To make sure your business becomes successful, you need a website. But that is just one piece of the puzzle. You also have to make sure that you have a reliable web hosting service for your site. This is not something you should take lightly. In fact, it is a major decision that will impact your business’ future.
If you choose just any web host, then this can mean major headaches for your organization. And, to make matters worse, you may end up with unnecessary expenses.
So, how can you choose the ideal web hosting service for your business? We are glad you asked! In this article, we will be taking a closer look at the factors you need to take into consideration.
Ready? Let’s get right to it:
How Can You Choose the Right Web Hosting Service for Your Business?
If this is your first time choosing a web host, then you have to consider these factors when coming up with a decision.
Understand What Your Website’s Needs Are
There are hundreds of web hosting services you can find with just a simple Google search. But before you even think about choosing one, you have to be familiar with your website’s needs.
Take a moment to think about what the end goal for your site is. What kind of website do you want to build? Will you be using WordPress as your content management system? Are you expecting to hit a certain amount of traffic?
Sure, these questions may sound simple, but they are more significant than you think. Why do we say this?
Well, let us put it this way. The more detailed you are, the simpler it will be to choose the perfect web host for your business. If you want to launch an online store, then it makes sense to choose a provider that is experienced in e-commerce. But if you are opting for the WordPress route, then go for a managed WordPress hosting service.
Check Server Reliability/Uptime Scores
Now, you’ve got a website. Great! But the question is: can it actually stay online? For your website to do so, you have to check how stable your web hosting service is.
While there are several server monitoring tools that you could use to monitor a web host, just checking their uptime scores will suffice in letting you know whether your hosting service is steady or not.
These days, the industry standard is at 99.5% uptime. Anything lower than that should be avoided.
Features and Add-Ons
Ask yourself what sets apart one web hosting company from the others. What makes them special? Do they offer extra incentives? Is it their energy-saving practices or free domain privacy that is attractive?
Typically, web hosting companies do more than provide servers. If you discover one that offers features you believe are important, then that is a sign you should seriously consider that provider.
The Ability to Make Server Upgrades
Web hosting services are available in different plans and prices. However, if you are still new to the online world, then there is a high chance you will have a shared hosting plan.
If that is the case, then we strongly suggest picking a provider that enables you to upgrade your server in the future.
You see, even if you do get a great shared hosting plan, the available resources will still be limited. After your website expands and gains a wider amount of traffic, a shared hosting plan will no longer be able to handle all the bandwidth.
That is why it is best to find a hosting provider that can let you upgrade your plan. It is much more convenient than having to look for a new host and transferring your whole site to that provider.
Price
While this is certainly an important aspect, this should not be the deciding factor. It may be tempting to go for the cheapest option because you think it will save you money. However, this may not be the best idea in the long run.
Stuff like quality hardware and non-outsourced support do not come cheap and a company that charges the bare minimum likely will not provide these features.
So, check out the features of each hosting service first and compare prices after. You can try using HostMonk to help you narrow down your selection. It has a fairly exhaustive list of hosting providers and their packages.
Scalability
You should evaluate if your hosting provider and the plan you picked have a place in your future plans. Basically, what is enough for your business at present may not be adequate in two years. This is especially true if your site starts enjoying higher search engine rankings and more traffic.
If you want your business to keep growing, then you need to make sure that your web host provider shares the same vision with you. Otherwise, it will be challenging to expand.
Know the Signup and Renewal Fees
When it comes to web hosting services, there are two prices you have to know—the signup price and the renewal price.
Based on most people’s experiences, what is paid for at the start may be different than what is paid during renewal. Usually, the renewal price will be considerably higher. This will depend, though, on the number of discounts or offers you received.
Sadly, it is the norm for web host providers to jack up their renewal prices. And, unless you plan on switching web hosts every few years, there is no way you can get around it.
Our suggestion? Look for a web hosting service provider that offers decent prices. If you find a company with a price jump above 100%, then steer clear.
Before signing up for a web hosting service, always check their Terms of Service to learn their renewal rates policy. Normally, this can be found at their site’s homepage.
Learn Whether They Have a Free Trial or Refund Policy
There is no doubt that a web hosting service can be expensive, especially if your business is new and you have a limited budget.
Therefore, you should look for a company that provides a refund policy or at least a free trial period. This will help you save a lot of money.
By getting a free trial, you can try out the hosting service and cancel it if it is not working for your website. It is even more ideal if you can find a provider that offers good refunds to ensure you will not lose too much of your hard-earned cash.
Now, there are some providers that give a cancellation fee when you cancel your plan while on trial mode. Do not pursue them. Choose companies that provide money-back guarantees with prorated refunds after you finish the trial period instead.
Do They Offer the Essentials?
It is true that the majority of the hosting companies out there do provide the basics that every website needs. However, these are not enough. You should also find out whether they provide other essential features, such as:
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One-Click Installer
This is a nice tool to have in your arsenal. It helps you efficiently install applications such as WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and the like. If you are someone who is not exactly tech-savvy, then this will be particularly useful for you.
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.htaccess File Access
To be able to make administrative changes sitewide, you’ll need access to the .htaccess file. This file allows you to make changes to different parameters on your website, such as password authentication and management.
FTP/SFTP Access
While most web hosting providers offer some kind of file manager, it is usually limited. However, when you have FTP/SFTP access, it is possible to manage and safely transfer big amounts of files on the server.
When your business is still new, just ignore Disk Space and Data Transfer Capacity.
A lot of shared hosting plans provide server resources, such as RAM and processing power, that will already be good enough for smaller sites. However, in terms of bandwidth and storage, you can opt for third-party platforms such as Google Docs, Imgur, and YouTube for your documents, images, and videos.
Customer Support Quality
There may come a moment where you experience a server issue that you cannot fix on your own. Who can help you? A great customer support team!
Ultimately, you want your hosting provider to have the ability to provide responsive support, whether that is through phone or live chat. With this, you can sort out your site’s issues right away.
We suggest looking through online forums or social media to dig up information on a potential hosting provider’s support team. This will give you some insight into the kind of help they can give you.
Have Backups in Place
We are not exaggerating when we say that backups are necessary for any website. Your site may be equipped with all of the security measures known to man. However, there is still a distinct possibility that it can experience a crash, hack, or virus that may take it down.
For that reason, you need to find a web hosting service that offers a good backup policy. In case worse comes to worst, this can help you get your website back and running.
Your provider should be able to recover your website (or a big portion of it, at least) quickly so you will not miss out on any traffic.
You should think about asking your web hosting provider these questions regarding backups:
- Do you perform full backups regularly?
- Is it possible to use programs that can create automatic backups of the website?
- Can you manually back up the site using the control panel?
Server Speed and Responsiveness
Google takes page loading speed into consideration when it comes to search engine rankings. Hence, it is obvious that you need to prioritize having a quick loading website for your business.
The recommendation is to choose a web hosting service that provides fast—and stable—server speed to ensure that your website can load quickly and without any hiccups. In addition to boosting your rankings on search engines, this can also enhance the overall user experience.
You can determine a host’s speed and server responsiveness by measuring their Time To First Byte (TTFB). This can be done with help from tools such as Webpage Test and Bitcatcha.
Wrapping Up
When deciding on a web hosting service provider, you should not rush. Instead, you need to spend time weighing all of the available options. This may be frustrating, but by being mindful, you are doing your business a big favor. With the right web host, we guarantee that you can save a lot of time and effort.
We hope the stuff we have listed above can help you find the perfect hosting service for you and your business!
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Enjoy Affordable Web Hosting Services with Proweaver
If you are on the lookout for affordable yet high-quality web hosting services, then you should seriously consider Proweaver.
We are your partners who share your vision for your business. That being said, we are here to make sure you get exactly what you need for the present, while ensuring your future needs can be accommodated.
But what exactly makes us different from other web host providers? The answer is simple—our commitment to clients like you.
So whether you want your home care business to make a name for itself online or want to launch an e-commerce store, you can count on our team at Proweaver.
We can provide you with the perfect hosting plan for your business and offer you upgrades when you need them. And, if you encounter problems with your site, you can reach out to us for support and we’ll help you fix them.
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