Choosing a web-hosting company indeed is a big decision.
Choosing well will be a huge boost to your site, without a doubt, while making a poor decision can cause all kinds of headaches, as well as unnecessary expenses. Here are eight tips for choosing the right web hosting company.
Reputation
It’s important to do some research on the market reputation of any web hosting companies you are considering. Check out web hosting review guides, where you can view ratings and reviews posted by customers and experts in the industry. Huffington Post has some good guides and your needs. It’s generally better to play it safe and go with a web-hosting service with a lot of experience and expertise, and that has been well received by the market.
Know your hosting needs
Think about your hosting needs. Are you planning on hosting video? Will your users be able to register and upload their own content? Will you be hosting high-quality multimedia such as infographics and images? Get a good estimate on your website’s daily traffic, or you could end up paying too much for service you don’t need or paying for a server that cannot keep up with your visitor traffic. Think about your hosting needs. Are you planning on hosting a video.
Cybersecurity requirements
Look into your prospective hosts’ cybersecurity measures and their security track records. Make sure they offer distributed denial of service (DDoS) protection, web application firewall, and encryption. Many companies have lost money and customers due to downtime and loss of reputation from a cyber attack, so make it a priority when choosing your hosting service.
Infrastructure
Your host’s infrastructure is incredibly important. Check how many uplink carriers there are at each hosting location. Look at their network topology and see if they have diverse carriers. Check how many peers the company has. The more peers there are, the lower the IP transit cost and the more resilient the network is. Also, keep in mind, that physical location of your provider’s data center is not quite relevant.
Scalability
You may find your requirements change as your enterprise grows or changes, so you’ll want to factor a hosting company’s scalability into your decision. Choose a company that can accommodate growth. You’ll save some serious headaches down the road if you just accept that your needs will probably change over time. It’s much better to do this than to have to go through the process of switching to a hosting company that can handle your increased capacity.
Do you need a specialist?
Some hosting companies welcome all types of businesses, while some have fine-tuned their hosting to service a market niche. If you are a brand using a certain technology or in a certain industry, a specialized web-hosting company may be the right call for you. “One big advantage of a specialist web-host is they may assist you with your application layer, using programs such as WordPress, Adobe Experience Manager, or Sitecore. They will often include products and features that will give you an advantage over generalist host,” advises Christine Collier, blogger at UK Services Reviews.
Price
Price will always be a big factor in any business decision. But don’t pick a hosting service just because they are the cheapest. “Try and balance a quality plan that meets your requirements at a reasonable price. You’re better off picking a quality company, that is well reviewed, than a cheap option you will come to regret later,” recommends Floyd Gonzalez, the businessman at Elite Assignment Help.
Free trials
One big positive for a web-hosting company is whether or not they offer a free trial. A free trial is a good sign the company is confident in their services and ability to satisfy their customers. A free trial is your best way to judge whether the hosting company is a good fit for you. Definitely, take advantage of a free trial, you’re spending hard earned money on this service after all, so you should take all the precautions available. The worst case scenario is you are unimpressed with the free trial and move on to another web-hosting company, free of charge.
Take your time and weigh your options when you are choosing your hosting company. Spending a bit more time now could save you a lot of time and trouble later. Make sure your company has a solid reputation, can meet your hosting needs, has adequate cybersecurity measures, has a solid infrastructure, can cover your site as it grows, has a reasonable price, and offers a free trial. Also, consider a specialist web-hosting company if you think you may require one.
About the author: Rachel Summers has worked for a variety of companies, big and small, including Write My Australia, where she led a custom writing service. She has also been a social media manager for seven years. In her spare time, Rachel advises start-up businesses about social media strategies. For more of her articles, check out her blog.
