Website hosting and website support are two entirely different services. One is mandatory and the other comes highly recommended. Read on to uncover the must-knows about these ongoing website services and their costs.

What is website hosting?

Website hosting is like renting space on the internet to store your website's files and make them accessible to others. When you create a website, you need a place to store all the text, images, videos and any other website content.

A web hosting company provides servers that store these files and deliver them to people who visit your website. You can often access these services from web development companies as well.

If you’re struggling to get your head around web hosting, you might like to think of it like renting a home. It's similar to renting a house as you pay a fee to use the (server) space where your content sits. The main takeaway is this - without website hosting, your website wouldn't be seen or available online.

Website hosting options and cost

When you get a website designed and made, the web developer might offer to host your website as part of their service. This usually comes with an ongoing cost which is typically billed annually.

The alternate option is to use a different hosting provider if preferred. There are different levels of hosting services to cater for websites of different sizes and requirements. Your web developer should explain your planned website’s requirements from the outset so you know what to expect. If you need to host a business website, the ongoing costs will be tax deductible.

How does hosting differ from website support?

Website hosting isn’t the same service as website support and it’s important to recognise this. Website support is when website experts are on hand to put out any fires and improve your website in line with industry or plug-in changes and requirements. These services are usually billed monthly based on the size and complexity of your website.

For example, website support will ensure that any bug fixes are made swiftly to prevent any disruption to your business processes. Or it could be when you need a professional to make a security update or upload new content each month.

Unlike website hosting, website support services aren’t mandatory but doing them yourself usually isn’t an option due to a lack of knowledge and/or time. Your website will still be visible online even if you don’t opt into website support services. But we encourage clients to seriously consider our website support services for several reasons.

Why you should consider website support

We encourage clients to consider an ongoing website support package. This isn’t so we make more money from clients but to prevent them from having to spend more on their website maintenance.

If you don’t have ongoing support through a subscription package, you will need to pay a web developer for each ad-hoc task they complete, such as uploading content, fixing bugs or updating website security. This triggers an hourly fee and possibly a minimum fee for their work, which increases costs. Even just a couple of these tasks per year can be more expensive than paying for ongoing website support services. Moreover, clients who are part of an ongoing service package are likely to be serviced before ad-hoc requests, meaning your website fix or upgrade could be implemented faster.

In summary, most businesses will save money and time on website maintenance and upgrades by choosing a website support service rather than paying for ongoing individual services.

Recap: Website hosting is like renting space on the internet for your website's files. A hosting company stores your content and delivers it to visitors for a fixed fee per year. On the other hand, website support involves ongoing assistance with bug fixes and updates. It's beneficial to consider website support services to save time and money each year. These services are charged per month based on website size.

WEBPRO Knows

HubSpot suggests that maintaining a website costs at least £350 per year on average, which supports the idea that support services will save money.