5 Things to Consider Before Selecting your Web Hosting Provider

5 Things to Consider Before Selecting your Web Hosting Provider

Thinking of starting a website? Chances are you must’ve already done a lot of research – right from deciding the niche of your business to the domain name and even planned some marketing activities. However, amidst all of this, one of the most important decisions you will have to make is choosing a web hosting provider. The right web hosting provider will enhance your website and take your business places. 

If you are confused about how would you know the best one for you – you have landed in the right place. 

Here are 5 factors to consider when choosing a web host. 

 

1. Cost 

 

You may be wondering why would we mention ‘cost’ as a factor when it comes to choosing a good web hosting provider? Well, the answer is simple – there are several ‘free web hosting’ options available over the internet. While this might seem like a good deal – especially if you’re just starting out, think for a moment – does anything really ever come for free? 

The downside of choosing a free web hosting service is that it more often than not comes with its own subdomain attached to your website name. Not so good if you’re planning on launching a professional business website, right? Also, your web pages might be pushed back in the search engine results page, and more. 

Next, we come to expensive web hosting providers. There are several plans and types of hosting you can choose depending on your website’s need. For instance, Shared Hosting is the most affordable hosting option for websites that are just starting out. Once your website has grown and starts getting more traffic you can either upgrade your hosting plan or switch to another hosting type viz. Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Server, etc. 

 

2. Uptime 

 

Your business and website are only good if it is available and visible to your users 24/7. Website unavailability for longer periods of time can spell trouble for the success of your website and might even result in users not returning again. Furthermore, if your website experiences frequent downtime then it might even result in a decline of your search engine rankings

For all these reasons, it is important that your website has a high uptime. Although it is impossible to find a web host that offers 100% uptime (beware if someone claims this) because there might be genuine server or hardware issues that might result in your website being down. Nevertheless, it is advisable to choose a web host that guarantees at least 99.9% uptime. 

 

3. Security 

 

Website security is another important and non-negotiable, but often an overlooked factor that you must consider. If your web host isn’t secure chances are your website won’t be either. 

You must ensure that your web hosting provider is hosted on ‘HTTPS’ and has an ‘SSL certificate’ installed. Moreover, the hosting plans being offered must come with a firewall, anti-malware or an SSL certificate to protect your website from hackers and other malicious attacks. Also, make sure that your web hosting provider updates the software and other applications on a timely basis.    

 

4. Customer Support

 

A good customer service solution is the backbone of any business. As a customer, you must consider if your chosen web host offers 24/7 customer support and what all channels is it available on. 

Usually, most hosting providers do offer 24/7 support over tickets, live chat, and calls. We advise you to check if these services are truly available at the time they have mentioned on their website. 

 

5. Scalability 

 

Lastly, scalability may not be a top priority at the moment but like all successful business owners, you may have built a plan to scale and grow. With this assumption in mind that your website will grow and attract more users, which eventually translates to more traffic and content, scalability is important.

If your web hosting plan isn’t scalable it might be a problem for you when your website grows as it might run out of server storage space or other factors crucial to growth. Always check if the plans your chosen web host is offering are scalable or not. If not, what is the possible solution – do you switch plans with the same hosting provider or would you need to change your web host altogether? If you consider these questions at the start, it might save you a lot of time and trouble later on. 

Before You Go

Hang on for a second! We’ve just given you tips for choosing a good web hosting provider but how do you verify if your chosen web host actually offers them or they are merely big words mentioned on their website? The simple answer is, research! Check reviews of the web host on Google and other review websites, check their social media channels, call or message their customer support with genuine technical queries, get in touch with their sales team to clear your doubts, and so on.

Overall, it takes time, patience and research to choose the right web host but it is time worth investing. 

To know more and stay updated head to our Hosting Blog category. If you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to drop a comment below.

WRITTEN BY:

H. Fatima used to be an Engineer by profession and Writer by passion until she started pursuing full-time writing. She is presently a Content Marketeer at Newfold Digital (APAC). She mostly writes what she deeply perceives and analyses, it is her way of unwinding. Her interests include writing, reading (an avid reader), watching foreign-language movies and public speaking.

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