Web hosting is confusing because three separate things get sold together and then described with the same words. Once you can tell them apart, every hosting provider looks the same, and moving between them stops being frightening.

This is the explanation I give clients before they sign up for anything.

The three things you are actually buying

A domain name. This is the address: yourbusiness.co.uk. You rent it by the year from a registrar. It is not your website. It is a signpost that can point at any website you like.

DNS. This is the signpost's settings. It is a short list of records that say "when someone types this domain, send them to that server" and "when someone emails this domain, deliver it to that mail provider". DNS usually lives with the registrar, but it does not have to.

Hosting. This is the computer where your website's files actually sit. It is what the domain points at. This is the part you swap when you change provider.

Keep these three in your head as separate items. The single most common mistake is buying all three from one company, letting that company go stale or expensive, and then believing you are trapped. You are not. The domain is yours, and it can point anywhere.

Step 1: register the domain yourself

Buy the domain in your own name, with your own email address on the account. Not the web designer's name, not the hosting company's. If you ever fall out with either, the domain is the one thing you cannot rebuild.

Turn on auto-renew and put the renewal date in your calendar anyway. Expired domains are bought by other people within hours.

Step 2: choose hosting that matches your site

There are broadly three kinds, and the right one depends on what the website is.

  • Static hosting suits a site that is just pages: a brochure site, a portfolio, a blog built with a generator. It is fast, almost impossible to hack, and often free or a few pounds a month.
  • Shared or managed hosting suits a site that runs software, such as WordPress or a content management system. You get a control panel, a database, and someone else patches the server.
  • A virtual server suits anything custom or busy. You get a whole machine and the responsibility that comes with it. Most small businesses never need this.

If you are not sure, ask whoever built the site which of the three it needs. It is a one-word answer.

Step 3: upload the site

Every host gives you one of a few ways in. A control panel with a file manager. FTP or SFTP, which is a folder on your computer that mirrors a folder on the server. Or, for modern static sites, a connection to a code repository so that every change you save is published automatically.

Whichever it is, the site goes in a folder the host names, usually public_html or www or htdocs. The home page must be a file called index.html or index.php inside that folder. If you see a blank page or a directory listing after uploading, the file is in the wrong place.

Step 4: point the domain at the host

This is the DNS step, and it is where people get nervous. It is two records.

Your host will give you either an IP address or a hostname. Log in to wherever your DNS lives, usually the registrar, and:

  • Set the A record for @ (which means the bare domain) to the IP address the host gave you. If they gave you a hostname instead, use a CNAME or an ALIAS record.
  • Set a CNAME for www pointing at the bare domain, so both versions work.

Leave the MX records alone. Those are your email, and they have nothing to do with the website. Changing them by accident is how businesses lose a day of email.

DNS changes take anywhere from a few minutes to a day to spread. Make a cup of tea.

Step 5: turn on the certificate

The padlock in the browser comes from a certificate. Every reasonable host now gives you one free through Let's Encrypt, usually as a single tick box called SSL or HTTPS. Turn it on, and turn on the option to redirect all traffic to the secure version. A site without the padlock is marked as "not secure" by browsers and ranks lower in search.

Step 6: check it, then check it on a phone

Type the domain into a browser with and without www. Both should load, both should show the padlock, and both should end up on the same address. Then do the same on your phone over mobile data. Then send the address to a friend on a different network. If all three see the site, you are live.

Moving to a different provider later

Because you own the domain and control the DNS, moving is just steps three to six again with a new host. Upload the site to the new place, test it using the temporary address the host gives you, change the two DNS records, and wait. The old host can be cancelled once the new one has been live for a day or two. Nothing about the domain changes.

That is the whole point of understanding the three parts. You are never locked in.

If you would like a hand choosing a host or moving a site that has become expensive or slow, get in touch. It is usually a short job, and I will show you what I did so you can do it yourself next time.