Hosting your website is important. However, the performance and service of hosting providers vary greatly and good WordPress hosting can save you a lot of time and money when setting up and later administering your website.
I will clarify all technical questions about hosting with you and will also take care of the set-up as part of the website development if you do not yet have an Internet address (domain) and the final host for your website.
They should definitely understand what hosting is and what needs to be considered.
Criteria for choosing your WordPress hoster
Support
Qualified, friendly, available daily without long waiting times via real-time chat or telephone: this rules out cheap offers, good support is important and has its price.
SSD
Webspace on SSD, not just the database, but at least that. Better 5GB on SSD than 50GB on HD!
SSL
Free SSL certificate with one-click set-up option via the customer backend.
DNS
DNS settings via the customer backend.
PHP
Version 8.1.x
Backup
server-side, daily, automated and manual and can be imported again with a click!
Server location
Germany, but at least EU (data protection law)
Good WordPress hosting costs from €20 per month, and €10 for good domain and email hosting.
Step by step
Your domain - a good address
Your website will have a unique address (https://beispiel.de or https://www.beispiel.de) and must also be physically stored somewhere on the Internet (on a server that is usually located in a data centre) and be accessible there at all times. This task - hosting - is performed by a so-called hoster. There are many of them and it is an advantage to choose a host that manages your website excellently and guarantees the same level of support. The annual costs for this are manageable.
A domain is made up of two parts. Firstly, the top-level domain, which you will recognise as .de .at .ch .com .org .net etc. You can choose the top-level domain freely, they cost a different annual fee. A .de domain, for example, costs between €10 and €20 per year.
The second part is your chosen name. This results in a unique Internet address . You may choose two versions, with and without hyphen(s). This makes sense for a name consisting of more than one word, partly for reasons of search engine optimisation, but also simply so that nobody else can register the other version.
The right hosting
You can choose different service packages with each host. The minimum recommended hosting requirements for your website running on WordPress are PHP version 7.4, preferably 8.1+, and the latest version of the database server, e.g. MySQL 8+ (technical status 04/2023). PHP is the programme language in which WordPress is written and which it requires to execute its functions. This programme language is constantly being further developed, both in terms of its function and its security aspects. It is therefore important that the server always works with the latest version. MySQL is a database server that manages all the content of your website and makes it available on request from WordPress, which then delivers your site to the user's browser. With good hosters, these minimum requirements are already met with the standard package.
With regard to the strict data protection laws, you should ensure that the hoster is based in Germany and that the server locations are also in Germany, as customer data may be stored there.
Domain hosting / Webspace hosting
A distinction must be made between domain hosting and web space hosting. Although they are usually offered in combination, this is by no means essential. There are various advantages to choosing a so-called registrar host for domain and e-mail hosting. In principle, you can choose the web space from any hoster and thus easily change the web space hoster at a later date without having to move the domain and, above all, the e-mail hosting. The domain and e-mail inboxes can remain unchanged with your registrar hoster, even if you decide to change your web space hoster.
A. Domain hosting and e-mail hosting
Domain hosting refers to the pure administration of domains without the provision of a web space. Most hosters certified for domain administration (registrar hosters) usually offer it. It makes sense if you want to register domains in your name but do not (yet) want to run a website on them or want to redirect the domain to another domain with a website, because then you do not need web space.
B. Webspace hosting
Shared hosting
Web space hosting refers to the physical hosting of a website on a server in a data centre. A web space can usually contain several websites. A distinction is made between "name-based shared hosting", where several webspaces share a server and an IP address (common, but not so good) and "ip-based shared hosting", where several webspaces share a server, but are each provided with their own virtual server (vServer) with their own IP address (dedicated vServer). For both, the fewer websites that share a server, the higher the individual performance.
Physical server hosting
In addition, there are different variants of webspace hosting on your own physical server, "managed" or "not managed". However, due to the costs, this only makes sense for larger companies and I will not discuss it further here.
SSL certificate (https)
SSL = Secure Socket Layer or now actually TLS = Transport Layer Security (but SSL is still commonly used) enables encrypted data transmission and utilises advanced transmission protocols. On the one hand, this leads to higher transmission speeds and a better Google ranking, but above all we as users can be sure that the website is the one we think it is from the name.
You can recognise whether a page uses this encryption and is certified by the "https" (instead of "http") in the address bar of your browser.
If users can enter more than just their name and email address on your website or you want to operate a shop, an SSL certificate is legally essential. But even without this, the aspect of better Google rankings for SSL-certified sites is interesting. SSL has now become the technical standard.
When choosing a host, make sure that it offers free SSL certificates for each domain.
The costs for a standard SSL certificate can otherwise vary depending on the hoster. It has been possible to use free SSL certificates for many years and many hosters now offer this as standard.
Info about the Let's Encrypt Project.
The service for setting up free SSL certificates is also still very different among the hosters. Many do not yet support it.
With the pure WordPress hoster Raidboxes, on the other hand, setting up an SSL certificate even works at the touch of a button: all changes to the WordPress installation are made immediately and automatically. You should definitely pay attention to this when comparing costs and services.
My 5-star recommendation for your WordPress host:
Full-service host exclusively for WordPress with high performance and excellent service. Servers with staggered performance are available and even the STARTER package is completely sufficient for a normal website. If you are planning to set up an extensive blog with many hits or a WooCommerce shop, we recommend the PRO and PRO XL servers or, for even more performance, the Business Server.
SSL certificate: free of charge (Let's Encrypt).
https conversion of WordPress: automated with a click.
Web hosting terms: 1, 6, 12 or 24 months.
Server locations: in Germany with ISO 27001 certification.
Free, automated migration of a website.
We will be happy to advise you on all questions relating to hosting your WordPress website.