Short answer: hosting is the computer that stays on all day so your website can be opened by anybody who types your name or searches for your trade. If that computer is slow, cheap or controlled by somebody else, your site is slow, flaky or not really yours. For a contractor, that shows up as fewer calls.
Most contractors never think about hosting until something breaks. The site goes down on a Saturday. The old web guy stops answering. A homeowner says your page took forever to load. This page explains what hosting is, what good looks like, and what to ask before you sign anything.
What hosting means in plain words
Think of three things. Your domain is your address, like yourcompany.com. Your website is the building: the pages, photos and phone number. Hosting is the plot of land the building sits on, with the lights kept on.
When a homeowner types your address or taps your link in Google, their phone asks the hosting computer for your pages. The hosting computer sends them back. The faster and closer that computer is, the faster your site appears. The more reliable it is, the less often your site is down when somebody needs a roofer at 7am.
You can own the domain and pay somebody else for hosting. You can also have the website built on one company and hosted at another. That is where most of the confusion, and most of the trouble, starts.
Why hosting matters for getting leads
Most of your visitors are on a phone, standing in a driveway or sitting in a truck, with one bar of signal. They are not patient. If your page takes more than a few seconds to show anything, a lot of them back out and tap the next company in the list.
Google pays attention to this too. Speed is one of the signals it uses when it decides which sites to show. A slow site is not an automatic penalty, but when two contractors are about equal, the faster site has the edge. And a site that is often down tells Google the business might not be reliable.
- Speed. Fast pages keep the homeowner on your site long enough to call.
- Uptime. A site that is down for a day in storm season costs you the exact leads you wanted most.
- Security. A hacked site can be flagged by Google with a warning screen. Nobody calls a company whose site shows a red warning.
- Control. If you cannot move your site, you are stuck with whoever holds it.
The three kinds of hosting you will run into
Shared hosting
Your site sits on one big computer with hundreds of other sites. It is the budget option sold by the big domain companies. It works fine when it is quiet and gets slow when a neighbor on the same computer gets busy. Many small contractor sites live here without anyone knowing.
Managed WordPress hosting
This is hosting set up for WordPress sites specifically, with backups and security handled for you. It is a step up from shared. It is a good fit for a larger WordPress site, as long as someone is actually watching it.
Edge hosting for fast static sites
This is how we host the sites we build. The pages are pre-built and copied to computers all over the country, so a homeowner in Arkansas gets the page from a computer near Arkansas. There is no database to hack and nothing to slow down at peak times. It is fast and very hard to knock over. The tradeoff is that it suits sites built a certain way, so you cannot just move any old site onto it.
Your hosting should be fast, kept on, and movable. If any one of those is missing, you are taking a risk with your phone ringing.
Who should own your hosting account
This is the part nobody tells you. When a web company sets everything up under their own login, you do not own it. You are a guest. If they close, raise their rate, or you stop paying, they can take the site offline and you have to start over.
Whoever is hosting your site, you should be able to answer yes to these:
- Is the domain registered in my name, with my email on the account?
- Can I get a copy of every page, photo and form on the site if I leave?
- If I leave, does the site come with me or does it stay behind?
- Do I know exactly who to call if the site goes down?
If the answer to any of these is "I am not sure," find out this week. It is a lot easier to ask while everyone is friendly.
Four questions to ask before anyone hosts your site
1. How fast does the home page load on a phone?
Do not accept "it is fast." Open the site on your own phone on cell data, not wifi. Count. Then open a competitor's site and compare. You can also run Google's free PageSpeed tool on any address and see the score for yourself.
2. What happens when the site goes down?
Good hosting has monitoring, so somebody knows before you do. Ask who gets alerted and how fast they act. A vague answer means nobody is watching.
3. Who handles backups and security updates?
Old WordPress sites in particular need updates all the time. If nobody owns that job, plugins go out of date and sites get hacked. Ask for the answer in writing, with a name next to it.
4. What does it take to leave?
The honest companies answer this fast. If the answer is a long speech about contracts and fees to release your own files, that is your answer.
Hosting and the other parts of the lead machine
Hosting alone does not get you calls. A fast site with nothing on it is still a quiet site. Hosting is the floor under three other things: a page for each service and each town, a tuned Google Business Profile, and fresh reviews. Get the floor right, then build on it.
If you are still choosing how to build the site in the first place, read our guide on the best website builder for contractors. The builder you pick decides what hosting you are allowed to use.
What to do this week
- Find out who your domain is registered with and whose email is on the account.
- Find out where the site is hosted and who pays that bill.
- Load your site on your phone on cell data and time the home page.
- Ask whoever runs the site for a full copy of your files, even if you never plan to leave.
- Write down who you would call if the site went down tonight.
It takes about an hour. It is the cheapest insurance a contractor can buy for the phone staying busy.
The bottom line
Hosting is not exciting, but it decides whether your site is fast, up and yours. The contractors who get burned are the ones who never asked who held the keys.
When we build a site, hosting is part of the one monthly plan, along with the pages, the Google profile work, review requests and AI follow up on every lead. The site is built for speed, and you are never locked in. No contract.
Questions contractors ask
What is website hosting for a contractor?
Hosting is the always-on computer that stores your website and sends it to anyone who visits. Your domain is the address, your website is the building, and hosting is the land it sits on with the power kept on. Without hosting, your site cannot be opened by anybody.
Does hosting affect my Google rankings?
Indirectly, yes. Speed and reliability are signals Google considers, and a slow or often-down site loses visitors before they ever call. Hosting will not rank a thin site by itself, but poor hosting can hold a good site back.
Who should own my hosting account?
You should. The domain should be registered under your name and email, and you should be able to get a full copy of your site at any time. If your web company holds everything under their login, you are depending on them to keep it online.
Can I move my site to a new host?
Usually yes, but it depends on how the site was built. A WordPress site can be moved with its files and database. A site built on a closed website builder often cannot be moved, only rebuilt. Ask about this before you sign up with any builder.
What is the difference between a domain and hosting?
A domain is your web address, like yourcompany.com, and you register it once and renew it. Hosting is where your site files live. You need both, and they can be held by two different companies, which is why it pays to know who has each one.
How do I know if my site is slow?
Open it on your phone using cell data, not wifi, and count how long the home page takes to show. You can also run Google's free PageSpeed tool on your address. If it feels slow to you, a homeowner in a truck with one bar of signal will feel it even more.
Is your site slow, stuck or not really yours?
Book a free strategy call. We will look at your site and your Google profile with you and show you what is holding them back.
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