10 Criteria for When You Have to Choose a Website Host

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A website host is an important partner in your business. How important? Well, you can lose a lot of business if you choose the wrong host.

Customers have high expectations these days when it comes to your website. They expect it to be up and running. They also expect it to load quickly. The slightest delays can cause people to leave your site.

Believe it or not, your site’s host has a major impact on these two things.

There are thousands of website hosts out there to choose from. How can you be sure that you choose the most reliable host for your business?

Read on to discover 10 criteria you need to look for in a website host.

1. Your Business Needs

The place to start is with your business. You need to know what your website requires to choose the right host and the right plan for your business.

Do you have one website for a local business that gets a little traffic?

Maybe you’re a blogger with a whole network of sites that have thousands of visitors each month. An e-commerce site goes a step further and has its own requirements, such as a secure shopping cart.

The big things you need to know are how many sites you have, how much traffic you get now, and how much you expect to get over the next year or two.

2. Security

Your website host has to take security seriously. Your business simply can’t afford to have a cyberattack because your host was vulnerable.

An attack can be so costly, it can put you out of business for good. Check to find out how your host protects its servers from attack.

If you’re on a shared hosting plan, you want to make sure there are safeguards in place to protect your site if another site on the same server is hacked.

3. Types of Hosting Plans

You’ll find that web hosts offer different levels of hosting plans. The most common one is a shared hosting plan, which is usually the cheapest. It’s not the best option for all sites, though.

Ecommerce sited and sites that get a lot of traffic need upgraded services to meet their needs. With shared hosting, you’re sharing server space with a lot of other sites. If one of those sites sees a jump in traffic or has a security issue, your site can be affected.

You want to take your time and learn about website hosts before you sign up for a hosting plan.

4. Reliability

Web hosts love to talk about uptime. This is the percentage of time that their servers are up and running outside of routine maintenance.

Most web hosts will report uptime of 99.9%. Be wary of those who say they are up 100% of the time. It’s simply not feasible and they are likely to be misleading you.

5. Customer Service & Support

If there’s one thing that’s certain when dealing with websites, it’s that if something can go wrong, it will. You want to know that you have the support available to help bring your site back online when things go wrong.

The best website hosts have a number of ways to contact them. They have specific hours to call and speak with a live person. They also have chat and messaging available outside of those hours.

You never know when something will go wrong. Have support day or night can give you peace of mind when your website goes down.

6. Read Reviews

You need to do your research to choose the right website host. You’ll want to look at their offerings, and you want to see what other people’s experience is.

Take the time to read the reviews of the hosting companies before you sign up. The easiest way to do that is to do a search for the hosting company’s name and reviews.

7. Speed and Location

You may not be able to tell how fast a web host will be for your website, but you can see how far they are from your customers.

This will be important for local businesses. Ideally, you want to choose a web host with servers near your customers. That can cut down on the time it takes for your site to load on their devices.

8. Installation Apps & Extras

Hosting companies try to offer different things to set themselves apart. They may offer a one-click WordPress installation. They may also offer an easy to use dashboard that gives you a lot of flexibility and customizations.

Two things that you want to have from your hosting company are free SSL certificates and CDN services. These are two things that will allow you to deliver a faster and more secure experience.

9. Pricing

Hosting companies often entice new customers by offering steep discounts for their services. Anytime you can save money is a good time, right?

You have to read the fine print on those hosting plans. You may get a discount for that first year, but the cost to renew may be incredibly high. You want to know what hosting will cost the first year and beyond.

Also check out: find best web hosting deal for black friday

10. A Big Knowledge Base

You’re going to have a lot of questions when you start your new hosting plan. Not every question needs the help of customer support. You can answer a lot of the questions on your own and find the answer faster through a knowledgebase.

A knowledge base contains articles and instructions for just about every situation, from installing WordPress to setting up an SSL certificate. These instructions make it easier for you to do these things on your own.

How to Choose the Right Web Host for Your Business

Whether you’re starting a blog or launching an e-commerce store, you need to have a top-notch web host to support your site.

There are too many web hosts out there to choose from. Take your time and evaluate what various services offer. Test their customer service team and read reviews. That will help you get the right host for your site.

Keep scrolling down for more articles on how to make your website the best it can be.