting options for every type of business and budget. Their colocation center is located in San Jose’s Market Post Tower NOC (network operations center), which is known throughout the industry as one of the world’s “best known Internet center point.” That may not mean much to you, but to us, it is a really good thing!
We hope you’ll host your website with Osiris Communications, but if you want to look over some other options, we also use:
What about Go Daddy?
After having more than a few of our clients’ serious hosting problems go unanswered when we contacted Go Daddy’s customer support department, and after having viewed so many million-dollar Go Daddy television commercials that feature women stripping, but nothing about security, hosting, or customers, we’ve decided that Go Daddy’s priorities are not where they should be: on website hosting, server security, and not much else. If Go Daddy is your current web host, it’s not a problem for us. But we’re telling you up front that we hope you’ll change hosts, and if you decide to change, we’ll be happy to help you with the transfer.