This blog was written by an independent guest blogger.
Thinking about launching a new website? You’ll want a domain to go with that, as well as a brand spanking new email address.
But here’s the thing: Before all the fun and excitement of creating a new website can begin, you first have to decide whether or not you want to host your domain, email, and website together with the same provider, or whether you want to keep them all separate.
It’s a tough choice because, once you’ve made a decision, it’s pretty damn difficult to renege on it.
But it’s totally cool - we’re here to help. In this article, we’re going to take a look at the (dis) advantages of having your domain, email, and website on separate providers so that you’re clearer about what you need to do.
Advantages of having your domain, email and website on separate providers
For some, having their domain, email, and website on separate providers looks appealing. Here are a few reasons why:
Moving doesn’t have to be that tricky
One of the common worries people have with their domain, email, and website on separate providers is that moving everything will be tricky.
After all, you’ll need to move your domain, email, and website separately and that just sounds like a major effort.
However, there are ways to get around this. One way is by moving your website to a CloudWays server. Does this mean you can take advantage of their migrator plugin that smooths over the transition process because their engineers take care of everything for you. The result is a clean website that’s moved from one place to another, and is bug-free.
Another smart idea is to register your domains with NameCheap. Whenever it’s time to move your host, your domains won’t need to change because NameCheap helps you transfer a domain from one host to another. All you have to do is register your domain with NameCheap and then use the ‘Change Ownership’ option when it’s time to move host whilst keeping the same domain.
It’s the same with email. If you choose the right host, you won’t need to worry about silly things like downtime or making changes to settings. Your emails will stay the same.
You’ll feel more secure
Online systems are not foolproof and cybersecurity continues to be a big issue in 2020. Every single online system is susceptible to attack. Isn’t that a little scary when your domain, email, and website are all with the same provider? Literally, everything you’ve worked hard on could be destroyed because all a hacker has to do is decode one login.
Moreover, data loss doesn’t just affect you - it affects your clients, and their confidence and trust in you goes down. The stats show that 67% of all data loss is caused by system failures, while hackers are often also behind data loss.
And no one is safe from an attack. Just last year in 2019, Microsoft Office 365 accounts were attacked by hackers.
On the other hand, if your email, website and domain are all on separate providers, hackers need to figure out 3-4 logins. That is highly unlikely.
Genesis web developer Andrea Whitmer has separated her email, domain and website and points out how much time it takes to recover everything if just one attack wipes you clean out.
“A few years ago, my dad’s website got hacked. Not only did the hackers destroy his site, but they also transferred his domain away from his website and took it over. It took ages to prove ownership and get everything back.
When your domains are separate, even if someone gets access to your files, your domains are safe.”
It’s also a smart idea to back everything up and bear in mind other best cybersecurity practices.
Less server issues with email
Email continues to be important to any company, with stats showing that the amount of people expected to use email will grow from 3.9 billion in 2019 to 4.3 billion in 2023. If your emails aren’t working, you could be in big trouble. For example, you could miss out on a client opportunity.
The thing is, if your server is hosting your website, domain and email, a server problem will wipe you out for a few hours. And don’t even think about emailing customer support for help because their servers are down!
Reliability is key when it comes to email, which is why it’s important for some businesses that they keep it separate from their website and domain and find a service that works 100% of the time.
Disadvantages of having your domain, email and website on separate providers
Setup is less simple
Some hosts let you register your domain name with the same business that’s hosting your website.
Why?
Many reasons, but one of them is that it makes everything much simpler for you.
For example, you won’t need to change name-servers which, if you’re not very experienced with tech stuff, can be difficult. You’ll need to spend time watching tutorials until even the concept “name-servers” makes sense.
You also wouldn’t need to configure your email, because it’s hosted on the same server as your website. If it isn’t, and you decide to move your website, your website might be up and running but your inbox will be dead. Essentially, the Mail Exchanger record will be pointing to (for example) mydomain.com but because this domain is now pointing elsewhere, the corresponding email address isn’t working.
Multiple logins
Let’s face it, working on a business is time-consuming, and it’s a lot of hard work. If there are ways to simplify processes and make them more efficient, we’ll give them a try.
If your domain, email, and website are all on the same provider, there’s just one login. There’s also one control panel and a single interface that you need to get to grips with. This saves time and it means there are less passwords to remember.
And we all know the hassle involved when trying to recover a forgotten password. You could write it down or add it to a document on your computer but what if it gets stolen? And what if you decide to choose easy-to-remember passwords that even Google can guess in just 4 minutes? Remember, taking care of cybersecurity and staying safe online is key and keeping track of multiple logins may not be the best practice.
So, the disadvantage of having everything on separate providers is that you’ll have to cope with multiple logins. Whilst this tightens security in one sense (see above), it can also cost you time, and it means you’ll need to get to grips with different interfaces, too.
More billing addresses
Just like there are multiple logins, there are also multiple billing addresses if you keep everything separate on different providers. This might seem like a small thing, but when it comes to things like receipts and company accounts, it could increase the risk of a major headache because there are more things to keep track of.
And if you don’t keep track and happen to forget one or two invoices, cash flow might become an issue at your business.
Staying organized and on top of bills is important for any business. If you’ve ever been in a situation where bills have been paid late, or where you’ve lost track of who to pay and when, it might be a good idea to bring your domain, email, and website onto the same provider so that you’ve got less invoices to keep track of.
More customer support teams
If something goes wrong with your domain, website or email and you’re using separate providers, it means you’ll need to reach out to different customer support teams to fix things.
It could get worse if two things break down at the same time, and you need to get in touch with those different support teams at the same time.
When everything is together on the same provider, the same customer support can help you out whatever your issue is.
More customer support teams mean more expenses, too. You could shop around and find yourself a good deal if you decide to host your website and email together with the same provider. For example, some companies offer a bundle where you get two things (email and domain, for example) for the price of one.
That said, it’s really important that you take a closer look at any web hosting package you’re thinking of purchasing so that you know for sure if it can cope with a busy website and mailbox. No limit mailboxes are well worth using if you’re expecting a huge flux of emails.
Conclusion
In all honesty, there are probably better things to get anxious about than whether or not we should keep our domain, email, and website on separate providers. However, it’s still important that your business gets this right. Whether you decide to bring everything together or not, make sure to find tools that suit you (finding hosting with the best performance), that fit your budget, and which have exactly what you need in terms of security.
