NJ Web Hosting for Small Businesses

Why Are Our NJ Website Hosting Fees So Low?

Our fees are low because we don't bundle services that our clients don't want or need. Other companies charge a much higher monthly fee because they include services that may not be necessary — especially for "website maintenance" which the client may never use (see the next section below).

NJ Website Maintenance — WordPress

The next big question is how hosting a small business website differs from maintaining or managing a website, so let's review that now.

At Short Hills Design, hosting includes everything you need to keep your website up and running on the Internet, securely with rock-solid performance. We update the core WordPress software as needed as well as WordPress plugins, and we provide rapid security updates if critical patches are released.

Website maintenance is the term we use for making website updates such as adding or changing content, images, layouts, and the like. The reason we separate out our hosting services from our maintenance services is because our clients — with full website access — are able to and are encouraged to make any website updates that they would like on their own. Thus, it's not fair to charge clients for a bundled service that they simply will never use. Remember, one of the beauties of using WordPress is that as a website owner you are not tied into one particular host or locked into having only one company being able to provide website maintenance.

Where Are Your Servers Located?

We have servers across the United States and Canada, and we will match up your practice's location with a datacenter that is close to you. If you are on the East coast, for example, you will be hosted on an East Coast Server.

Small Business Web Hosting Refresher

Website hosting is the process of storing your website's files on the internet so that people can access your site online. Every website that wants to be found online needs to have a web host.

A web server is a computer that is connected to the internet which "knows" how to display your website when someone asks for it (e.g. visits your site online).

The website registrar (such as GoDaddy.com) is the service you use to register (rent) your domain name. You can think of the registrar as the post office — the registrar stores information about your domain so it can be found on the internet (like driving directions).

The SSL certificate is the padlock icon you see at the top left of a search bar that shows people that your site is secure. We could debate about why a website needs to be SSL secured, but it's been a ranking factor for years so it's critical to have a valid SSL. Plus, if you don't have an SSL certificate, people will see a "not secure" warning when they visit your site which can scare many people — especially those that aren't tech savvy.

Do You Host Email?

No. Google Workspace and Office 365 are affordable, reliable email providers and we recommend that our clients use one of these services for their email. One of the reasons you want to have your email separate from your website is that email services can be difficult to move from one provider to another, so having your email services independent of the website gives you significant flexibility.

Is Domain Hosting a Real Thing?

Not really.

Here's how the domain/hosting concept works: if you want to start a new website for your business, you'd head to GoDaddy.com and purchase a new domain. You would then build a website, and find a web host to put the website live on the internet.

You can think of the domain/hosting relationship as a Post Office to street address relationship. The Post Office (registrar) knows your business's street address so people can send you mail, and your business and equipment is all stored at your physical building location (hosting).

Domains do not need management other than that they need to be renewed when they expire. And make sure that you own your domain name and not your marketing company or web hosting company.

In summary:

• →Part 1 is getting a website address, or domain. That's the "www.shorthillsdesign.com" part and you do that at a domain registrar such as GoDaddy.com or Register.com.
• →Part 2 is web hosting — you need somewhere to store the website on the Internet so people can find it.