Web Hosting and Email Hosting
Studies by Google show that as a website’s load time increases from 1 second to 5 seconds, 90% more users lose patience and exit the page before it loads. For businesses, the message is clear: slow hosting equals lost revenue for you, and more customers switching to your competitors. Lime’s best-in-class hosting packages give you the edge to keep your customers – and your accountants – smiling.
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What is web hosting?
What is the difference between domain and hosting?
Hosting refers to the digital space where all of the code, text, images, video, and other content on a website is stored. This space typically is on a special type of computer called a “server,” which is connected to the internet 24-7. Quite like how your office or retail outlet provides a space where you can house your physical assets and where people can interact with your business, web hosting provides the digital space for your virtual assets.
A domain name is the address of that digital space. Just as your office or store has a physical address that helps people find it in the physical world, your website needs an address to help people find it on the internet. For more on this, check out our page on domain names.
How do I evaluate a web hosting provider?
Should I just choose the cheapest hosting option I can find?
As the wise Confucius once said, “Not all hosting is equal.” Quite aside from complex technical things, here are the top red flags to look out for when choosing web hosting:
- Many web hosts entice customers with a low upfront price for the first year, but charge 2 to 3 times higher when it comes time to renew.
- It’s also common for web hosts to try to lock you in for 2 to 3-year contracts with seemingly low prices, and then deliver poor service which results in frequent outages and downtime for your site.
- Cheap web hosts divide the server resources between far too many sites. As a result, even if your site stays well below their stated bandwidth and memory quotas, it may still suffer slow load times, random server errors that temporarily prevent webpages from being displayed, and consequently search engine ranking penalties.
- Poor server maintenance increases the odds of completely undetected malware and hacker intrusions, which may then deface your site or steal business and customer data.
At Lime, our fully managed hosting plans come with transparent pricing. There are no bait-and-switch tactics – you won’t be surprised by a 2x markup at renewal.
Can I have a website without paying for hosting?
While there are many providers that offer “free” hosting services, these are usually not recommended for businesses or professionals, as they come with a variety of limitations and strings attached:
- Free hosting options cannot be held to any standards of “uptime”, meaning your website can (and often will) become inaccessible to people trying to access it.
- Free hosting generally does not allow you to use your own domain name, forcing you to display some other brand name in your web address. This looks unprofessional and leaves a bad impression with customers.
- Providers offering free hosting generally cover their costs by placing ads on your website. Aside from making your site look unprofessional, there is also a risk of visitors seeing ads for your competitors on your site, as you have no control over the ads.
- Features such as online payments, shopping carts, user accounts, analytics, and SEO optimisation, to name just a few, are typically not available or severely limited on free hosting.
Lime’s website design packages all include a free .au domain name, and one year of free web hosting, as standard, with options to suit businesses of every scale, whether you’re just getting started, or looking to scale up.
What is Lime’s managed WordPress hosting?
Managed WordPress hosting is a type of premium hosting service that Lime offers as a standard to all our customers. With managed WordPress hosting, you don’t have to worry about server management, technical configuration, confusing cPanels and dashboards, or really, anything technical at all. We take care of all of that directly with our hosting partners, so that you can focus on what truly matters to you, without the hassles of technical admin.
What’s more, you get the benefit of a powerful, fast website that’s powered by WordPress — the world’s most popular website publishing software. Whether you’re a beginner with zero WordPress experience, or a seasoned pro who likes to customise your WordPress site, Lime’s managed hosting offers you as much flexibility as you need with application-level settings.
Why should I host my website through Lime?
In addition to the benefit of close integration with a comprehensive suite of marketing communication services to boost your business, hosting your website through Lime delivers several advantages:
- Managed hosting for WordPress, the world’s #1 software to power websites.
- Choice of data centres in Australia and around the world, for the fastest possible load times for your domestic and international customers.
- Security systems to protect against common attacks.
- Transparent, flat pricing; no hidden fees and nickel-and-dime tactics to trap customers with a different upfront price followed by high renewal prices.
- Customer support from Lime works directly with our hosting partners, troubleshooting problems on your behalf, so you don’t have to worry about dealing with tedious technical support teams.
UNMETRED Data Transfer
Unlike some hosts who either charge more or even block your website after a limited amount of viewing, your website will be available for any number of visits.
UNLIMITED MySQL Databases
Every CMS based website (such as a WordPress site) requires a database to store all your content. There are no restrictions on the number of databases hosted.
SSL Certificate
SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) is necessary for increased security protection, and it helps with your ranking on Google. If we are managing WordPress Hosting for you, you will receive Free SSL installation using open certificate authority (CA) Let’s Encrypt.
Linux Operating System
While most websites can run on any operating system, we recommend Linux for WordPress sites to reduce the likelihood of configuration errors and more stable operation.
FTP Access
Direct password controlled access to the web server using File Transfer Protocol to upload and download your website files.
DNS Management
We will provide a free service in editing your Domain Name System including A, CNAME and MX records.
What is email hosting?
While web hosting refers to the space for a website’s assets to be stored and made accessible to visitors, email hosting is the facility to send and receive emails via your custom domain name (you@yoursite.com.au, for example).
Lime’s Silver and Gold website design packages include one year of free web and email hosting, as well as a free .au domain name.
You can configure your computers and phones to access our mail server, or login to webmail using your web browser.
For your convenience, we can link your mailbox to a Gmail account so you can continue to use Gmail’s familiar interface.
For increased security and efficiency in accessing your email on all devices, we can help you get setup with Microsoft 365. All emails that you send and receive can contain your custom domain’s address, to present your business professionally.