How to choose a domain and hosting for website

Before launching a website, you need to choose two important elements: a domain name—its address on the internet—and hosting—the place where it will be stored. The speed, convenience, and security of your website depend on how well you choose these elements. Read this article to find out how to do this.

How to choose the right domain

A domain name is the address of a resource that users can use to find it. It consists of several mandatory parts separated by dots.

The top-level domain is located to the right of the last dot. You cannot come up with it yourself — you need to choose from the list offered by the registrar.

There are several types of top-level domains:

• national: “.ua”, “.bg”, “.uk” — indicate the country;
• general: “.com”, “.gov”, “.info”;
• thematic: “.fitness”, “.dev” for web developers, “.style” for beauty salons;
• internationalized — consist of letters from national alphabets, for example, Cyrillic for Ukrainian resources (“site.ukr”), rarely used.

In Ukraine, you cannot simply register a domain for a business in the form of “name.ua” without a trademark. Therefore, most projects use “com.ua”, where “.ua” is the top-level domain and “.com” is the second-level domain, indicating the commercial nature of the resource.

A domain name is part of a domain where the name of the site is usually indicated. If it is identical to the name of the company or trademark, then it is a branded domain. Depending on the registration conditions, it can be at the second or third level.

The name must be unique. If it is already taken, you can:

• try another domain zone, for example, choose “.net” instead of “.com”;
• add a word that reflects your niche or region;
• use an abbreviation or acronym for the brand;
• contact the owner and discuss a buyout.

The domain name should only contain Latin letters and numbers. Hyphens are also allowed, but not at the beginning or end. Cyrillic characters are allowed for international domains, but technically such names are converted into a special Punycode.

How to choose a reliable hosting provider

Hosting is a service for placing a website on a server. To put it simply, it is a powerful computer that is connected to the Internet around the clock. It receives requests from users, processes them, and sends a response. To do this, the hosting provider allocates the following to the website:

• disk space;
• computing resources;
• a stable network connection;
• basic infrastructure.

Thus, the performance and reliability of a website are largely determined by the hosting provider.

Types of hosting

The most common options:

• Shared (virtual shared hosting) — dozens or even hundreds of websites are assigned to one server. This option is inexpensive, but all resources are shared between users. Therefore, when there is a large influx of visitors to other websites, the speed of your resource will decrease;
• VPS (virtual private server) — one physical server is divided into several virtual servers, each of which is assigned to one owner. The user receives a guaranteed amount of CPU, memory, and disk space, so the load on other sites does not affect the speed of your resource;
• cloud hosting — the price for its services is higher than the others, but it is more reliable. The site is hosted on several servers at once, so if one computer fails, the resource will continue to work without downtime. The load is evenly distributed across the servers, ensuring fast performance even during high traffic. As traffic grows, resources are automatically scaled up — the website receives more computing resources (CPU, RAM, disk space).

Thus, Shared is suitable for projects with low traffic and a small budget. VPS is needed for websites and stores where it is important to maintain high performance. Cloud hosting is for high-load resources where speed and flexibility are important.

Selection criteria

When choosing a hosting provider, consider the following points:

• speed — hosting affects how quickly a website loads. Server speed, support for modern protocols (HTTP/2, HTTP/3), caching, and the location of the data center near your audience are important factors. Fast loading improves user experience and helps with SEO;
• support — make sure the provider offers 24/7 support (chat, tickets, or phone) and that consultations are provided by competent specialists. This will help you quickly resolve any issues. If you don't want to configure the server yourself, choose a managed hosting option;
• uptime (availability) — the provider must guarantee that the site will be available at any time of the day. To do this, the uptime of your resource must be at least 99.9%. Also, check if the provider offers compensation in case of failures.

When choosing a hosting provider, pay attention to backup — how often the provider creates backups and whether it is possible to quickly restore the site in case of failure. Security (SSL, DDoS protection, regular server updates) and the convenience of the control panel are also important so that you can easily configure domains, databases, and email.

Security and SEO recommendations

To ensure that your website is reliable and trusted by users, as well as well-indexed by search engines, it is important to consider the security certificate and server location.

SSL certificate

When choosing a hosting provider, make sure it supports SSL, which creates HTTPS — a secure (encrypted) protocol for data transfer between the browser and the website. This builds user trust in the website and also has a positive effect on SEO, as search engines prefer secure websites.

Server location

The location of the hosting provider affects the server's impact on website speed and SEO in Ukraine. For a Ukrainian audience, it is recommended to choose a provider whose servers are located in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine or in neighboring countries. If necessary, use a CDN — a network of servers that speeds up access to the website by loading data from the node closest to the user.

To learn more about how to choose a domain and hosting, contact the IT company Megasite. We have been creating websites for over 10 years and will help you find the best solutions for your business, ensuring the reliability, speed, and security of your resource.