Many small businesses, when first starting out online, are looking to keep costs low, and the first thing they do is get a cheap website hosting provider. That said, being overly price-sensitive when it comes to choosing website hosting can actually lose a business money in the long run. Keep reading for the best advice on choosing a web page hosting service for all of your online needs.
The web host you choose should be located within the country of the people you are interested in selling your products or services to. For example, if you want to sell things to people in Ireland, then you should choose a web host that has a data center in Ireland.
How much traffic you get will affect the size and price of the web hosting plan you need. You should know how your website hosting company is going to charge you. Some charge you a flat rate as your traffic progresses, and others charge different fluctuating amounts based on your traffic.
Your web host should play a key role in your site management, by offering you tools that allow you to track and analyze site statistics like traffic. Add your own visitor counter on your site, and compare your visitor count to the one provided by your host. It is in your best interest as a business owner to closely monitor and manage this data.
When looking at web page hosting packages with unlimited services, proceed with caution. For instance, you may indeed have unlimited storage, but the company may limit the type of files that can be stored. Furthermore, unlimited bandwidth availability may translate to a payment plan that is tiered in nature. Be sure to read the fine print and know what “unlimited” means in terms of your plan.
If you are considering different hosts, check whether or not each one offers guarantees for customer satisfaction. A 30-day probationary period is typical, allowing you to leave the host and get a full refund within the first month of service. Some hosting services may exaggerate their quality in their advertisements.
Hosting Services
Many hosting services actually rely on a major host of their own. These companies purchase a large portion of server space and pay a lower price. They in turn make their profits by charging rent for it to many smaller websites. Find out if your web host is renting space from another host. If so, contact the larger host and get a quote for hosting services so that you can determine which hosting service will give you the best deal.
The host you decide to choose should provide support for all programming languages you are currently utilizing, and plan on using in the future. Unless your provider can support the most popular languages, it will be impossible to get the most from your website. If you choose to add additional features in the future using a new programming language that your host doesn’t support, you’ll probably have to choose between nixing your upgrade or leaving the hosting service. Switching web hosts can be a real hassle.
If you use dial-up to access the Internet, do not host your own site. To keep your site current, reliable and fast-loading, it needs to be supported by a solid host. Otherwise, any lags that come up will cause your site to go offline.
Low cost is not the only factor to consider when shopping for a hosting provider. Your site needs to be live nearly 100% of the time to guarantee you can make money and prosper. Put the advice of this article to work for your online needs and come away with the best possible hosting options!