Hosting
See also: Google Apps
Hosting (Web site hosting, Web hosting) is the business of providing a server and maintaining files for one or more Web sites.
Your web site is hosted, or stored, on a computer that is permanently connected to the Internet so that it can be seen by anyone browsing the web at any time
I provide hosting. Choose from one of the services below, or contact me for a tailored solution.
When comparing with other hosting options, please note that these prices include management and administration of your site.
| Service | Total Storage (up to) |
Traffic per month (up to) |
Description & Included Services | Price Per Month* |
| H-S | 25 MB | 200 MB |
Static site & customized email addresses. |
£5.00 |
| H-M | 100 MB | 400 MB |
Extra space. |
£7.50 |
| H-L | 250 MB | 1 GB |
Larger site, e.g. eCommerce, PDFs for visitors to view/download etc.
|
£15.00 |
| H-XL | 500 MB | 2 GB |
Large, busy site. eCommerce, Video content, PDFs, Live Chat for customer service.
|
£25.00 |
| H-XXL | 1GB | 4 GB |
For large sites with multiple services, eCommerce, blogs, forums etc.
|
£45.00 |
|
Key features:
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*For monthly Standing Order. For annual payment, or monthly payment by Credit Card add 5%. |
The "descriptions" above are only examples, e.g. if you want to use your 100 MB storage and 400 MB traffic to host a site with video, you can! Once the web space and traffic limits are set, the server space is yours to use as you wish.
Choose the higher of storage or traffic (bandwidth) to estimate cost. If you need to 'burst' above these limits, contact me to ensure unnecessary downtime is avoided. Additional usage is charged pro-rata according to the service selected.
I do not host sites with adult content, nor similar related material.
Many included services aren't shown in the table, and other hosting services (e.g. SSL Certificates, mailing lists etc) are also available. Some are free, provided on request, some are chargeable. If you have any questions, or would like to know more about services included and/or available, please contact me.
If you're interested in a larger site, additional services such as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or an all-in-one monthly fee for hosting and development, please contact me.
NB: The prices above are for hosting only, for website packages, please see Websites.
To order one of the above packages, see here.
Extra information follows that you don't need to know, but may find useful or interesting:
Management & Administration
Managed hosting from me means that you don't need to have any technical expertise to keep your sites secure, or for changes to be uploaded. Although you can have access to the site administration panel if you wish, you won't need it. Just email me with any changes and I'll sort them out promptly.
These packages say "up to" so much storage space, monthly traffic etc., as I monitor the usage patterns of your site. The package you need will be that which covers the server requirements for your site. This may mean that if you wish to add extra services, you can do so at no extra cost.
If it becomes apparent that you need more space, you should see this in the weekly report you receive, before I get in touch. I may contact you if your account is getting close to the limits at which you could risk losing emails or visitors. You can of course contact me at any time to purchase extra hosting services or capacity (charged pro-rata to your next renewal date).
POP3
Post Office Protocol 3. A simple, standardized way for users to access mailboxes and download messages to their computers.
Using POP3 emails are stored on your computer hard disk - you cannot access them from anywhere else. If your computer develops a fault or is stolen, you may lose all of those emails. If you upgrade to a new computer you need to find a way to move those emails to the new computer.
IMAP is an alternative to POP3...
IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol is gradually replacing POP as the main protocol used by email clients to communicate with email servers. Using IMAP an email client program can manipulate messages stored on the server, without having to actually download the messages. Using IMAP allows you to access your email from more than one machine, while POP3 does not.
NB: if you move messages from an IMAP folder to a Local Folder using an email client, those emails are stored on your computer, as with messages downloaded using POP3.
Most users won't notice any difference between using POP3 or IMAP. However using IMAP also means that you can, via webmail*3, also access your email from any Internet connected computer. If you change computers, email doesn't need to be migrated.
IMAP makes sharing mailboxes possible. If you and a colleague, or another family member, need access to the same emails, the mailbox where they are stored can be configured for an email client on more than one computer, or accessed via webmail.
The main thing to be aware of when using IMAP is that, unlike POP3 your email storage space is limited to how much server space you have, so you need to perform regular housekeeping on your email folders.
For suggestions on how to reduce mailbox size please read: Instructions-for-Reducing-Mailbox-Size.pdf (78 kB)
Webmail
Access your email mailbox using just a Web Browser and Internet Connection, you don't need to have an Email client installed to read and respond to emails. To be able to read stored email (as opposed to only new, unread, messages) any email client that accesses your mailbox must only use IMAP.
Using webmail you can access your emails from another of your own computers, at another company, at a friend's house or in an Internet Cafe anywhere in the world.
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. The standard Internet protocol for transferring electronic mail messages.
You may find your ISP offers this as part of your basic internet connection package with them. Some ISP's restrict the use of their SMTP server, preventing you from sending out email with return addresses that match your website domain name (a spam prevention measure). If so, having this service solves the problem for you.
Reports
You will receive a regular report by email which informs you how much disk space your site, and any email mailboxes you have, are using. For more information about this report please see my Domain Reports blog post.
The standard "Status Report" includes a summary of this information, and by default will be sent weekly. You can request that this is changed to daily or monthly.
There are numerous reports available, and if you require different, or more detailed, information to be included on the report that you receive please contact me.
