Knowing how to choose web hosting is crucial for your business and can affect your online performance. When choosing a web hosting company, it’s important to know what to look for among the many options available. The right web hosting service will result in significant online success for your organization.
Choosing the wrong service can lead to losses in money, time, data security, and less business flexibility. This will result in a higher rate of abandoned carts, less phone calls, and overall sadness for you.
A quick note about website hosts:
Website hosting servers utilize a term known as a host name. This host name is the location search engines use to find your website when someone clicks on your domain name. A click on your domain name (a link) sends the visitor to the host (host name) associated with your domain.
Research shows that of the 1.21 billion registered hostnames as of 2019, only a mere 15.5% of them are active. This number means that there are over 1 billion dead, abandoned, or fake web host names out there.
Once you have a reliable hosting company in mind, determine the service level or package that suits your needs. Let’s look at four crucial factors to consider when choosing the web hosting service for your needs.
1. File Storage
One of the important things to consider when choosing the best web hosting for your business is the storage you get. You have an idea of how much data you will be publishing on your site. Your needs will vary according to the content that you put up and you have to plan accordingly.
When choosing storage, plan ahead and estimate your web publishing needs to get a rough idea of how much you’ll require. You don’t have to be exact with your storage space estimates – you can always buy more space if you need.
If you have a small local business with a simple WordPress website, you can use the smaller hosting packages available. Websites don’t take a large amount of disc storage space. Warning: Don’t get the smallest hosting package available. Having a little more space on your server makes your website perform better.
You know what happens when your PC hard drives get full. Your computer becomes slow, glitchy, and problematic. The same concept applies with a web server.
If you have a busy eCommerce site or a site with lots of visitors, you’ll need more storage space.
2. Speed
Your website speed is a vital factor for your audience engagement. It makes or breaks the user experience and dictates whether you get a returning audience or not. Hence, choosing a web hosting with optimum speed is paramount.
In today’s world of instant gratification, people do not like to wait. If something takes longer than 2 seconds to load, users will leave the site and go to the competition. To avoid that, you must keep in mind the following factors that impact your website speed-
- Type of Hosting: Different server types include cloud hosting, shared servers, dedicated servers, and VPS, among others. Choosing what suits your business requirements is necessary to get the best outputs.
- Bandwidth– This is the amount of data that your server can handle. A lower bandwidth results in the server getting clogged and your site slowing down. Look for a bandwidth that can handle your audience size without performance issues.
- Server Location– The closer your server is to your online visitors, the more optimized your website performance. If you have a local business and want more online visitors, pick a service with a server in your area.
3. Reliability
Reliability is non-negotiable when it comes to choosing the best web hosting service. A suitable hosting site is secure, provides regular server updates, and has minimal downtime. When looking for security, ensure that your sensitive data like credit card information is not accessible by unauthorized personnel. The right hosting site should also provide safety against viruses, malware, and phishing attempts.
Timely software updates and backup creation also impact the reliability of the hosting service. Another important factor to consider at this stage is the server compliance. Ensure that the service you choose conforms to international laws regarding factors like data protection, copyright infringement, user information storage, etc.
With our managed WordPress hosting services, we will always set up uptime/downtime alerts and can run reports at any time. This will take the server down for just a few minutes – usually in the wee hours of the morning.
4. Tech Support Quality
Lastly, think about the quality of support you’ll receive if you have any issues with your hosting. Is tech support available 24/7 or only during specific working hours? How responsive is customer service?
A big issue these days is language. A better hosting company is going to have support staff that speaks English as a first language. Cheaper hosts might outsource overseas to the lowest bidder. In those cases, it can become incredibly difficult to work with your support team.
Keep these pertinent factors in mind before committing to any particular service. Ask your provider specifically how far their tech support services extend and make a decision accordingly.
5. Tools and Add-Ons Available
Many shared hosting plans will offer additional tools and services to make managing your website easier. Look for things like a free SSL certificate, or at least the ability to easily purchase and install an SSL.
Examine security features like daily backups, DDOS protections, and the frequency of server software updates.
Choose the Best Web Hosting Service
Considering these essential points will help you pick the right specs for your web hosting needs. Each business is different and so their website hosting needs also vary greatly. You need to ensure that you make a judgment based on your precise needs to get the best service quality.
Contact us today to learn more about our web hosting services and how your business can benefit from the same.
