If you are reading this, you are probably interested in creating a web site for your business, or trying to develop a website. No matter what your line of work, it is in every one's interest that a lot of people have access to their work. While it's often more complicated and fun to create a website, web hosting is not something you should take lightly and you have to know that it is very important if you expect a lot of people visiting your page. Choosing a reliable web hosting service has become a crucial factor for successful online work. So what are the important things to keep in mind when choosing a web host? What is the difference in paying 10$ for the service you need, or paying 100$? So, we have made a list of things you should look for when choosing a web host:
Storage space
When choosing your web hosting service, the most obvious question you will be asking is: "how much data can I store?" First of all, you must think about the future and anticipate the expansion of your site. The more space you want, the bigger is the price, it's as simple as that, so it is important to think about the nature of your website and how many pictures, videos and pages do you plan on having.
Advertising
If you choose a free web host, bear in mind that they will most likely impose an advertisement on your web site. This is done to cover the costs for your free web space and associated services, tit for tat, so to speak. So, make sure to think things through before you decide between paying or not paying for your web hosting services, because if you pay from the start, no pop outs will appear on your page, unless you want them to. A lot of people are annoyed by pop outs that come out when they visit some blog and this might drive them away.
Amount of bandwidth
When searching for web host services, you will often see storage space and bandwidth next to each other. What is bandwidth really? It's the amount of data that your host will let you and your visitors upload and download (cumulatively) in a given month. Let me explain it a little better using an example: Let's say your website is 1mb of data and your monthly bandwidth is 10mb, you upload your entire site at the beginning of the month and use 1mb, meaning that you have 9mb left. When someone visits you page, he uses 1mb (if he views your whole page) meaning you have 8 visitors left. So, it is very important to do your research and check how many average visitors you have a month, so you can adjust your bandwidth to the current need. Of course, you can get unlimited bandwidth if you are willing to pay.
Number of domains and subdomains
Once you get your site up and running, there is a big possibility that, soon, you will have a second and a third one. It would be too complicated and too much work to manage hosting accounts for each one. When you pick your web hosting provider, make sure that they allow hosting for multiple domains.
Access speed and reliability
Watch out for this, because it is very important. A site that is down frequently will lose a lot of visitors, when someone finds your homepage through search engines and sees that he cannot access, he will move on to the next result from his or hers search results list. Visitors hate having to wait for a long time to access a page, so we recommend that you check with the other users to see if they are happy with the web hosting provider that you plan on hiring.
Blogability
If you don't blog, you might start in the future, so it is important to check does the hosting service meet the minimum requirements for blogging platforms such as WordPress.
Support
It is important to have good community and support because no one can guarantee 100% that some glitches won't occur. So, you will need to have people who can help you with the problems that might happen.
Backup
Make sure your web hosting service provides adequate backup. Unexpected problems happen and they are out of your hands, and when the whole blog directory for your website gets deleted, what will you do then? See what your host's recovery protocol is and how they handle these kinds of situations.
- Do not strain your budget
It is also advisable that you pick a solution, which is cost efficient, namely there are sites that offer discounts or coupons for web hosting services. If you are in search of the right provider, you can at least try to get better prices, until you figure out whether you are comfortable with entering in a long term partnership with a particular provider.
