Most of us have considered having our website at one point or another, but what exactly does that entail? Where do you even begin to look at how to host your website? Simply put, you’ll need a great hosting provider, a domain name, and a content management system to start creating content.
A hosting service can be described as a place rented to store your website data and files. The data could be script files, images, videos, databases, or emails. Imagine you have a house or building on land. Hosting is the land where your building is developed, and your website is the building on that land. The bigger your land, the more freedom and many things can be built on the land. So, the more resources you have on your server, the more it can handle or store several websites and their data.
When you visit a website, you access files such as HTML, CSS, and images that you can see on your mobile or computer screen. In order for you to access these files over the Internet, they must be stored on a server. A server is a computer that serves data to other devices and the Internet so that it can be accessed from anywhere in the world.
Hosting providers have the data center, server facilities, connectivity, and related services needed to create and maintain their clients’ websites. They then offer to rent, buy, and sell storage space on their server facilities. In this article, we will show you a few steps to host your website.
Purchase a Domain Name
This is a must. A domain is a unique name that a website uses as its address. It is the name you need to type when visiting a website on your favorite web browser, for example, linuxcloudvps.com. You can purchase a domain name at a domain registrar or web hosting company. If your desired domain name is unavailable, you need to buy a new domain name that reflects your website.
When you purchase a domain name, you must understand that you don’t own it. Instead, you are entering into a leasing agreement with the registrar, which allows you to use the domain until the lease expires. You have the opportunity to renew the domain before the expiration date. Consequently, as long as you continue to utilize the domain, you remain a tenant rather than an owner.
Purchase a Hosting Service
The next step is to purchase a hosting service. You can choose shared hosting if you are still building your website with little traffic. A shared hosting, in this case, would be enough for starters. If your website requires full server access, you need at least a VPS.
Choosing the right hosting company is also essential. Select a managed hosting company if you want everything handled by your hosting company. RoseHosting offer fully managed hosting, we have the best technical support team in the hosting industry. When choosing a managed hosting company, it means you have a team of experts ready to help you set up your server exactly how you want it and fix things whenever something is wrong.
Connect Domain Name to Your Hosting Server
After having an active hosting service, you need to connect your domain name to your hosting server. When purchasing a hosting service, your hosting company will most likely provide you with nameservers to connect your domain to your server’s IP address. Or, if you want to continue using the nameservers provided by the domain registrar, you can simply edit the DNS A record and point it to your server’s IP address.
Please note that the DNS update takes up to 48 hours to propagate worldwide fully. So, once your point your domain to your hosting server, you cannot access your website instantly, you need to wait for a few minutes or hours.
Install CMS
In this last step, you can build your website. If you have a shared hosting service, you will most likely get control panel access to manage your websites, databases, emails, etc. You can use your control panel to install a CMS (Content Management System) for your website. You will see a menu like Softaculous in your control panel, and use it to install your favorite CMS. Or, if you have a managed VPS service, you can contact your web hosting company and ask for help. A fully managed hosting company will help you in every aspect of installing and configuring your server. They will help you install a CMS like WordPress for your new website.
After everything is set, you can start developing your website. You can also hire a web developer to design and build your website from scratch.
That’s it! You have learned how to host your website. Hopefully, you better understand how to host your own website now.
Whether you are a valued Linux VPS hosting customer or not, you can check our blog posts here and follow the articles to install anything you like on your VPS. You can search for a tutorial article on our blog and complete the steps to host your websites on your server. Or, if you want someone to install and manage your server, you should consider checking our sister company LinuxHostSupport.