What is web hosting? How is it different from domain hosting? Why do you need it? How does it work in the context of an academic journal?
There are a lot of questions that you might be asking yourself about this particular topic. The first question that needs to be addressed is “what is it?” Followed quickly thereafter by “why does it matter?”
What is web hosting?
Very broadly, web hosting is a service that maintains a website and makes it accessible to people. They host (or provide the necessary storage space and access to) websites and make sure that they are available to the public.
You can do web hosting on your own, but this can cost a great deal of money (which you might not have to spare initially), and it also will require IT support.
Your site might be the target of malicious actors or even simply not be able to handle large numbers of visitors. As such, when you are going to host your journal’s website, there are lots of things to keep in mind. Here are just a few of those things:
- Employees
- Monitoring
- Security
To give a bit more information, let’s tackle these areas in a bit more detail.
Employees
Hosting your own website can be time-consuming. Websites are rarely “set and forget” propositions. You need to monitor the site, ensure that it is stable and responsive, and that it performs well. After all, you don’t want your website to be slow or difficult to navigate. This usually means that you’ll need an employee (minimum) to focus on this task. Hiring a specialist to handle this can be costly, but there are benefits.
Expertise results in a better website.
These employees can ensure that your site is properly developed, intuitive, and stable. The trade off here is cost. Hiring employees can be costly, and as such, you might want to consider outsourcing this particular matter to a different company.
Monitoring
As mentioned above, websites aren’t “set and forget”. Once you have a website, you cannot just assume that it is always working and never check on it. This is one reason why having a website can be complicated.
Even if you’re not routinely updating the core site, you might need to upload content or blog articles. You might also need to make changes, redirect links, fix broken links, and more. Monitoring a website is something that many web hosting companies will do for you. Conversely, if you hire someone to run a site for you, they can manage this. Whichever choice to pick, it’s important to make sure that your site is always being taken care of. There’s nothing worse for a website than to have it crash and then the site be offline for days (if not weeks). While most web hosting companies will have 24/7 tech support, it’s critical to minimize the time your site is offline if there’s a problem.
Security
Website security can be critically important.
If your website gets hacked, this can have far-reaching consequences. This can have a major impact on your reputation. Especially if this hack results in a breach that results in assets being exposed.
Hackers may be able to access sensitive data, and this failure to protect your authors can be something that does not get forgotten. This can also impact your SEO rankings as well, as your site will no longer be considered a “safe” site to visit. Your website’s security is something that you cannot risk leaving to chance.
Why does web hosting matter?
The importance of getting your site hosted cannot be understated. Your website—your journal—needs to be available to the public. Researchers and academics will not wait around for your site to come online if they need information.
As such, your site’s health and availability are crucial to your success. So, how will you best approach it?
In many cases, smaller journals and startups are not often in a position to take care of the design and hosting of their own site. So, what do you do in cases such as this?
Generally speaking, the easiest (and potentially most cost-effective) approach is to hire a company to take care of your web hosting for you. There are many companies, all around the world, that will host your website (and even help you in the design of said site). But, they’re all different, and some might not be ideal for your company.
How do you know what company will work best for you?
Services offered by web hosting companies
Web hosting companies are not always in the business of providing custom services. In many cases, this is fine.
Because there are so many different kinds of websites, the majority of these web hosting companies provide a series of a la carte options depending on your needs. Some companies will simply offer packages, and include a number of services. These services can range from webstore functionality and financial tools to large bandwidth and download options.
Your website, however, needs to host articles and provide for downloading functionality. If your articles are not open access, then the web hosting company will need to be able to provide some form of paywall. Make sure that whatever company you decide to hire has all the tools that you might need.
Due to the importance of research, making sure that there is a 24/7 tech support option is always an important thing to keep in mind.
Where to start?
When you’re starting your journal, knowing where that journal will need to go is important. Reach out to companies through their websites, and get in touch with their teams. Remember that while you are a business, you may not have the same type of business needs as other companies.
While other companies might sell physical products or services, your primary need might revolve around things like website security and amount of downloads. Make sure that whatever service you’re looking for doesn’t try to get you to sign on to a general service.
Your needs are special, so you need to find the right partner to help you in your journey.