How to choose the right web hosting service for your site

Getting good web hosting is something that is often overlooked or left to the last minute. As a result many people do a quick search on the internet for a discount code or introductory promotion, and go with that option. This is despite the fact that web hosting is both essential (without it you won’t have a website) and crucial (getting it wrong can be costly).

Here are the things you should look for when buying web hosting.

Specification

For most websites, standard hosting is usually sufficient, so why is specification important? First, if you are building a website that will be very large, or that you think will get tens of thousands of visitors per month, you will need to look very carefully at the specification to make sure you have enough disk space, RAM, etc. Even if you’re building a normal site, you will get better results if it loads fast, because users will like it more, and so will search engines, so it’s good to compare specifications.

Price

Web hosting is a highly competitive market so you should always be able to find promotions and offers. As already mentioned you should look at specification too, but get the cheapest price. One way to do that is to search the internet for promotional codes like Dreamhost Coupons  and price comparison tables.

Upgrade Process

You should also think about what will happen to your website in the future if you need to upgrade your hosting. Ask the web host about the upgrade process: Will there be any downtime? Will you have to hire someone to do it? and are there any hidden costs?

Reliability

In the world of website hosting this is called uptime, and you will regularly see figures of 99.9% uptime for a website host. This looks impressive, but it means your website could be down for almost 45 minutes per month, and the company could still quote that figure. To see what the performance is really like you should check online reviews written by real users.

Technical Support

When is the technical support available? Is it 24/7? Do they offer a live chat facility? What do their existing customers say about the technical support in online reviews? These are all questions you should ask.

Renewal Price

If you used an offer code or introductory discount when signing up for your website hosting you might find that the price jumps significantly at the time of renewal. As moving web hosts is not an easy process if you don’t have experience, this is something you should consider when first buying.

Features

Finally, look at the features that the web hosting company offers. One of the most important is the control panel – make sure it’s cPanel or Plesk. Other things you might look for, depending on the type of website you’re building, are ecommerce features, site builders, email services, and site backup services.

It is possible to move website hosting, but it is not a quick and easy process. When you are buying, therefore, you should be thinking in the medium to long term, so make your decision wisely.