What You Need to Know
Think of hosting as renting space for your website to live. Just like you need a physical location for a brick-and-mortar store, your website needs a server (computer) that's always connected to the internet. Hosting companies own these servers and rent space to website owners. Quality hosting matters - cheap hosting leads to slow load times, frequent downtime, and security vulnerabilities. For Australian businesses, local hosting (servers in Australia) often provides better speed for Australian visitors. Typical hosting costs $10-30 monthly for small business websites, though some website services include hosting in their pricing.
Examples
A Sydney business uses Australian hosting for fast load times for local customers
A WordPress site runs on managed WordPress hosting for optimal performance
An e-commerce store uses cloud hosting to handle traffic spikes during sales
Common Questions
Should I choose Australian hosting?
For websites targeting Australian customers, yes. Local hosting provides faster load times for Australian visitors. The physical distance between server and visitor affects speed. If most customers are in Australia, host in Australia.
What's the difference between cheap and expensive hosting?
Speed, reliability, support, and security. Cheap hosting ($5/month) often means slow servers, frequent downtime, and poor support. Quality hosting ($20-50/month) invests in better hardware, security, and expert support. For businesses, the extra $15/month is worth the reliability.
Related Terms
Domain Name
Your website's address on the internet (like velosites.com.au) that visitors type to find your site.
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer)
A security technology that encrypts data between a website and its visitors, indicated by "https://" and a padlock icon in the browser.
DNS (Domain Name System)
The internet's phonebook that translates domain names (like velosites.com.au) into IP addresses that computers use to find websites.
CMS (Content Management System)
Software that allows you to create, edit, and manage website content without needing to write code.
Confused by Technical Terms?
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