What can you achieve if you know how to choose a web host for your business?
Everyone knows that websites are indispensable for any digital business’ success in a world increasingly guided by technology. In addition, it’s also the most efficient way to communicate and be heard when it comes to the dissemination of ideas or even leisure.
If you need to create a website for your e-commerce or just want to bring your blog project to life, you have already faced the following question — how to choose the best website hosting service?
With so many options on the Internet, it’s really hard to choose. In addition to worrying about the web design and content, those who want to start a website can get confused and even suspicious of which company to choose to trust with their page.
It’s necessary to evaluate the differences between several services and which one offers what you are looking for considering your objective.
In this post, we bring to you the 10 factors to teach you how to choose a web host service for your business.
How to choose a web host for your business?
1. Uptime
There is nothing more frustrating on the internet than clicking on a link and the target site, not opening.
This problem not only annoys the user but also Google itself, which starts to give less value in organic search results for that address. So, make sure that the website hosting service you are hiring offers the best quality of availability.
This factor, also called uptime, can be measured using a number. The closer to 100%, the better the service availability guarantees. When choosing your website hosting provider, keep an eye on this, and prioritize the options that offer uptime above 99%.
2. Available storage
Depending on your website’s purpose, you will need a lot or a little storage space for the files you add to it. Regardless of which is your case, it’s always recommended that you hire the service that best suits your needs.
If you need a lot of space, make sure that the website hosting company offers the amount you need to keep from running out of memory. Or, if you need little, opt for cheaper plans and save money that you would pay for unnecessary space.
But if your service has unlimited disk space, you can relax about that factor and skip to the next tip!
3. Monthly traffic
You may not know this but some website hosting services have a monthly traffic limit. In practice, this means that after a specific amount of access, the server will charge an additional fee for “extra visitors” or will stop displaying your website on the web.
Therefore, always be attentive to the information given by companies and make sure to use those with unlimited data traffic so as not to run the risk of your website being down.
4. Loading speed
If you already know a little about SEO, you know that Google will always prioritize the pages that load faster, always aiming to offer the best experience for its users.
So, check if the website hosting service you are hiring offers a good loading speed. It’s worth remembering that it may seem an insignificant difference in theory but, in practice, it’s the difference between a user remaining actively consuming your content or being annoyed by the delay and abandoning your page.
5. Data security
Trusting someone to host your website and content is not a simple task. Therefore, you have to make sure that the chosen provider is able to completely protect its customers, offering an information redundancy system and constant backups.
That way, even with any natural or unforeseen problems, your website will always be online and fully operational.
6. Customer support
More than offering all the conditions for the success of your page, a website hosting service must also be efficient in assisting you. Customer support is a key factor for many users and the provider’s availability to help you can be the difference between a crisis resolved quickly or a website being offline for several hours.
Check out how the support of the service you are considering hiring works and see which channels the company offers for you to contact and ask for help.
7. Payment methods
The price should not guide your choice when choosing the ideal service but it can also help to make the decision easier. A service being cheaper is no guarantee of it being bad, just as being more expensive does not guarantee a high-quality provider. Understand exactly what type of need you have and look for a plan that balances your needs with your pocket.
Remember that many website hosting services also offer discounts depending on the period you choose to hire. Generally, the longer the usage time, the lower the final price you will pay.
8. Content management system
Look for a service that offers its own intuitive content management system or easy installation of an open-source one, such as WordPress. These platforms will be part of your daily routine when interacting with your website, so consider this, especially if you intend to create content frequently.
9. Do a free trial
Many website hosting services offer free usage periods for the user to get to know the provider and test if it has everything they need. This period is essential for you to find out if it’s worthwhile to hire a certain service, as well as to identify possible obstacles that you had not thought of before putting your idea into practice.
After that, if the provider does not live up to your expectations, you can leave at no cost. If it did, great! You have found the perfect hosting.
10. Discover extra benefits
As this is an extremely competitive market, it’s worth remembering many companies provide a website hosting service. To stand out, they usually offer some extra advantages to get ahead of the competition.
Because of that, stay alert! Read about everything you are entitled to in each plan and identify unique benefits that may end up matching exactly your needs.
