What is hosting?
Hosting, or web hosting, is the most appropriate area for us to focus on. Hosting is simply the act of "hosting" a server on your premises. This means that you have a server park where you "host" or have several servers for yourself or various customers. You may need hosting of some kind when you need a place to store your website, application or information to be shared with the outside world.
Hosting of WordPress website
We offer website hosting on our servers as part of our WordPress hosting package. We can also assist with hosting other website solutions by agreement.
Hosting WordPress is more than "just" hosting, and should usually also include things like backups, updating the underlying code, searching for and removing malicious code, etc. Sometimes we run into customers who miss this difference, and think that a web hosting at domainshop for SEK 150 a year includes something that takes a person 15-20 minutes a week.
That said, it is possible for some companies to use cheap hosting and perform the maintenance of WordPress themselves, but the vast majority probably benefit from an operating agreement.
Why hosting in Norway is important
When choosing a hosting provider for your website, we usually recommend using an agency because they are familiar with the options and can assist you based on your needs. They will also be familiar with the most common hosting challenges and be able to resolve them quickly.
You'll also often get a better deal than if you buy direct, as there are often volume discounts for agencies. Unless you have a lot of international traffic, you should also make sure that you use a hosting provider with servers in Norway.
Main reasons for hosting your website in Norway:
- Server location: When the server is closer to the visitor, the website loads faster. This is obvious, but when we're sitting in Norway, a server in Oslo will be able to send us information faster than a server in Washington.
- GDPR: This is one of many minefields when it comes to hosting, especially if you store information on your website about your visitors, this can be one of many GDPR pitfalls you should make as easy as possible for yourself to host in Norway.
- Customer service: The vast majority of Norwegian hosting providers have Norwegian customer service, which makes it easier not necessarily just because of language, but also in terms of opening hours, culture and service expectations.
Cheap hosting is almost never a good idea
It's always a bad idea to "attack" someone who meets a need in the market, but we encounter far too many customers who fall into the trap of taking something cheap and simple from one of the many low-cost suppliers. If they are not even a Norwegian alternative, the result is often a slow website that collapses if you throw as few as 10 users onto the site at the same time.
If you don't have a lot of traffic, cheap hosting can actually be a big part of the problem. Google rewards fast websites with good rankings and penalizes slow websites. It should be noted that this is just one of over 200 factors and variables, but as we have seen in collaboration with the SEO agency Solid Media, speed is an important factor in ranking well on Google.
Hosting in Norway that we recommend
There are many providers both in Norway and abroad, which vary depending on what you need. Note that if in doubt, you should make sure you have a technical person internally who is familiar with this, or an agency or IT partner who can help you with the choice. The wrong choice of server hosting can be a major headache.
Hosting in Norway that we recommend:
There are many suppliers both in Norway and abroad, which vary depending on what you need. Note that if in doubt, you should make sure you have a technical person internally who is familiar with this, or an agency or IT partner who can help you with the choice. The wrong choice of server hosting can be a major headache.
Below you'll find some diverse players we can recommend based on experience with slightly varying levels of complexity and needs:
- ProIsp.no - For simple web hosting in Norway, affordable, fairly fast and good customer service. Can be a bit too resource-light if you have a lot of visits to your website.
- Servebolt.no - Our favorite managed hosting in Norway. Lightning-fast servers, great customer service and perfect for established businesses where stability, speed and capacity are important. However, requires some technical expertise to manage and is only recommended in combination with an agency hosting agreement. Perhaps the best servers for WordPress hosting in Norway!
- Amazon AWS - Again a solution that requires some technical expertise, but very scalable and together with Google Cloud two of the largest in the world. Perfect if you have a lot of international customers on your website.
- Cloudways - A low-threshold version of Amazon AWS in terms of both technical requirements and budget.