Website & Domain Hosting
Your website and domain require reliable, secure hosting infrastructure to remain accessible. We've been providing comprehensive hosting services since the 1990s, combining decades of technical expertise with modern infrastructure to deliver hosting solutions that simply work. From websites to domain management, email services to DNS infrastructure, we provide the complete hosting foundation your business needs.
Whether you're launching your first website or managing a complex multi-site infrastructure, our hosting services provide the stability, performance, and security your business demands.
Website Hosting
Website hosting is the service that stores your website files and makes them accessible to visitors worldwide. Choosing the right hosting provider directly impacts your website's speed, reliability, security, and ultimately, your business success.
Loading Speeds
Optimised servers and infrastructure help deliver the fast page load times that keep visitors engaged and improve search rankings.
UK-Based Servers
Data centres located in the United Kingdom ensure optimal performance for UK audiences and compliance with UK data protection regulations.
Types of Website Hosting
Different websites have different hosting requirements. We offer various hosting solutions designed to match your specific needs, ensuring you get the right level of resources and features without paying for capacity you don't use. Each account is allocated its own resources to prevent any single site from affecting others. This solution includes everything most businesses need - ample storage space, bandwidth, email accounts, and one-click installers for popular applications like WordPress and is ideal for most websites, offering professional features at accessible prices.
Essential Hosting Features
All our hosting packages include a comprehensive suite of features designed to provide everything your website needs to succeed online. These aren't optional extras - they're standard inclusions that ensure reliable, secure, professional website hosting.
Free SSL Certificates
Secure your website with HTTPS encryption, essential for security, visitor trust, and search engine rankings.
Email Hosting Included
Professional email addresses using your domain name, with webmail access and mail client support.
Control Panel Access
User-friendly control panel for managing your hosting, files, databases, and email accounts easily.
Unlimited Bandwidth
No bandwidth restrictions or overage charges regardless of your traffic levels (fair usage applies).
Performance & Speed Optimisation
Website speed directly impacts user experience, search engine rankings, and conversion rates. Visitors expect pages to load quickly, and search engines like Google prioritise fast-loading websites in their results. Our hosting infrastructure is optimised to provide good performance.
Server-Side Caching
Where appropriate we will use caching which dramatically reduces the time needed to generate pages. When a visitor requests a page, cached versions can be served instantly rather than regenerating content from scratch each time.
Content Delivery Network (CDN) Integration
If we host your DNS on Cloudflare you benefit from CDNs to distribute your website's static content (images, CSS, JavaScript) across multiple servers worldwide. When visitors access your site, content is delivered from the server closest to their location, significantly reducing loading times for international audiences.
Latest PHP and Database Versions
We maintain current versions of PHP, MySQL, and other server software, ensuring you benefit from the latest performance improvements and security enhancements. Newer PHP versions can execute code significantly faster than older versions, whilst modern MySQL releases handle database queries more efficiently. We manage these updates carefully, testing compatibility before implementing changes to avoid disrupting your website whilst ensuring you benefit from technological improvements.
SSD Storage
All our hosting packages use Solid State Drives (SSDs) rather than traditional mechanical hard drives. SSDs access data hundreds of times faster than conventional drives, resulting in quicker database queries, faster file access, and overall improved website responsiveness. This modern storage technology provides a noticeable performance advantage, particularly for database-driven websites and applications that frequently read and write data.
Domains we configure to use Cloudflare DNS benefit from:
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Firewall Protection
Web Application Firewalls (WAF) analyse incoming traffic and try to block malicious requests before they reach your website. These firewalls use regularly updated rule sets that recognise and prevent common attack patterns including SQL injection, cross-site scripting, and various other vulnerabilities. This protective layer operates transparently, helping blocking attacks whilst allowing legitimate traffic through without noticeable delays.
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DDoS Protection
Distributed Denial of Service attacks attempt to overwhelm your website with traffic, making it inaccessible to legitimate visitors. The Cloudflare infrastructure includes DDoS mitigation that detects and filters attack traffic automatically. For clients requiring enhanced protection, our Premium Cloudflare integration provides enterprise-grade DDoS defence capable of handling even the largest attacks. This protection ensures your website remains accessible even under attack conditions.
Expert Technical Support
Reliable hosting means more than just infrastructure - it requires responsive, knowledgeable support when you need assistance. Our UK-based technical team understands hosting thoroughly and provides practical help rather than scripted responses.
UK-Based Team
Speak directly with experienced technicians in the UK who understand your hosting environment comprehensively.
Rapid Response Times
Quick acknowledgement of support requests with most issues resolved on first contact.
Monitoring
Cloudflare's monitoring dashboard provides real-time visibility into your website's performance, traffic patterns, and security events.
Migration Assistance
In some circumstances we can help migrate your website from your current host, handling technical details to ensure smooth transitions.
Domain Name Hosting
Domain hosting is the service that keeps your domain name active and connected to your website or email services. It's distinct from web hosting (which stores your website files) but equally crucial to your online presence.
Domain Registration Management
Maintaining your domain registration records, renewal dates, and contact information to ensure uninterrupted ownership and control of your domain name.
DNS Infrastructure
Operating the name servers that translate your domain name into IP addresses, enabling visitors to find your website and emails to reach your inbox.
Comprehensive DNS Management
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the internet's address book, translating human-readable domain names into the numerical IP addresses that computers use to communicate. Our DNS management services give you complete control over this critical infrastructure.
What We Manage
A Records: Direct your domain and subdomains to specific IP addresses, ensuring visitors reach the correct web server when they type your domain name.
MX Records: Configure mail exchange records to route email correctly to your email servers, whether you're using our email hosting or an external provider.
CNAME Records: Create aliases that point one domain name to another, useful for services like CDNs or when managing multiple subdomains efficiently.
TXT Records: Store text information for various purposes including email authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC), domain verification, and security policies.
NS Records: Manage name server records that delegate DNS authority, allowing you to use different DNS providers for different purposes if needed.
DNS Updates & Propagation
Making changes to your DNS records requires careful management to ensure smooth transitions without disrupting your services. Our team handles DNS updates professionally, minimising downtime and ensuring reliable propagation.
Quick Updates
Fast DNS record updates that begin propagating across the internet within minutes, not hours or days.
Planned Migrations
Carefully orchestrated DNS changes when moving between hosting providers or updating infrastructure.
TTL Management
Optimising Time To Live settings to balance fast updates with efficient caching and performance.
Propagation Monitoring
Tracking DNS changes as they propagate worldwide to confirm successful updates across all regions.
Rollback Capability
Quick reversal of DNS changes if issues arise, minimising any potential service disruption.
Expert Support
Technical guidance throughout the update process to ensure changes are implemented correctly.
Understanding DNS Propagation
When you make changes to your DNS records, these changes don't take effect instantly worldwide. DNS propagation is the process by which updated DNS information spreads across the internet's network of DNS servers.
Propagation typically takes anywhere from a few minutes to 48 hours, though most changes are visible within a few hours. The time required depends on several factors including TTL settings, ISP caching policies, and geographic location. During propagation, different users might see different versions of your DNS records as some servers update faster than others.
We manage this process carefully, often reducing TTL values before major changes to speed up propagation, then increasing them afterwards to improve performance. Our monitoring tools track propagation progress globally, ensuring we can verify when changes are fully implemented and identify any issues that need addressing.
Advanced DNS Features
Beyond basic DNS management, we offer advanced features that enhance performance, reliability, and security for businesses with more demanding requirements.
DNSSEC Support
DNS Security Extensions (DNSSEC) add cryptographic signatures to your DNS records, protecting against cache poisoning and other DNS-based attacks. We can implement DNSSEC for domains requiring this additional layer of security, though it requires careful management to avoid service disruption.
Subdomain Management
Create and manage unlimited subdomains for different purposes - separate websites, testing environments, regional variations, or specific services. Each subdomain can be configured independently whilst remaining part of your main domain structure.
Email Authentication Records
Proper configuration of SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records is crucial for email deliverability and protecting your domain from being used in email spoofing. We help you implement these authentication mechanisms correctly, improving your email reputation and reducing the likelihood of your legitimate emails being marked as spam.
DNS Performance & Speed
DNS lookup speed directly impacts website performance. Whilst often measured in milliseconds, these small delays accumulate and affect user experience, particularly for users making initial visits to your site.
Our DNS infrastructure is optimised for speed with strategically located servers that respond quickly regardless of where your visitors are located.
Enhanced DNS Management with Cloudflare
For clients requiring the highest levels of performance, security, and reliability, we offer DNS management through Cloudflare's global network. This premium option provides significant advantages for business-critical websites and applications.
Global Anycast Network
Cloudflare operates one of the world's largest Anycast networks with data centres in over 300 cities across more than 100 countries. This means DNS queries are answered by the server closest to each user, resulting in faster response times regardless of geographic location. For businesses with international audiences, this global presence delivers consistently fast DNS resolution worldwide.
DDoS Protection
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks attempt to overwhelm your servers with traffic, making your website inaccessible to legitimate users. Cloudflare's infrastructure automatically detects and mitigates DDoS attacks at the network edge, before they can reach your servers. This protection operates at massive scale, capable of handling even the largest attacks that would overwhelm most individual hosting providers. Your DNS remains responsive even under attack, ensuring continuous accessibility for your website and email services.
Rate Limiting & Traffic Management
Cloudflare's rate limiting features protect your infrastructure from abusive traffic patterns and potential attacks. You can configure rules that limit how many requests individual IP addresses can make within specific time periods, blocking malicious bots whilst allowing legitimate users through. This intelligent traffic management prevents resource exhaustion, reduces bandwidth costs, and improves overall site performance by filtering out unwanted traffic before it reaches your servers.
Advanced Security Features
Beyond basic DNS services, Cloudflare provides comprehensive security features including Web Application Firewall (WAF) rules, SSL/TLS encryption, bot management, and IP reputation filtering. These features work together to create multiple layers of protection for your online presence. The system learns from attacks across their entire network, continuously improving detection and mitigation capabilities.
Performance Optimization
Cloudflare's Content Delivery Network (CDN) caches static content at edge locations worldwide, dramatically reducing page load times for international visitors. Combined with automatic image optimization, minification of CSS and JavaScript, and HTTP/3 support, these performance enhancements can significantly improve user experience and search engine rankings. Faster websites engage visitors better and convert at higher rates.
Analytics & Insights
Detailed analytics provide visibility into traffic patterns, security threats, and performance metrics. You can see where attacks are originating, which countries your visitors come from, how fast your pages load in different regions, and much more. These insights help you make informed decisions about security policies, content strategy, and infrastructure optimization.
Always Online Technology
If your origin server goes offline for maintenance or experiences issues, Cloudflare's "Always Online" feature serves cached versions of your pages to visitors. This minimises downtime impact and maintains business continuity even during infrastructure problems. Users see a recent version of your site rather than error messages, preserving their experience and your reputation.
Who Benefits from Cloudflare DNS Management?
Whilst all our DNS services are reliable and professional, Cloudflare's enhanced features particularly benefit certain types of organisations and use cases.
E-commerce Businesses
Online stores require maximum uptime and protection from attacks that could disrupt sales or compromise customer data.
International Companies
Global businesses benefit from Cloudflare's worldwide presence ensuring fast performance for users in every market.
High-Traffic Websites
Sites receiving significant traffic need infrastructure that can handle load whilst maintaining performance and security.
Security-Conscious Organisations
Businesses handling sensitive data or frequently targeted by attacks gain peace of mind from enterprise-grade protection.
Migration & Setup Process
Moving your hosting to Internet Direct is a straightforward process designed to minimise disruption whilst ensuring everything transfers correctly.
Assessment & Planning
We begin by reviewing your current setup, identifying all website files, databases, email accounts, and DNS configuration. This thorough assessment ensures nothing is missed during migration. We then create a detailed migration plan specifying exactly when changes will occur and what to expect at each stage.
Website and Database Transfer
We copy all your website files and databases to our servers, configuring everything to work correctly in the new environment. This includes setting up email accounts, SSL certificates, and any special configurations your website requires. We test thoroughly before making any changes to your live site.
DNS Update and Cutover
Once we're confident everything works correctly, we update your DNS to point to our servers. During DNS propagation, both old and new servers remain operational, ensuring continuous service. We monitor the transition closely, verifying that all services migrate smoothly.
Post-Migration Support
After migration completes, we remain available to address any questions or concerns. We verify that email flows correctly, all website features work as expected, and performance meets expectations. Only when you're completely satisfied do we consider the migration finished.
Get Started with Professional Hosting
Ready to experience reliable, secure hosting backed by decades of expertise? Whether you're launching a new website or looking to migrate existing sites to better infrastructure, Internet Direct makes the process smooth and worry-free.
Contact our team to discuss your hosting requirements. We'll assess your current setup, recommend appropriate solutions, and provide transparent pricing with no hidden costs. Our goal is to become your long-term hosting partner, supporting your online presence as your business grows and evolves.
For websites requiring enhanced security and performance, we can demonstrate the benefits of Cloudflare-powered hosting and show you exactly what features and protection levels your investment would provide. There's no obligation - we're happy to answer questions and provide expert advice about the best hosting approach for your specific situation.
Call us today on 01243 607171 or email sales@idms.co.uk to discuss how our hosting services can provide the reliable foundation your online business needs.