5 Tips On Choosing a Web Hosting Provider

21 August 2014

5 Tips On Choosing a Web Hosting Provider

From the moment you set up your website it is vital that you have a web hosting company that meets your needs, or it can have a detrimental effect on your business in the future. Choosing the right web hosting company is by no means an easy task, so here are five things you should consider before making that all important decision.

Reliability
A company that you can rely on is a fundamental aspect to picking the right web hosting provider, particularly if you have an e-commerce site. Website downtime can have a detrimental effect on your business, if your website visitors cannot access or use your site, they’ll get frustrated and will go elsewhere, probably to your competitors. An unreliable web hosting provider can loose you customers.

Speed
The speed of your website is of great importance – nearly half your website visitors will abandon a site that takes longer then three seconds to load. It is inevitable that as your business grows your website traffic will too which may cause your website to slow down if you don’t have enough bandwidth to support. If your site starts to become sluggish due to an increase in website visitors, you’ll need to speak to your web hosting team about increasing your bandwidth. A great web hosting provider will have a variety of different packages to choose from so as your business grows your web hosting package can grow too, to meet your websites needs.

Growth
As we touched upon in our last point, as your business begins to grow you need to know that your web hosting company can support your growth and cater for your extra customers and increased web visitors. If you’re a small business, you don’t need to start out with an expensive web hosting solution, a basic or free hosting package may suffice, but as your business expands you need to know that your provider has other packages available so that you can upgrade when the time is right.

Customer Support
Before you sign up, you should check out your chosen web hosting company’s support team. Do they have a ticketing system or a support line you can call on when you need help? Is it 24/7 support, do they have a Twitter or Facebook page you can post to, should you need to? Customer support is vital, and a website can go down at any moment so you need to find a web hosting provider that has a technical team that is on-hand 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Security
Whether you just use your site for blogging or you’re a multi-national company, security is important! Make sure that your web hosting provider is looking after their servers and provides a secure and safe environment. It’s also worth checking out their additional features, ensure they offer the necessary website add ons such as, SFTP, SSL certificates and back ups to protect your website and its functionality. You should also make sure you enquire about server maintenance to ensure their server is maintained correctly so downtime and cyber attacks are kept to a minimum.

When choosing a web hosting provider, it really is about finding the right company for your needs and the right web host specifications for your business. Every web hosting company will claim to be the ‘best’ but do your research and find the hosting service that works for you.