Selecting a Website Hosting Company can be a daunting task, especially for newbie businesses. All web hosting companies claim to provide attractive features to their clients. However, not all the companies who claim to be the best are able to ultimately deliver as promised. Therefore, it is vital to be aware about what all should be kept in mind before deciding your hosting company. Here are few tips for a small business owner which will enable you to take the best decision.
Cost
It is important to choose a hosting service provider who doesn’t cause a hole in your pocket. As a small business owner or a beginner, it is crucial to save money and to look for a company which offers reasonable rates and reasonable quality at the same time.
Uptime Rate
Uptime Rate means basically when your website is up and running, while downtime rate means when your website is not available for a specific time due to various reasons. A frequent downtime will mean that the website loses traffic and visitors and customers alike, which can be disastrous for the sales. Ideally, a website hosting company should have at least 99.9% of uptime.
Customer Support
Availability of Technical Support from your Hosting Company for solving your queries and issues is absolutely essential for you, as a business owner. Therefore it is essential that you make it a point to be sure that your hosting company provides that without fail. You need to ask them and confirm on this before you make the final decision. Quality support is crucial and so is the availability of your hosting company.
See how you can reach them – on chat, phone, email and so forth. You must make sure that they are available 24/7 for their customers. Read past reviews of hosting providers and keep an eye on the most popular ones before you arrive on the decision.
Security
Security of your website and its contents should always be a top priority for you. A cheap website hosting may not cost you much, but it might eventually end up costing you the entire website and all the efforts associated with it. Always make sure that your website hosting company has features to keep your website secure and your information remains out of reach from hackers or from people with malicious intent. In fact, quality hosting providers always have a provision for regular backups which minimizes the chance of losing your work and painstaking efforts.
Flexibility and Scalability
Does this hosting company fit into your future? You should ask this question to yourself. With the passage of time, your business could get bigger as you probably might have big expansion plans for the future. Make sure that your hosting company is able to accommodate your future needs without any hassles or inconvenience.
Can the hosting company upgrade your plan to a better one and will they be able to do that? Transferring your web hosting company is a bit time consuming and taxing, so if you can get your hosting company to upgrade, that would be awesome for you. Going for a VPS or Personal Server Solution could well be the best solution for the future. At the same time, be aware of the cost associated with doing that. Do your research, read some reviews and then make your informed decision.
CPanel
Most of the popular web hosting companies use CPanel as it is convenient and easy to use. The CPanel should not have a cluttered interface and it should neither be so complicated that it is beyond your reach. You should be able to make changes, do updates, minor modifications, setup your email and install WordPress etc. without calling Support and seeking help of your Hosting Company. A simple interface lets you do all of that without any hassles.
Technical Specifications and Hardware
Be careful about your objectives and the type of website you own. Is your website a big e-commerce website, a personal blog or simply a company website? Are you planning to upload a lot of images and videos along with rich media? These are relevant and thought provoking questions which will determine the amount of space you require for your website.
Make sure that you don’t make the mistake of going with a web hosting company which seems initially to be light on the pocket and quite cheap, but does not have the provision of accommodating the RAM or the features you are looking for. Such a situation could well prove to be catastrophic in case all this criteria is overlooked.
Besides being able to accommodate your technical requirements, an ideal web hosting company should have standard hardware specifications. You should preferably find out the kind of machines their servers use to ensure that they have reliable machinery as well as hardware for their servers. High performing hardware in the servers is important for consistency in the performance of your website.
