StatCounter Insights

Free Insights & Training in SEO, Web & Social Media

Web Hosting UK

Although most web hosting companies operate on an international level, it can still benefit United Kingdom business owners to find a web hosting company in the U.K. Luckily, the U.K. has a plethora of efficient web hosting companies for you to choose from. Of course, you can choose other big names that are not based out of the United Kingdom, but there are benefits from choosing a local web host for your website.

At StatCounter, we focus on analytics and data-driven information to alert our members of the health of their website. We also strive to provide ur members with resources and information to help them improve their websites. Before you sign up for StatCounter, or upgrade to our Growth Plan, let us fill you in on the benefits of choosing a web hosting company in the U.K. and some of the most reputable of these companies.

Web Hosting Companies in the UK

Since there are so many web hosting companies in the U.K., you have a lot of choices. Each company offers its own advantages and disadvantages, which makes doing your research into which U.K. based web host is right for you slightly time-consuming. We have detailed some of the most popular U.K. web hosting companies to help you to get started.

Web Hosting Companies in the UK

Founded in Germany, 1&1 is one of the world’s largest web hosting companies and expanded services to the U.K. in the early 2000’s. Their international presence has not detracted from their local U.K. web hosting services in the least. In fact, if you are in need of assistance, their U.K. office is easily reachable.

Better yet, 1&1 offers a wide range of web hosting services. Whether you are looking to host your website on a shared server, a dedicated server, in the cloud, or through VPS hosting, 1&1 has a solution for you. You can even keep you site secure through 1&1 with their free SSL certificates, making them a viable choice for any website owner in the U.K.

123-Reg

Another popular and reputable U.K. web hosting company is 123-Reg. Founded in 2000, 123-Reg has become well known for serving small and medium sized businesses with sound web hosting solutions. While their services aren’t as sophisticated as 1&1, 123-Reg has made it easy to build, transfer, or sell your website or domain name.

123-Reg allows users to host their website with WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. Any of these content management systems (CMS) can help you get your website off the ground fairly quickly, but you will want to do research into which CMS to use as well as the best hosting provider for your website.

Heart Internet

Heart Internet is a relatively new web hosting company in the U.K. when compared to 1&1 and 123-Reg. Founded in 2004, Heart Internet quickly grew into one of the largest web hosting companies in the area. They offer a range of services including domain name registration, SSL certificates, and, of course, web hosting.

While Heart Internet lacks the complexity that has made 1&1 an international name, they have made building a website remarkably easy. Better yet, Heart Internet’s U.K. office is easy to contact should you run into an issue, making them a viable option in U.K. web hosting.

As StatCounter’s trusted domain and web hosting partner, 1&1 offers some of the best and most affordable hosting plans available. With an office in the U.K., 1&1 has a local presence to help website owners improve their online presence.

Web Hosting Services in the UK

The web hosting services that your site requires will largely depend on a number of factors including how much traffic your site receives and the web hosting cost that your business can afford. Some of the most popular types of web hosting are detailed below.

Shared Web Hosting

Typically, shared web hosting is a cost-effective way to get your website up and running. In this, you share server space with other websites, which is what makes it cheaper than a dedicated server. However, shared servers can become troublesome once your site gets too large or begins receiving a high level of traffic.

Once your site begins receiving an uptick in traffic, you will want to transfer your site over to a dedicated server. Luckily, most web hosting companies in the U.K. give you the ability to transfer your site from a shared server to a dedicated server with relative ease. In short, if you are just getting your website up and running, a shared server is a good place to begin.

Dedicated Servers

As mentioned before, once your site becomes too large or begins receiving a large volume of traffic, you will need to switch your website from a shared server to a dedicated server. This comes with a variety of advantages, including more freedom to customize your website and improve the page load speed for such.

The only real drawback to dedicated hosting is its high price point. If your company brings in a fair amount of revenue, dedicated hosting may be worth it as it will improve your website immensely. Be sure to consider all variables before making the switch.

VPS Hosting

Another popular web hosting solution is virtual private server (VPS) hosting. Unlike dedicated or shared servers, VPS hosting is when a website is hosted on a virtual machine, which is hosted on a physical server. With this, your website shares physical server space, however, the resources and storage space on it are divided equally across the virtual machines. This can present a number of advantages is you are just getting your website off the ground, so be sure to compare VPS hosting services from U.K. web hosting companies to their shared hosting solutions to see which is best for your website.

Beginner Tips

For most websites, a shared server is a sound place to start your website out. Once you begin to receive a high-volume of traffic, you can simply upgrade to a dedicated server. Remember, dedicated servers are most pricey, so you will want to ensure your website is profitable enough for this investment.

Track Your Progress with StatCounter

Once you have picked a web hosting company in the U.K. and your website is up and running, you will need to track your website progress. With StatCounter, you can see which pages of your site are most popular, where your traffic is coming from, how users interact on your site, and much more. This will help you develop a sound SEO strategy to get your website a better online presence.

If you are in need of assistance of have a question about StatCounter or our Growth Plan, fill out the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Share this article

Understand your visitors with Statcounter

See why over 1,500,000 bloggers, web designers, marketing and SEO professionals and small business owners around the world use Statcounter to grow their business.

Learn More