Choosing your hosting provider and package is a big decision that will have a big impact on the outcome. Since you are interested in building a website, you have to understand the importance of your foundation.
The process for choosing your hosting provider might be overwhelming and difficult to understand, especially for beginners, since most companies offer similar services. Either way, we strongly suggest that you take your time and do your research before you make your decision.
After all, the hosting provider can greatly boost or demolish your website performance, so it is necessary to pay attention to the things that matter.
In today’s article, we will go through some of the important things you need to consider before choosing your hosting provider.
1. Type of Website
There are many different websites, and each type requires different hosting performance in order to function properly.
Before you choose your hosting plan, you need to has a clear idea of what your website will be about.
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The best way to identify your needs is by asking yourself, “what type of website will I make?” “how much traffic I expect?” and “Do I want to use WordPress as my primary platform?”
Once you know what type of website you will be making, it is easier to find the right hosting. For instance, if you are making a WordPress website, it would be best if you choose WordPress hosting, or if you plan to make an online store, it is a better idea to go for eCommerce plans.
Since most WordPress is a common choice for most people when you need to go with a hosting provider that provides effortless (one-click) installation.
If you are just starting with websites, it is a good idea to go for a shared hosting plan with a trusted company. Shared hosting plans are cheap and easy to maintain. Plus, they are great for websites with low traffic, which will be a starting point for your website.
2. Server Uptime Scores
In the beginning, you might think that the uptime is not that important for your website, and an hour of downtime per month won’t harm your website. In the beginning, if you have low traffic (a few people per month), you won’t see any problems with your uptime.
However, as you scale things up, there is nothing worse for users than opening a website and seeing the “Error 404” page.
Back in 2013, Amazon went down for 30 minutes, which cost the company $66,240 per minute in revenue.
Today’s industry-standard is set at 99.95% uptime, and anything below that should be avoided. Of course, most hosting providers claim that they have 99.99% uptime, but make sure you do your research before you make your decision.
3. Signup and Renewal Prices
There are two different prices you need to worry about when you are choosing your hosting provider. Yes, the starting price for signup plays is important, but you have to pay more attention to the renewal price, which is what you’ll get for the rest of the period.
In most cases, hosting providers offer attractive signup prices to drawn customers to their business, which is why many people are shocked when they see their renewal cost.
4. So what is a good price to start with?
Well, that depends on the type of hosting you need. However, try to avoid hosting providers that have a 100% increase in the renewal price. For example, if the signup costs $3/month, then the renewal shouldn’t go over $6/month.
The best way to avoid paying at higher prices is by postponing your period by choosing a longer subscription. However, you have to be sure about the provider and its services before you are ready to sign a multi-year contract.
5. Refund Policy or Free Trial
Sometimes researching about hosting providers is not enough to provide enough data for you to make your decision. The best way to test its services is by purchasing a plan, but not many people have money to waste for unsuccessful trials.
That’s why you should look at the provider’s refund policy. Most hosting providers offer a 30-day money-back guarantee for all annual plans and 24 h money-back for monthly plans. This will enable you to experiment with their services, test their support, and server performance.
6. Backups
Many people don’t pay attention to security and backups when they are starting their website. However, since we live in an era where cyber-attacks are constantly rising, having backups is the only way to keep your data safe.
There is nothing more frustrating than seeing all your work going to waste, and you can prevent that with a good backup policy.
Here are some things to look into when researching a provider’s backup policy:
- How often they run full backups?
- Can you run backups manually from the control panel?
- Is there an auto-backup option?
- Can you restore your website or you need to contact support?
7. Customer Support
Customer support is crucial, especially if you are a beginner. There is a high probability that you’ll eventually mess things up, and you can’t resolve the issue. That is where customer support comes in handy.
Ideally, you would want to choose a hosting provider that has a lower response time and acts quickly to resolve the issue. Additionally, you need to look at the ways you can contact customer support.
Most hosting providers provide 24/7 chat or phone support, but some can only be contacted through a ticket submission, which is very frustrating.
8. Performance
Obviously, you would want to go with the hosting provider that offers the best performance for the money. Your goal should be to go with a hosting provider that offers a stable and fast server response in order to ensure your website loads fast and smoothly.
The performance speed will also affect your SEO ratings, so make sure you do thorough research before making a decision.
There are still ways you can improve your website speed, but your goal should be choosing the best performing hosting provider.
Try to look at the hosting provider’s average response time. Anything up to 400ms is great, and anything over 700ms will result in poor performance.
Another thing to consider is the location of the server. It is crucial to go for a hosting provider that will host your website from a server that is physically closer to your target audience.
For example, if your target audience is people from the United States, you should go for a hosting provider with a server-based in the US.
Final Words
Obviously, by choosing a more expensive package, you’ll get better results. However, there is still a great difference between server providers for similar hosting packages.
By following these tips, you’ll be able to find a reliable hosting provider that has great performance and good customer service.
