How do we host our own website? A practical guide to Vercel

Your domain is the human-readable address. DNS points that address to the service handling the site. Hosting serves the site’s files and application code. SSL encrypts the connection and enables HTTPS. A deployment is a specific published version of the site.

You can buy a domain from one company and host with another. Keeping that distinction clear makes future changes much easier.

Keep your website in a Git repository, commonly on GitHub. Import that repository into Vercel, confirm the detected framework and build settings, and deploy. Vercel creates a production URL and can create a preview deployment for each branch or pull request.

Preview deployments are one of the practical advantages of this workflow: you can inspect a proposed change before it reaches the public site. Production remains a deliberate promotion, not an accidental file upload.

Add the domain in the Vercel project, then follow the DNS records Vercel provides. The exact record depends on whether you are connecting an apex domain, a subdomain, or delegated nameservers, so use the current instructions in the dashboard instead of copying an old tutorial.

DNS changes can take time to propagate. Vercel provisions SSL after the domain resolves correctly. Avoid changing unrelated email records while editing DNS.

A mature project separates local development, previews, and production. Environment variables hold configuration such as database URLs and service credentials. They should be set in project settings, scoped to the correct environment, and never committed to a public repository.

If the site has a database, authentication, payments, or file uploads, hosting the frontend is only one part of operations. You also need backups, access controls, monitoring, and a plan for service failures.

Before launch, verify the primary path on mobile and desktop, confirm metadata and social sharing, test forms, connect analytics, and record who controls the domain and hosting accounts. After launch, monitor errors and performance, and keep dependencies updated.

Vercel retains deployment history, which makes rollback practical when a new release causes trouble. A rollback is not a substitute for testing, but it reduces the cost of recovery.