Most people spend a lot of time devising the perfect domain name for their website – which, in all sense, is the right thing to do. But when it comes to choosing a web host, they often do that in a hurry. And eventually, mess up their own game even before they’ve started it. Surely you do not want to be that person. There are a hundred different aspects to choosing the right web host for your website and avoid the wrong web host. And as a responsible and smart business owner, you must be well-versed in at least the most important of these deciding factors.
If you are someone who would never dream of upsetting clients and customers with a ‘404 error’ message on your website or would take the pain today to avoid any future troubles, you ought to be extra cautious while choosing your web host. It is the web host you choose today that will be responsible for keeping your website up all the time. It’s like constructing the strongest possible foundation for your building. No matter how much the load, it should bear it effectively.
You can break the whole process of filtering inappropriate web hosts from the appropriate ones into three parts: things to know, things to avoid, and things to look for. So, let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Things to Know
1. Disk Space Allocation
Depending on what the purpose of your website is and what business you do, the required disk space may vary largely. If you own a personal brand or a small business, your requirement for disk space will be quite small as compared to national and international enterprises that hold a tremendous amount of data on their website.
Most web hosting providers have packages that come with limitations regarding disk space allocations. So, it’s crucial to figure out the purpose of your website and approximately how much disk space it may consume in the long run.
2. Bandwidth Allocation
The amount of data a website’s server sends across to its visitor’s browser is termed bandwidth. So, whenever someone loads a page of your website on their browser, your website will use a certain amount of bandwidth. The required bandwidth depends on the type of content your website hosts and the number of visitors you have on your website. Text and images use up a small bandwidth while video files use a larger amount of it.
Web hosting packages offer a varying amount of bandwidth limitations. To make sure you go for the right one and prevent yourself from buying useless extra bandwidth or buying too less to keep your website running, you need to assess what type of content you wish to have and how much traffic it will attract.
3. Technical Needs
Do you think you might be required to use PHP, MySQL, and similar languages, tools, and databases on your website? Think of it thoroughly. Today, your answer might be no, but as you transcend into the world of managing a website and making it better for its users, you might need these. And in that case, you wouldn’t want to look back and scorn your choice of web host. All because it doesn’t support the required technical operations.
To make sure that doesn’t happen, dig a little deeper and confirm whether the web host that you’re planning to rely on supports technical operations or not.
Things to Avoid
1. Price-Based Decision
It does not even require an explanation as to why you must not go with a free hosting service for your business website. They’ve got way too many things to be worried about; slow loading speed, poor uptime scores, vulnerability, and so on. So, free hosting for your business website is a straight no-go. But that doesn’t imply in any manner that you should go for the costliest web hosting service in the market.
The most expensive web host need not be the best web host for the type of website you are planning to have. So, you should suppress your excitement a little and save some bucks here. Given the competitiveness in the market of web host providers, it’s not rocket science to figure out different companies providing the same type of web hosting service at different rates. If you’re only a start-up or a newbie in the blogosphere, a cheap web host like shared hosting might be a good fit for you.
2. Web Hosts Without Refund Guarantee
Web hosting providers, or any service provider for that matter, will not hesitate to provide a money-back guarantee to its users within a specified period. If you find that the web host you’ve been mulling over opting for does not comply with this, cut it off your list. Period.
3. “Unlimited Everything” Package
While an “unlimited everything” package is not a trap whatsoever before you get all excited and click the buy button, you might need to know a few things. In the web hosting industry, there’s nothing unlimited ever. No web host company would make the mistake of providing unlimited bandwidth, storage, domain support, etc.
So, to make sure that you know what limits bound the unlimited web hosting packages—and also all other terms—you must go through the Terms of Services (TOS) of the service provider thoroughly.
Things to Look For
1. The Right Type of Web Host
Web Hosts can be categorized as Shared, Virtual Private Server (VPS), and Dedicated Servers in order of increasing features. Given that you know what type of website you are going to build and what requirements it will have, you can choose from amongst these three.
- Shared web hosting is often preferred by those just starting. However, a website hosted on shared hosting might suffer at times due to increased activity on other websites that share the same server.
- VPS is the sweet spot between a shared and a dedicated server. In this case, the server is parted into virtual machines meant to act as dedicated servers. They provide you with a greater portion of your server and much more control over it than shared hosting.
- Dedicated servers are only preferred for websites that require autonomy and the complete power of the server to support it. They come at a high cost and you should only opt for them if you’re sure that your website or application will utilize the power it offers.
2. Site Backup and Scalability Options
This one’s crucial. The history of your website and what you intend to make it in the future are both equally important. Do double-check when it comes to the availability of backup options for your website data. This would shield you against any data losses.
Considering the future, you must have plans to grow your business. As you grow your business, you might have to pull off some major changes on your website. Ask yourself, will the web hosting provider allow for your plans to succeed easily? Look for such a company that would easily let you switch between plans, that can handle the growth you harness, and that does not become a hurdle in your path to success.
3. Security and Tech Support
While choosing a web host, it’s important to review the security they offer to your website. You should also make sure that if things go wrong, the support team is readily available to help. For this, conduct deep research related to the technical support service of the web host provider you choose. Look for reviews from different places. If possible, phone them and ask them personally; a good support team wouldn’t hesitate to answer your questions. Clear the slightest doubt regarding the availability of different forms of support: live chat, telephone, emails, ticket system, and so on.
Conclusion
There can be tons of things to consider and be skeptical about while choosing the right web host and avoid the wrong web host. But the ones mentioned above should surely make it to your checklist. So, do not hurry. Take your time. Compare all the options you think fit your requirements and go for the one you find to be the best for your website and business.
Hammad Mohsin
A reliable web host keeps your site up and running accessible to clients consistently with minimal downtime. Bad web host and the other hand can be detrimental to your success by capsizing traffic not to mention your SEO ranking.
capsizing traffic, not to mention your SEO ranking
Bhawna
Hello Oleg,
Awesome article as always. I think hosting can make or break your business. I have seen many startups using standard hosting and they had to face a lot of problem due to which.
Personally I think Cloud hosting is the best option. In the past, I have used cloud flare and AWS. PERFORMANCE is unmatchable.
Kudos on the awesome article,
Lex Josh
That’s a really comprehensive article, Oleg. Indeed, there are many factors a person should try to avoid when choosing a host, and you’ve mentioned some of the most important ones. I would like to add one more thing, if you allow me. I’ve noticed that many people look for ‘’cheap’’ hosting plans, but they rarely pay attention to the renewal price. There are some hosts, which increase significantly their hosting plans price upon renewal, which is a very unpleasant situation for most customers. Fortunately, I had that in mind when I was looking for a shared hosting plan, and I chose BGOcloud, as their hosting services suited my needs, and there was no price increase upon renewal. So, I’ve been using their services for nearly 2 years so far, and everything is just great.
Shaheer Farooq
Great hosting boils down to the 3 S’s: speed, support and security. You explain the article really well keep it up.
Goyfer
Be thankful for what you have, you will end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough. Thank you for this amazing post.