Hosting refers to the location on a server where your website files are stored. The domain and hosting account is usually with the same provider but if not, pointing can be done to the desired destination. This is ideal for clients who want to retain control of their domain – there have been many situations where clients’ domains are kept “hostage” for whatever reason. While highly unethical to do that, it is still a prevalent risk when allowing someone control over your domain.

When you’re looking at a new website project, the initial and on-going costs are dependent on what the project entails. A rule of thumb is around R800 – R1500 per page on your website, your integrations and setup will generally be over and above that cost. It will also depend on who is providing the written copy and graphics. This is an area where you can cut down on the cost of a project but remember that you are then required to work in close proximity with your web developer and could be time-consuming.

• Domain hosting or domain registration is the process of reserving a domain name as your online identity. It will generally look something like this: www.yourdomain.com. This is also where you will be making changes to DNS settings and manage nameservers. DNS settings are the records that point towards external sources.
• Website hosting is where your website files are stored and served. It is what makes your website visible to the world. We can go into this topic in quite detail, but what you need clarity on, is whether your website can be delivered to the required location of your audience. As an example, let’s say your target market is in America – it doesn’t help that your website is hosted on a server based in South Africa. If this is the case, you would need something called a CDN (content delivery network). When in doubt, ask your developer to clarify!
• Email Hosting: Similar to website hosting, email hosting allows you to set up and manage email accounts associated with your domain name. This is where things can get tricky! In a perfect world, your website and email are hosted on the same platform – this eliminates any need for further changes to your DNS records. If they aren’t, it is important that your developer completely understands the current setup and knows how to set everything up before your website gets taken online.

DNS (domain name system) is a hierarchical and distributed system used to translate human-friendly domain names, like www.example.com, into IP addresses that computers and networking devices use to locate and communicate with each other on the internet. DNS records contain specific information about a domain, and they play a critical role in the functioning of the internet. DNS records are managed by domain registrars or DNS hosting providers. Website owners and administrators configure these records to ensure that their domain names resolve correctly and that email and other services associated with the domain function as expected. Understanding and correctly configuring DNS records is crucial for maintaining a reliable and secure online presence.

Your great web developers always have backups on hand in a case of your website being hacked! While developers should add firewalls to your website to make it more secure, the reality is that stuff happens. (Catering for our younger readers) Prevention is key! This is also why you should consider a maintenance agreement with your developer to ensure that your website is in tip-top shape! When your site is hacked, the general process would be to restore your website to the last working version and then taking further steps to ensure that the same issue doesn’t occur again. There are also plenty of service providers who can remove malware from your website.

On-page SEO is required to ensure that your website can be shown on Google. What’s the point of having a beautiful website if no one gets to see it? This is usually included in the quote for a website build but it is always better to make sure beforehand! This usually goes hand in hand with Google Analytics and Search Console, your Google Analytics will display all the relevant information pertaining to the performance of your website. Some of the metrics include New Users, Website Traffic, Location Where Traffic Comes From.