Seeing a monthly hosting fee tacked onto your website costs can feel annoying — we get it. At Sites by Doug we value transparency, so here’s a clear breakdown of what that fee actually pays for and why it matters.

Hosting in a nutshell

Every website lives on a server — essentially a rented slice of the internet. Those servers are housed in data centres that cost money to run: power, cooling, networking, hardware maintenance, and security. The monthly hosting fee covers those ongoing operational costs that keep your site online and available to visitors 24/7.

Not all hosting is equal

Cheap or unmanaged hosting can mean slow load times, poor uptime, and security gaps. To meet performance and reliability expectations, your site needs:

• Well-maintained servers — updated, patched and monitored.
• Reputable data centre infrastructure — redundancy, backups and fast networking.
• Security and compliance — HTTPS/SSL, firewalls, malware scanning and safe handling of user data.

At Sites by Doug we partner with industry-standard hosting providers to make sure your site is fast, secure and resilient. We implement and maintain the usual best-practice protections such as SSL/HTTPS, automated backups, firewall rules, and monitoring.

Why not just host it myself?

Self-hosting is possible, but it brings a lot of overhead. Here are the common reasons most businesses choose managed hosting instead:

• Technical setup is complex. Domains, DNS records, SSL certificates, reverse proxies and SMTP settings all require correct configuration and ongoing management.
• Maintenance never stops. Software updates, security patches, backups and performance tuning all need regular attention — otherwise things break or become insecure.
• Data protection and backups. Managed hosting typically includes automated backups and tested restore procedures so your site can be recovered quickly after an incident.

What Sites by Doug takes care of

We manage the technical things so you don’t have to. Our hosting & support packages commonly include:

• Managed server provisioning and optimisation
• SSL/HTTPS setup and renewal
• Daily or scheduled backups with tested restores
• Security hardening and malware monitoring
• Uptime and performance monitoring
• DNS and domain assistance (transfers, records, TTL tuning)
• SMTP/email configuration and troubleshooting
• Support for contact forms, integrations and third-party services

In short

Hosting is far more than a parking space — it’s a running service that needs care. Paying a monthly fee for managed hosting gives you predictable costs, reliable performance, and the peace of mind that a technical caretaker is handling the behind-the-scenes work.

Sites by Doug provides a range of maintenance and operational services so you don’t have to wrestle with hosting providers, domain DNS records, email setup, or the technical details of contact forms and integrations. Focus on your business — we’ll keep the engine room running.