TOP 10 CHECKLIST POINTS BEFORE SELECTING WEB HOSTING
What to Consider While Choosing a Web Hosting Provider
1. Geographic location of the server
Wondering how server location can have an impact on the performance of your website? Well, if your targeted market is based in America and your server in Australia, your visitors may find your site slow. Therefore, choose a server which is based in the same location as those of your target market to have better response time and performance.
2. Types of web hosting
Web hosting is of different types ranging from shared hosting to reseller hosting. You may end up choosing the wrong type of hosting if you do not what type of web hosting is right for your business.
a) Virtual Private Server Hosting (VPS)
Virtual Private Server Hosting uses virtual private servers. These servers allow websites to run independently though all the sites are hosted on one machine. However, they are pretty expensive in comparison to other types of hosting.
b) Dedicated hosting service
Dedicated Hosting Service, as the name suggest, offers one server dedicatedly to one website. The server is not shared by multiple websites and multiple users. This web hosting is suitable for high-end businesses expected to receive thousands of visitors per day.
c) Shared Hosting Service
Shared Hosting service is shared by multiple users on a single machine or server. This type of hosting service is usually affordable in comparison to other types of hosting. Shared hosting service is suitable for small to medium businesses.
d) Reseller Hosting
In reseller hosting, a user shares his/her bandwidth or webspace with third parties. Reseller Hosting is not usually a recommended type of hosting.
Check your monthly requirements and choose accordingly.
3. Technical customer support
Technical customer support is one of the most important factors to consider. You would not want to end up in the middle of nowhere when you website shuts down for no reason in the middle of the day. Check whether or not the web hosting service provider offers around the clock customer service. If, in case, it doesn’t, it’s better you move on to another service provider.
4. Operating systems
Now, besides different hosting servers, you also get to choose from different types of operating systems available. The two most popular operating systems are Linux, and Windows. Linux is ideal for those who are planning to build their website on WordPress since languages such as PHP requires Linux while ASP.net works on Windows.
5. Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the amount of data transferred from and to your website. Bandwidth is THE most important factor to keep into account whether you are running a business website or a highly informative blog. However, it is crucial for you to understand your requirements so that the website does not experience any downtime. Trust me – you would definitely not want to shut down your site when a number of your users are browsing your site. There are various web hosting service providers that offer unlimited bandwidth.
6. Up-time
Though it’s extremely challenging to find a service provider that can offer 100% uptime, you still should not settle anything less than 99.5%. This ensures effective running of your website and offers good performance. Make sure the service provider you are choosing offers at least 99.5% of uptime. You can check the past history or the reviews written by previous or existing customers.
7. Loading speed of the site
As a matter of fact, web users tend to navigate away from a site within the first 3 seconds if the site does not load. Thus the slower the loading speed of a website, the higher the bounce rate. Therefore, you must check the speed of few websites that are running on the same web host provider to ensure that the speed of your website wouldn’t be affected.
8. Storage space
Storage is a significant consideration while selecting a web hosting server. However, you need to know your monthly requirements in regards to storage space to make the right decision. As a matter of fact, an established website doesn’t even use a large amount of storage space; thus, make sure you know your needs prior to choosing a particular web hosting service provider.
9. Renewal Prices
A majority of hosting providers usually offer huge discounts on first-time subscriptions merely to attract a large number of customers. However, these discounts come with a huge shock when you decide to renew with the same hosting providers. These service providers cover up the loss of discounts offered through their renewal prices. Therefore, it is always advisable to check the renewal prices a hosting provider offer or get ready to be surprised when a large amount is being deducted from your bank account on renewals.
10. Backup facility
Running a website is no laughing matter. You may find yourself in a situation where your website shuts down unknowingly or may be a hacker got into it. Whatever the reason may be, you have to be ready to tackle such situations. You may not be able to stop it happening, you can definitely restore your website with a backup. Though you can manually backup your website on a regular or weekly basis; however, it does get a bit difficult at times. Fortunately, a large number of web hosting providers do it for you. Therefore, choose a provider that offers weekly or monthly backup facility to avoid any conflicts with your site.
Wrapping up:
Remember, if you are serious about your online business, you should spend time on researching and find the best options available. However, it’s not about choosing the best service provider, it is about choosing the right service provider for your requirements.
That’s it! Hope you liked this article. If you have some other key factors for choosing a web hosting then you can suggest it in the comment section below
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