Domain and Hosting: What are they? Why do you need them?
75% of consumers say they don’t trust a business that doesn’t have a website.
Without a professional website, it is hard to:
- Increase online sales,
- Quickly engage potential customers, and
- Become more competitive online.
But professional website costs can add up.
And whether you hire a professional to build your website, or you do it yourself, you will always have at least two annual costs to keep your website alive and running:
- Your domain name
- Your web hosting
Domain Name
Which website is easier to remember?
- nike.com
- etsy.com/shop/nike
Your domain name is what people type to find you online.
When you use “free” website builders, they host your website on their domain (e.g. etsy.com/shop/nike). That way, everywhere you share your website, people will also see the builder’s domain.
This limits your brand recognition and makes it hard for people to find and remember your site.
However, when you create a custom domain for your brand (e.g. nike.com), it:
- Makes it easy for people to find / remember you online
- Improves brand recognition (which brand do you immediately think of with the two websites listed above?)
- Improves credibility (shows you invest in your brand)
Unfortunately, whether you build your website yourself or work with a web designer, you’ll still have to pay $10-$20/year to keep your custom domain. But it’s a small price to pay for having your own unique address online.
Web Hosting
This is what keeps the lights on for your website.
When people go to your domain, they see your website – or more specifically, they see all the files and images that make up your website, hosted by your website’s hosting provider.
If you use a “free” website builder, the hosting costs are included in your plan – and show up when you upgrade to plans that allow a custom domain.
But if you work with a website designer, they may ask you to purchase your own hosting plan from providers like Bluehost or Siteground. This is because hosting is paid for annually and does not have an effect on the design of the website.
When you’re starting out, typically the cheapest hosting plan will be good enough (plans range from $100 – $1000/year).
However, if you can afford the upfront costs of hiring a web designer, you could
- Reduce your yearly costs by more than 20%, and
- Get more space, speed, and security for your website, compared to using website builders like Wix.
Your website doesn’t need to be fancy, but it does need to exist. And customers need to be able to find it.
If you’re thinking about creating or recently created a website, look into Bloom Digital’s domain and hosting plans. We offer hosting through Bluehost, and include 1 year complimentary domain and hosting if you build your website with us.