Which Comes First, Web Hosting or Web Design?
by: Kevin Kielty | Print View
What is the relationship betweenand a website which performs well?
Choosing yourplan can make or break your online business. It requires some level of technical knowledge and for most people, is too important a decision to be made on their own. To be truly successful online, you should begin your search with a web designer and establish a relationship with that person. They will then guide you in finding the bestservice to fit your needs.
How well your website performs is strongly dependant upon yourplan. The hosting plan you choose directly effects the experience your prospective customers will have on your site. When shopping for business web hosting, people often make the mistake of looking for the cheapest plan they can find. The problem with this approach is that you are not just paying for hosting, you are paying for bandwidth, which directly effects how fast your web page will load. If your page loads too slowly your prospective customer will never see your site, but bandwidth is not the only factor that effects page load time. Other factors include:
The number of people connecting to your site at the same time.
The type of content you have on your site (the number of images, flash, video, audio, CMS).
How well your website is coded.
Back up and restore capabilities
Pre-loaded open source software
Security features
Of the six factors listed above, #3 is the primary offender for page load delays. Poorly coded websites are most often the result of machine-generated code, from do-it-yourself website builder applications.
Choosing a Web Designer first – Knowledge and Relationship
There are many choices forcompanies and many different types ofservices. Knowing whatyou will need for your website before it even exists is difficult, if not impossible. That is why you will need to begin with an experienced web designer. That person will be able to build a custom website for you and will know what type of hosting will be necessary to accommodate your site. When you hire a web designer, he or she will begin with gathering requirements from you in which you will discuss all the features and content you would like to have on your site. Your designer will then choose aservice that can handle all the requirements of the site that they are going to build for you.
Another reason to begin with choosing a website designer or developer first, is that they will design your site based on the idea that they will provide the hosting and that there will be an ongoing relationship. Businessoften includes the hosting as well as some type of website support contract so that you will have someone you can go back to on a consistent basis. You will get personal one-on-one attention and ongoing support from someone you have a history with, and who thoroughly knows your website and your business model.
Choosing Web Hosting First – A Space in Need of a Site
If you begin with choosing your hosting plan first, then look for a designer, you set yourself up for several problems. First of all most web designers will not take a job building a website that could potentially be more than the hosting plan can handle. Secondly, many hosting services have different shareware applications that come with the hosting. You could have trouble finding a developer who is familiar with the shareware that comes with your hosting plan.
Another problem with choosing the hosting plan first is that a hosting company is concerned only with selling the hosting and nothing more. If you encounter any problems outside of hosting, the hosting company will not be able to help you. You will be essentially orphaning yourself before the project has even begun. Most web designers and developers offer their clientsas well as maintenance contracts, but if you choose the hosting company first, then the person who builds the site for you does not have an ongoing relationship with you. Since there is no contract tying you to them, they have no vested interest is making your website successful.
Choosing aservice for your website can be a complicated but very important decision. You will have the greatest chance for success with your website, if you begin by choosing a web designer or developer first and then have a hosting and maintenance contract with that person. That will ensure that your hosting plan will be appropriate for your website and that you will always have a website professional available when you need them.
About the Author
Kevin Kielty writes for Internet Marketing Advantage in Raleigh, NC. Web hosting and web development are his areas of expertise. Internet Marketing Advantage specializes in bringing together web development and web hosting Raleigh, NC.
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Comments 
Wed, 2 Mar 2011 at 7:50 AM, by
Guest
True, but I know quite a lot of designers who are Godaddy affiliates and we all know that Godaddy sucks. Letting the designer decide about which hosting plan will be chosen does not necessarily mean that that would be the best choice.
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 at 7:36 AM, by
Guest
Similar question: What comes first, the egg or the chicken? I personally think inexpensive web hosting comes first so you can see what your website design looks like online.