Web Hosting and Features
Hosting is the term given to describe where your website will live. Whilst your site is under development, we will post prototype pages on a test area of our own website for you to check and view (see our webdesign page for when this is necessary).
Except for very small single-page personal sites, we don't recommend using the free webspace which comes with your Internet Service Provider. Firstly, and most importantly for businesses, they can sometimes be offline for considerable periods (sometimes called 'downtime'). Secondly the passwords for these accounts are often the same as for your personal email. Lastly, many of them are configured so you can only upload files when connected to the internet via them - this can make it impossible for us to upload files on your behalf!
We offer hosting for websites built by us in partnership with Heart Internet - exactly what features you require will depend on the size of the website, and whether you will features such as databases or Web Statistics - information on how many people visit your site (see below).
Dedicated hosting companies are geared towards ensuring your site is available for viewing for as much of the time as is possible. The choice of hosting company also may affect how quickly the files download.
The companies we use typically offer the following features:
- site backup - a copy of your site is stored.
- power backup - hosting computers are protected by their own
generators in the event of power failure.
- site statistics - you can find out a wealth of information about
who is visiting your site, which pages they view most and which one they
enter/leave the site from. This can be invaluable when assessing the
effectiveness of your site: see our Upkeep page.
Site statistics is usually a cost option which can be added to some hosting
packages for around £10-£15 a year.
- domain name registration - see our Domains page.
Basically it's a good idea to register domains with the same company
as you use for your hosting.
- email and internet accounts - some hosting packages give you multiple email accounts and can also be used as Internet Service Providers (ISPs) for browsing the Internet. See our Domains page for further information on email accounts.
Pearce Web Design will take care of all these hosting arrangements according to our discussions with you, so if the above means nothing to you, don't worry!