Suppose you purchase a web hosting service with a complicated, unfriendly control panel. If you need to fix a problem on your website, you might not be able to figure out which controls you need to access or where on the panel they’re located. Then what? Many individuals are now creating their own websites, and if they are able to find a good web host, much of what they need to work on is presented in clear language and easy to use features. Keep reading to see how to pick a good web host that can help you maintain your site.
Determine if your hosting provider offers the ability to run server-side scripts. Free websites often do not offer dynamically scripted pages as part of their free service. This will limit what you can customize on your personal pages. If your goal is to be creative, innovative, and unique, you might want to find a paid option instead.
The type and number of features offered may vary between hosts, so keep a keen eye open for differences. When you’re looking at all the options, be sure that what people are offering matches what you’re looking for. A host that appears to be more economical may not be due to missing features in their plan.
Shared Hosting
Dedicated or shared hosting, which one is right for you? If your site is rather large and complex you may find out that shared hosting cannot handle the heavy volume of visitors that your site receives, as it will limit your ability to properly serve the customers. It would likely be in your best interest to use a dedicated host.
Keep a list of back-ups when you choose the web host you’re going to sign on with. You can then make the change to another website hosting service with more ease and less disruption, if your current service proves to be too unreliable or completely crashes.
Billing for website hosting services is correlated with the amount of visitors your site receives in a given time period. Some will charge different amounts while others use flat rates, so figure out beforehand.
As an online business owner, you should find a hosting service that corresponds to your website. The prices range from a couple of bucks to around $50 per month. While some expensive hosts may provide more bandwidth, they may have just as much–or more–downtime than less expensive hosts.
Do as much research as you can about your web host; don’t just rely on the information presented on their company site. Look for customer reviews by independent sites to see how decent the host is. These reviews will help you recognize a quality service from other hosts.
There are free web hosts, but you may “pay” for them in other ways. These hosts typically require that you post advertising on your site. What’s more is that you will not control the ad content placed on your site. Random ads on a site can make it appear unprofessional.
Now you can see that each web host has their own offerings and plan structures. Use these ideas to decide which options matter the most to you. Shopping around will help you find the site that offers you these features for the lowest price, helping improve your business’ bottom line. That’s great news!