Web Hosting: What to Look For?
Generally, if you want to set up a presence online, especially with a website of your own, you will need a web hosting service.
What is a web hosting service? Based on namecheap.com, web hosting service is…
In a nutshell, web hosting is the process of renting or buying space to house a website on the World Wide Web. Website content such as HTML, CSS, and images has to be housed on a server to be viewable online.
https://www.namecheap.com/hosting/what-is-web-hosting-definition/
Basically, it’s like a place to put your business. Rather than the brick and mortar physical building or space to place your business, this is a digital space. The benefit? Space-less, sort of, in a way, it is not taking up physical space. Apart from that, the key benefit in starting a website is that your business gets to ‘travel’ around the world. As long as there’s internet connection, your website can be seen by anyone, anywhere.
There are tons of web hosting service out there but how do you decide which is the best? Let’s go through some features or services you should look for when deciding on a web hosting service.
- Customer Service
When you need help with your website, is the customer service available? How responsive is the customer service? What options are available to get in contact with a customer service representative? Some providers have a 24/7 support service whereby you can contact them anytime regardless of your time zone. Apart from that, the options to contact a rep can be by phone, chat, email or a ticket system.
- Traffic
Web hosting providers have different packages to cater to different needs. One of those needs is bandwidth usage. Your website may have high traffic coming through and this requires a high bandwidth requirement. Estimate what would be the amount of traffic you’re expecting. Although you can add on to the package at a later stage but it’s best to estimate it early so that your website doesn’t crash when suddenly get a lot of traffic.
- Storage
Apart from traffic, you have to consider the amount of storage you require. This comes from your content, images, or documents you may add to your website. This can take up space.
- Security
This should be a must in your checklist when deciding on a web hosting service. How secure can your site be? What are the security credentials of the web hosting service? This may include SSL certificates, security software or add-ons for your website.
- Backups
This is another consideration or must to your checklist. Backups are important especially when the website crashes or gets deleted by accident. Does the web hosting service provide regular backups? Find a provider that has regular backups. You will be grateful you have one.
- Price
Pricing is subjective as it depends on your budget. We may want to start up small and work our way up. Look out for offers on the web hosting service page. There may also be annual fee instead of monthly fee. Annual fee tend to be discounted, such as “Pay 10 months fee and get 2 months free”.
- Integration
Integration here means whether the web hosting service provides integration to platforms such as eCommerce or WordPress. This depends on what you plan to do with the website. WordPress is just one of the blogging platform that you can use. Some providers have WordPress integrated which saves you time.
- Uptime
Uptime refers to the availability of your website; whether it is up and running all the time. Some web hosting service may have occasional maintenance rounds where your website will be temporarily unavailable. Once maintenance is done, your website should be up and ready. Most providers have an uptime promised of 99%.
- Reputation
How reputable is the web hosting service? Have you heard of them before? Are their customers happy with their service? What are the online reviews saying about the provider? This can be complimented with any tech awards that the provider has.
- User Interface
This is one I’ve experienced before. User interface refers to how intuitive the setup or dashboard is. There was a provider I tried which had very un-intuitive dashboard. It was difficult to navigate or find simple things like where do I locate the email account link.
Additional mention: Money-back Guarantee
In the case where you aren’t satisfied with the services, it is a good thing to have a money back guarantee. This is usually within the first 30 days of purchase. This is optional especially if you’re trying a new provider for the first time. If the provider is your usual provider, then that means you are good with the provider’s services.
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