You’re probably reading this because you intend to start a blog, a forum, a personal or business website and you’re confused about which web host to use due to several contrasting reviews you’ve read on the internet. The success of your website depends a lot on the web host you choose and starting with the wrong one can be a pretty bad mistake you will regret. To choose a web host that doesn’t suck and make your site unstable in the near future, there are certain things to put in to consideration.
1. Is the web hosting service free?
I don’t expect you to build your blog or business on a free host but if you’re considering it, get it out of your mind right now! Free web hosting can ruin your dreams and and get your site terminated any time. It’s free, right? You know you can’t even complain if they decide to kick your butt.
2. How much does it cost?
Yes, most people would prefer to go for something cheap and there are several web hosts out there whose services are dead cheap but are you sure there are no hidden charges? Are you sure those core services you need are included in their package? One thing you should know is that good things don’t come cheap. If you need a quality web hosting service, that cheap one might not be right for you. I almost went for iPage hosting when I wanted to host my first website but I read a lot of reviews that made me change my mind and went for something a lot more expensive.
3. Customer service
A web hosting provider that doesn’t attend to its customer promptly isn’t worth it. Don’t even try it. Even if you’re a geek and know everything about web hosting, there’ll come a time when you’re gonna be in dire need of a capable technical support. Can you reach your web host easily in times like this? Can you get support through phone? Online chat? You should put this in to consideration.
4. Is your website going to load fast?
I bet you already know the importance of a fast loading website, right? I won’t advise you to choose your web host randomly, look for someone using that web host or a site hosted on it. You should try to know if they are not overselling beyond their capacity. You know you have a problem when your site takes 30 seconds, even 20 seconds, to completely load. This can make you loose potential customers and ruin your business.
Sometimes this may be cause by the script you’re using but lots of times, your web host is to blame for this.
5. Is that 99.9% uptime guaranteed?
This is one of the most important things to consider before choosing a good web host. Everyone claims 99.9% uptime but is that even guaranteed? If you’re a blogger, an unstable site means losing traffic and pagerank. And if you’re running a business site, you will be losing customers and your investment will be going down the drain right in front of your eyes.
6. Is there any automated backup?
Your website is bound to run into any sort of problem anytime and normally, you should make a regular backup of your stuffs. You should find out if your web hosts offer any such backup in case you run into technical issues and need to restore a very recent backup.
What if you messed up your site so bad and even damaged your database? Will your host help in such situations?
7. What features does the cPanel has to offer?
A client gave me the login details to his hosting account a while ago and it was some sort of custom dashboard… It wasn’t cPanel, not even Plesk. I couldn’t even create a database unless I contacted the web host. Now, isn’t that awkward in this age?
Does your host offer cPanel? What features are available? I’m a lazy guy and I prefer to have an auto installer (Softaculous or Fantastico), a site builder like the one offered by 1&1 website builder and I wanna be able to manage my database easily preferably with PhpMyAdmin.
Does that web host you intend to use offer all these?
8. Are the hosting plans flexible?
You site will definitely grow and you may want to upgrade your hosting account to something that can accommodate your growing traffic. Does your web host support this? Can you later move to a VPS if you want to without necessarily changing your web host? This is one thing I didn’t like about BlueHost… I don’t know if they’ve changed though.
You’ll definitely need this when your web host shuts down your site over excessive CPU usage and you need to upgrade to a better plan that can handle your website.
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