Choosing the best web hosting service and setting up the website can be tough as there are many hosting companies out there each promising 100% guaranteed service. Whether it is an individual website or a commercial e-commerce application, hosting company should always support user needs without creating any unnecessary complications to the website’s success. Hence, it is important to consider the following aspects before selecting the right hosting plan:
How to Choose a Web hosting Service
Knowing hosting needs
One of the biggest challenges in finding a hosting solution is to determine how much server bandwidth is necessary for the website. Unlike storage space which can be easily controlled by adding or deleting content pages as required, bandwidth need flexible and precise calculation. As the hosting price is mostly dependent on the amount of the bandwidth, you may have to be extra cautious while balancing the bandwidth against the budget. Choosing the hosting service is also dependent on the website build, software requirements and the amount of traffic hitting the website.
Server up-time record
Server up-time record and the reasonable terms of service are other important aspects that decide a good hosting provider. Server up-time is the total time a server is awake after installation and the acceptable percentage is 99.5% and above. Anything below 99% should be avoided because, during that time the website goes offline and is not visible to the internet users. To know more about the server up-time guarantees of a web hosting service, we can either read the reviews or use the online monitoring tools for tracking.
Additional Features
Apart from basic server functionality, many hosting services are providing additional features like multiple data centers, free domain privacy, regular data backups, energy saving practices etc. If any of these added features is important to your website then look for the provider who delivers these services.
Multiple add-on domains
Now-a-days many webmasters are using more than one domain name and extra hosting space. So it is important to have a hosting account which allows adding multiple domains. Moreover, domain names have become very cheap and many companies are providing minimum 10 add-on domains in one account.
Option for server upgrades
Taking into account the consequences of website traffic growth, it is important to choose a hosting company that provides server upgrade option from shared to VPS or dedicated hosting. Shared servers are usually sufficient for normal websites and blogs but if there is a necessity for more processing power, memory capacity, disk storage, and better security features then going for higher servers is inevitable.
Subscription period and renewal prices
Most of the hosting companies charge less at the time of signing up but increase the price on subscription renewals. So, it is necessary to go through the terms and conditions of the service in advance before signing the agreement to make sure the renewal prices are reasonable.
Site backup
There may be situations where the data is lost due to website crash, database corruption or hard disk failure. It is important to choose a hosting company that supports regular site backups for restoring the site data, so that the user need not worry about losing any valuable information.
Provision of control panel
Control panel helps to manage the hosting account at a glance. It provides a clear analysis on the resources used and the server limitations. With control panel one can change password, set preferences of email notification, know the disk space and bandwidth usage and many more. So, choose a hosting service that can provide robust features in the control panel.
E-commerce features
Many hosting companies offer complete e-commerce solution for websites from configuring the domain name to providing support to SSL certification, dedicated IP, one-click shopping cart and other special software upgrades. So, those e-commerce portals having a requirement for business transaction and added software features can browse for better service provider who can support their business needs.
Hence, while choosing the web hosting service provider, it is not about finding the best one in the world, but it is about picking the right one that matches your needs.