In order to launch your website, you need to choose a web host. Now the question arises how to do this? What things you’ll need to look at before choosing the web host service provider. We have answer to this. Basically a hosting service is evaluated on the basis of their speed, reliability, scalability and data security they provide. Moving further we are going to elaborately discuss the factors you need to take note of before choosing a web host.
Table of Contents
1. Reputation
Any business can be measured by its overall reputation in the industry. Try to gain information of the performance from third-party sources, whether they have been facilitated from reputable organizations or websites, read reviews from tech publications and actual customers. Positive reviews indicate that you trust the service provider.
2. Uptime
Can they promise 99% uptime? A commercial website can lose money if anytime it’s not available. Apart from business sites, the sites meant for entertainment are also on the risk of losing followers if it goes inaccessible.
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A web hosting company has to keep your website up and accessible all the time. For occasional maintenance work or in case of overheating or breakdown of servers, the web hosts take websites offline for a short duration. The service providing company should be able to manage such issues well. The best web hosting companies offer 99.9% uptime with a money-back guarantee.
3. Plans offered
Take a close look at the various plans offered by the web hosting company. It should deliver the hosting package you require. The host should have enough space so that the services don’t get disturbed if the website grows in size and popularity in future.
Newly launched websites often prefer shared hosting because of its affordable plans. But as the websites grows they need to switch to a cloud, VPS or dedicated hosting plan. So if you choose a plan which has already room for growth you don’t need to migrate to a new company.
4. Service
A good web host is one which provides 24/7 customer service. What if a problem arise working late at night and you have to wait till morning to get it fixed or you have to wait for the business hours of the hosting company to get in touch with their reps. Any delay in service means you have to uphold your work. You want to fix your websites issues fast so the web host should provide support at all hours of the day. Also they should offer multiple ways to get in touch like phone, email or live chat.
5. Price
Web hosting service should be available at right price. A shared web hosting plan starts at less than $3 a month. Web hosting isn’t a one-time cost. They use a subscription model for billing. See whether the plan is worth paying for.
6. Intuitive account interface
A good web host is one which apart from publishing your site provides an interface for doing a number of important web management tasks, such as:
- Domain name management
- Setting up redirects
- Managing your SSL
- Managing your domain email addresses
- Adding new applications or databases to your website
- Managing your backups
- Upgrading or renewing your hosting solutions
7. Support migration
It may happen at any point of time that you need to change your web host. In that case the process should be simple and painless so that you switch over easily and quickly without wasting time.
8. Support domain name management
Domain name is compulsory for publishing the website. People will go to your site only through its domain name. So in order to start a new website, you first need to find and register your domain. A good web host helps you manage your domain registration and renewals in the same interface you are using with the web host.
9. Security
Hacking and breaching of important data are common today. So you need a host that can ensure security of your website. Security should be the priority for a web host and they should invest in firewalls, includes SSL certificates as part of their plans and offers security software at affordable prices or other add-ons to enhance the website security.
