Things to Consider When Looking for a Web Hosting Service Provider

When shopping for new clothes, you don’t just pay for a dress or pants unless you’re sure it fits and it also looks great on you. When shopping, you’re always looking for the piece that gives you value for your money. And this is also the case when you’re looking for an apartment to rent or buy, right?

Well, the proficiency and keenness that you employ when shopping for that new dress or new home should be applied in every other area of your life, especially in your business.

Everyone is going digital, and no one wants to have the perfect online space. Whether you’re running a blog, a small business, or an online store, you have to check the fittings of the web hosting service provider before you click on the Buy button. A web host is a lot like your physical home, and you need to make sure that it’s retrofitted to meet all your needs.

How then do you choose the right web host? What are some of the needs that your web host should offer to keep you and your site visitors happy? Keep reading for details of what you should be looking for in a web host.

1.    What are your needs?

Does that web host offer plans in your size? Will they offer the resources you need to build that kind of website at that price? Do you need a Windows application (most hosting services run on Linux)? Are you looking for something as simple as a WordPress blog? Do you require special software for your website? How much traffic volume are you anticipating? Do you require support services for specific scripts? How big is your business? How much resources do you need?

These are some of the questions you should have answers to when looking for a web host. The reason for this is that the specificity of your needs, just like the specificity of your autoflower outdoor venture will determine the type of hosting and hosting plan you choose. These answers will guide your decision over shared, VPS, dedicated, or WordPress hosting plans.

Note that small businesses, blogs, and newbies should consider starting from the shared hosting plans. But, just make sure that the hosting plans offered by the hosts are scalable – should your hosting needs change, you should be allocated more resources without having to start over the subscription process.

2.    Uptime Scores and Server Reliability

Your web host must be operational 24/7. Your site visitors must access your site all the time. While it’s impossible to attain 100% uptime, downtimes are normal; your web host must have an uptime score of at least 99.95% if you want to be online always. Don’t accept web hosting from a company recording an uptime score of less than 99%.

3.    Server upgrades

Can you scale up to a VPS hosting environment when the resources offered under shared hosting no longer meet your site’s needs? This information is important because exceeding the allotted limits for resources because of traffic spikes could mean being down for some time, and this often means loss of business. Server upgrades give you more control and an enhanced level of performance.

4.    Domain addons

If you’re new to web hosting and fulfilling website hosting needs, you’ll assume that you only need one domain name and no add-ons. This assumption will cost you. To be on the safe side, opt for the web host offering at least 50 addon domains. An addon domain is a separate website, one with a different domain name allowing you to host your site on when the primary domain name has issues or for you to handle traffic spikes.

5.    Features

One-click installations, SFTP/FTP access, data backups, storage, bandwidth, data transfers, .htaccess File Access, SSL certification, dedicated IPs, and a one-click shopping cart are some of the features to be provided by your web host.

These are only some of the things you should consider. The others include the signup cost, the renewal price (often higher than the signup price), refund policy, and ease of use.