What is Web Hosting?

A web host is a service provider who has a server where your website is located. It allows your website to be visited by anyone in the entire world who has access to the internet via a browser, such as on a computer or mobile phone.

When you access a website you are actually viewing the site from a server somewhere in the world. The speed that your site shows on your screen can be affected by the server. Servers with too high traffic cause a page to be slow to load. Servers can be hacked and obtain viruses if they are not properly secured. If a host is successfully attacked, your site can be defaced, or your data corrupted and/or deleted.

What web host options are there?

Web hosts typically fall into two categories - shared hosting and dedicated hosting.

Shared hosting is the budget option whereby your website is on a shared server with other websites and other clients. This is called a Virtual Private Server (VPS). Your web designer may use a shared hosting service, whereby not only their clients are on that server, but also other companies clients too.

This is generally a cheaper way to host your website, but can have some security issues as the web designer has no control over what else is loaded on to that server.

Dedicated Servers fall into two main catgories. There are complete dedicated servers whereby only your site is located on that server. This is typically used for sites with a very high amount of traffic and is very expensive. Most sites do not need this level of service.

There are dedicated servers that are only used by one company, but contain a variety of that companies clients. This offers a good level of security and control, as no other company can load data on to the server, and are more cost effective than a complete dedicated server.

Not all servers and tech support associated with the server are located in Australia, so it is worth checking this before you sign up to a hosting package.

What hosting option do we offer?

All of our sites are located on a dedicated server, which is partitioned to hold a number of our clients on the same server. This keeps the cost of the hosting down, but maintains the security as no other third party has access to the server.

It offers a balance of security, speed and value, to offer our clients the best solution

We use an Australian Based served company, who we can access via phone and email 24 hours a day. All technicians managing the servers are located in Australia. With state of the art systems in place, there are rarely any issues.

Protecting your site

Whilst no host will give a 100% data guarantee, as it is your responsilibity to maintain a copy of your website, there are a lot of steps that a server company can take to ensure your website and data are not compromised.

Regular backs up should be carried out and these should be stored separately to your server in the event of a complete server breakdown.

The server should have a firewall and security system to protect against attacks and viruses.

The server management should include 24/7 monitoring and support to ensure your website performs to it's optimum

Our hosting option provides all of this support and security.