Web hosting is one of those things most business owners never think about — until something goes wrong. A slow site, a security breach, or a server going down at the worst possible moment are usually hosting problems in disguise. Here's what you actually need to know.
What web hosting is
Your website is made up of files — HTML, CSS, images, code. Those files need to live somewhere that's connected to the internet 24 hours a day so visitors can access them. That somewhere is a web server, and the service of storing and serving your files is web hosting.
When someone types your web address into a browser, their device sends a request to that server. The server sends back your website files. The whole exchange takes fractions of a second on a well-run server, or several painful seconds on a poor one.
The main types of hosting
Shared hosting — your website shares a server with hundreds or thousands of other sites. The cheapest option (£2–£10/month) but also the least reliable. Resources are shared, so a traffic spike on someone else's site can slow yours down. Security is a concern — one compromised site on the server can affect others.
VPS (Virtual Private Server) — you get a dedicated slice of a server's resources. More reliable than shared hosting, more control, typically £15–£50/month. Popular for growing businesses or those running more complex sites.
Managed hosting — a provider manages the server for you: updates, security, backups, performance tuning. You just run your website. Costs more (£20–£100+/month) but removes the technical burden entirely. This is what most professional web designers provide as part of an ongoing package.
Platform hosting (Shopify, Squarespace, Wix) — if you use one of these website builders, hosting is included in the monthly platform fee. You have no control over the infrastructure, but you don't need any.
Static hosting (Netlify) — for fast, lean websites that don't require a database. Extremely fast, very secure.
What you should actually pay
| Hosting type | Typical cost | Right for |
|---|---|---|
| Shared | £2–£10/month | Personal projects, very low traffic |
| VPS | £15–£50/month | Growing businesses, more control needed |
| Managed | £20–£80/month | Businesses that want it handled |
| Platform (Shopify etc) | Included in plan | Platform-built sites |
| Static (Netlify) | £20/month | Fast static page sites |
For most small business websites, managed hosting from a reputable provider — or static hosting from a specialist like CloudLaunch — represents the best value. The speed, reliability, and security it provides is worth considerably more than the difference in cost between it and a £3/month shared server.
What to look for — and what to avoid
Look for:
- Fast response times (under 200ms server response is a good target)
- Automatic daily backups — if something goes wrong, you can restore
- SSL included — the padlock in the browser, now standard
- Clear uptime guarantee — 99.9% is the minimum acceptable
- Human support that actually responds
Avoid:
- Very cheap shared hosting (under £5/month) for a business website — the performance and reliability trade-offs are real
- Hosts that lock you in to proprietary systems you can't migrate away from
- "Unlimited" plans — bandwidth and storage always have limits somewhere; "unlimited" in the small print usually means "until we decide you're using too much"
The connection between hosting and Google ranking
Google uses page speed as a ranking factor. A slow server produces a slow website, which ranks lower and loses visitors faster. The difference between fast hosting and cheap shared hosting can be several seconds of load time — which is the difference between a visitor staying and a visitor bouncing.
If your site performs poorly on Google PageSpeed Insights and the server response time is flagged, the hosting is the problem — and redesigning the site won't fix it.
What CloudLaunch includes with hosting
Our hosting is built on Cloudflare's global network — one of the fastest and most reliable infrastructure providers in the world. Every site we host gets:
- Global CDN delivery (fast load times regardless of where your visitor is)
- Automatic SSL
- Daily backups
- Ongoing security monitoring
- Priority support from us directly — not a ticket queue
Hosting is included as part of our ongoing support packages. Get in touch if you'd like to discuss options for your site.