How Much Should I Pay for Website Hosting?

What is website hosting?

Web hosting is the process of purchasing space on a server to house your website on the internet. All of the components that make up your website (code, text, images, etc.) are all stored on the server, and enable it to be visible to the World Wide Web. 

How much should I pay for website hosting?

The long answer is, it depends. 

Web hosting prices are based on server space and bandwidth. Thus, smaller websites will require less hosting than larger sites, and at a lower cost.

Important aspects of website hosting to consider:

• Will my site be hosted on a New Zealand server?
• Will my hosting be secure, preventing hackers from attacking my site?
• Are there secure, reliable back-ups in place?
• Does your hosting company offer on-going website support & communication?
• Does the server support high performance websites?
• Will the hosting company care about my needs or am I just another partition on a server?

Hosting Options to Be Aware Of:

Though hosting overseas may offer a cheaper alternative, you’ll often find that cheaper hosting comes at a price: unpersonalized onboarding process, poor customer service, slower loading times, and more.  And just because your hosting company is located in New Zealand, they may outsource their hosting to an overseas server. If you’re curious, just ask! 

Be wary of companies offering "free hosting" or "free domains", there is no such thing. It could be a matter of that cost being applied to you under a different guise or having a website that is undermined by annoying pop-up advertising that most users will steer well clear of.

It could be that the cost of hosting has been built into the cost of the website build, but this gets a bit fuzzy when you realise that a website build will take a fixed amount of time to complete, but the hosting will continue indefinitely... it seems strange to combine the two - and how do you know what you’re really paying for?

Website hosting fees should be separate. There should be a cost for building the site. Then there may be additional costs for content writing if requested, or any functionality above and beyond what was initially discussed and quoted for - which will be clearly laid out and agreed to by you before being undertaken. Then there will be the cost of a domain name which, with us, you are able to register the domain yourself through our easy to use ActiveHost system.

Registering a domain name means it belongs to you, and if you wish to keep it you need to register it annually, or for multiple years as convenient. If a domain lapses there may be a small window with which you can re-register it, otherwise it will be available to be registered by anyone else and you will not be able to reclaim it unless by negotiation with the new owner.

Benefits of Hosting Your Website With Activate Design

At Activate Design, we offer affordable web hosting based right here in New Zealand. Our Auckland and Christchuch-based servers are managed by respected companies who assure ultra-modern facilities with full redundancy in connectivity, power and cooling, as well as a commitment to maintaining the highest levels of server security.

We look after you. And that’s an important part of who we are, being accessible and knowledgeable to offer website support for all your potential requirements.

We have automated systems that manage your hosting and domain names, allowing you to manage your invoices, domains, and process payments conveniently, all in our online system. We’re also right here in Christchurch, and at the end of the phone if there’s anything you need assistance with, or send us a support ticket for faster action from our team.

If we manage your domain name this will not happen. We will not allow your domain to expire without you being notified well in advance as we closely monitor all of the domain names in our care, and our automated system means you are notified well in advance of domain expiry. 

For a detailed list of our website and hosting packages check out our web hosting services or contact us to discuss your needs.

More About Web Hosting

A website is your place on the internet. It needs to be run in a program and there are many to choose from. At Activate Design one of our most popular programs is our Wired Equivalency Program (WEP) system. This is a unique website system that we have designed and developed to be user-friendly, specifically so our clients can access and edit their own sites with ease and simplicity, and at their own convenience.

Website Hosting

As mentioned previously, website hosting is the process of purchasing space on a server to house your website on the internet. All of the components that make up your website (code, text, images, etc.) are all stored on the server, which enables it to be visible to the World Wide Web. 

Domain Name

A domain name is the address of your site. If you think of your website as a car, then the hosting is the carpark where it is located, and the domain name is the signpost directing people to your parking space.