How To Host Your Own Website From Australia

1. Choose a Content Management System (CMS)

If you haven’t already decided which platform you’re going to use to build your site, then the first step is to choose a content management system (CMS). The reason is that how you host your site will depend on which platform your site is built on. For the average person building a site, the decision comes down to two main types of platforms: WordPress or an all-in-one website builder, such as Wix, Squarespace or Shopify.

The key differences between WordPress and website builders are ease of use, customisation capabilities and cost. While WordPress is a free, open-source CMS, it requires third-party web hosting. It’s far more flexible, giving users the ability to create just about any type of site with just about any functionality. However, it is far more complicated to use and involves a fairly steep learning curve. Whereas, website builders are designed to make building websites easy and usually provide intuitive drop-and-drag website builders. They include web hosting so there’s no need to buy and connect web hosting from a third party.

2. Purchase a Web Hosting Service

If you opt for WordPress, the next step is to choose a web hosting service. There are several web hosting providers, such as Bluehost, DreamHost, Hostinger and IONOS, all offering a similar yet slightly different feature set (e.g., storage and bandwidth limits, uptime guarantees, speed, contract length and price.

If you’re hosting a new website, it’s worth choosing a hosting plan that includes features such as a free domain name, free SSL certificate and one-click WordPress installation, such as Bluehost. Whereas, if you are hosting an existing site, it’s worth finding a web host that offers a free WordPress site migration service, such as Hostinger.

What to Consider When Choosing a Web Hosting Provider

As mentioned, several web hosting providers offer varying features. Deciding upon a specific service depends on what your website needs are.

Some key features to consider when choosing a web hosting provider are:

• Cost: It’s a no-brainer that you’ll need to choose a web hosting provider that you can afford. Some providers may offer free introductory periods, and others may have significant signup fees. Make sure you understand any renewal costs that may be associated with the hosting provider, as you may be expected to pay an annual subscription fee to keep your website up and running.
• Reliability and reputation: A website that commonly has 404 server errors and other broken links appears unprofessional to those accessing the site, and for those running a business, could greatly affect customer satisfaction. Reliability is often expressed as a percentage by a web hosting service, such as 99.9% uptime. Sites with lots of advertisements can harm your website’s reputation as well, which is a common occurrence with free website providers.
• Speed and loading times: It’s also important to choose a web hosting provider that offers high-speed for acceptable loading times. A website that takes too long to load will mean those accessing your sites may become impatient and leave, leading to poor visitor rates.
• Security: With cybersecurity rife in our digital world, it is essential that you find a web hosting provider with up-to-date security measures. This includes firewalls, DDoS protection, SSL certificates and more to ensure your website stays secure in the event of attempted malicious attacks.
• Customer support: A benefit of choosing a web hosting provider (rather than hosting on your own independent physical server) means you have access to customer support, and do not need to attempt to fiddle around with data, coding or server errors should something go wrong. Instead, you’ll be able to access a customer support team who can fix the errors for you swiftly. Most website owners choose providers with 24/7 support in order to make sure their website is always up and running. This is especially important for Australian businesses who are often operating while the rest of the world sleeps.

3. Get a Domain Name

In the instance that you don’t already own a domain name, get your domain directly from one of the best domain registrars, such as Namecheap, Domain.com or Google Domains. It is generally advisable to get your domain name from your web hosting provider as this will save you time and it eliminates the need to manually connect your domain to your web host.

Related: Best Domain Registrars For Australians

How much does a domain name cost?

If your web hosting provider doesn’t include a free domain name within its service, you will have to pay for a domain name from a domain registrar, as explained above. The cost that this will incur varies depending on certain factors, including what extension you choose (such as .com, .net, .au and so forth). The average cost is around $10 to $60 Australian dollars per year, with the pricing structure most commonly set up as an annual fee. Some registrars may offer a discounted price if you register for multiple years upfront, but this is dependent on the provider.

In Australia, the not-for-profit .au Domain Administration (auDA) oversees the management of our country code Top-Level Domain (ccTLD)—the .au domain. You can read more about auDA here.

4. Connect Your Domain to Your Web Host

The process of connecting your domain name to your web host varies depending on where you got your domain name from. For example, if you get a domain name through your web hosting provider, it will automatically be connected to your web host. If you already own a domain name, you will need to manually connect your domain to your web host.

To do this, navigate to the site where you purchased your domain name from, such as GoDaddy. From there, go into the settings for your domain name to point your domain at the hosting server. Within your web hosting account, you should have been given name servers, known as domain name servers, or DNS. These addresses are where you point your domain name so that when people type in “www.yourdomain.com” they land on whatever content you’re hosting on the server you chose.

When you’ve located the name servers, you need to log in to your domain name settings and click on your “DNS Settings” tab. You then simply replace the current domain name servers with those provided to you by your web host. When you save this, your domain will start to point to your host server within a few hours, but it can be pretty instantaneous.

5. Install WordPress (or Migrate An Existing Site)

The last step in the process is to install WordPress onto your domain through your web hosting account. Most of the leading web hosting providers offer free one-click WordPress installation, which enables users to connect their domain and web hosting plan to WordPress with just one click. How you access the one-click installation feature will depend on which web hosting provider you choose, however, it is typically accessible through your web hosting account or cPanel.

If you already have an existing WordPress website and are connecting to a new hosting provider, then the easiest way to connect is by using a WordPress migration service. This is often available for free through your web hosting provider. However, some hosts do charge an additional fee for this migration service.

Find out more about the best web hosting providers for WordPress.

Hosting your own website may feel daunting–especially if you’re not particularly experienced in the area of web development. However, web hosting providers have come a long way and most do a good job of helping users easily host their own websites. If you run into any issues along the way, most hosts offer comprehensive help centres, as well as live support so your host is generally the first line of defence when users run into issues.

It’s important to note that you can host your own website with your own physical server, but this process can be difficult to configure, very costly and puts the onus entirely on yourself to keep your website available at all times–such as if a cybersecurity breach occurs or a coding configuration is incorrect.

That’s why it is recommended that you host your own website with a web hosting provider due to better affordability, security and simplicity.