Picking your web hosting provider is one of the most crucial decisions when it comes to setting up a new website. There are a lot of different things to consider when making the decision and it’s important to get it right because you will usually be making a commitment to a plan.
To avoid losing money and to save yourself some hassle, it is worth considering your web hosting service carefully. The following article will cover some of the most important aspects to help you make sure you make the right choice for you with regards to web hosting services for your business website.
Price
This is usually the first thing people consider with virtually any purchase. Your budget will naturally dictate how much you can afford to spend so of course, the price of your hosting service is going to be a top priority.
It isn’t necessarily true that the more you spend, the better package you will get but obviously, price is correlated somewhat with features and quality. There is a large range of price points for hosting providers starting with completely free. Whilst these can be tempting, they generally aren’t recommended for business websites because they usually have many restrictions and limitations. For example, many website builders offer free hosting, but it doesn’t enable you to use your own . Rather, you would have a subdomain of the website builder’s domain.
Basic hosting packages will start at around the £5 per month mark. These can be perfectly serviceable but it’s important to check out what they offer and decide whether it would be a good fit for your business.
Be mindful of additional hidden costs that may not be initially obvious. These can make a package seem far more enticing than it is. If a package seems too good to be true, then it is worth reading the small print to find out exactly what you get for your money.
Customer Support
If you are new to setting up a website, customer service will be invaluable to you. If/when you encounter an issue, it’s great to have an expert ready to help you out. Picking a web hosting provider in the same country as you may make communicating and getting in touch with customer service a bit easier.
If you are technically experienced and have a good idea of what you are doing, then customer support may not be as important to you. If this is the case, you can prioritize other aspects of service when comparing which is best.
Performance
Another aspect that is worth comparing is . You will likely find that some web hosts have far better performance statistics than others. Compared facets such as loading speed and mean uptime to help make your choice. The last thing you want is to commit to a package that makes your website slow and regularly crashes it.
Disk Space and Bandwidth
The more you spend on your plan, the more disk space and bandwidth you’re likely to get. The cheapest packages have a lot of restrictions and limitations in this department. This could cause issues if your website needs further disk space further down the line. If you have a lot of web pages on your website, you will likely need more disk space and bandwidth so make sure to shop around.
Security Features
It is not uncommon for hackers to focus on business websites, so it is very important to have a good level of in place. Your hosting provider should provide adequate protection so make sure to read through reviews to see how trustworthy and reputable the service is. Another useful tip is to look at what the hosting provider offers in their service and whether any of it pertains to security.
Scalability
The goal of every business is to continue to grow and become bigger and better in the process. In order to grow, you will need a web host that up your business when the time is right. You’ll find that most providers have a range of upgrades to keep moving up as your company grows. Have a look at exactly what you would get with these upgrades and whether they would suit your website and your business.
Additional Features
Some hosting providers helpfully include a free domain, but others may charge you. Domains usually cost somewhere in the region of £15 per year. All you need to do is find a domain registrar, check what domain names are available, choose the best one for your business and buy it.
Another consideration worth making is with regards to potential renewal costs. Many providers will offer an enticing opening offer, but renewals can be less economical and may not compare favourably to other providers. Also, keep an eye out for automatic renewals. These can be helpful but if you aren’t keen on the renewal terms, it can catch you off guard and automatically take a payment so be careful when signing up for any service.