Web hosting is a crucial aspect of the website development. These are the collection of special computers termed as servers. It houses the web pages, CMS, scripts, images, videos, and various other files that you need to display on the web browser.
Do a Google search now and you can find out thousands of websites offering web hosting services. After buying a domain name too, you receive many calls and emails to avail this facility. When it comes to choosing a web hosting provider, most users are burdened with many questions. Some of the most common questions that a user may face are as follows:
Which company should I choose for the hosting?
What plan should I choose?
Should I choose Linux hosting or Windows hosting?
What should be the location for your web hosting server?
Should I choose shared, dedicated, VPS, or cloud hosting?
What should be the storage space of the server?
What should be the bandwidth of the server?
What is the number of databases that it should support?
What should be the hardware configuration of the server?
What is the support that is provided by the hosting provider?
What type of hosting to choose?
There are various types of hosting option provided by different organizations like WordPress hosting, shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, etc. Shared hosting is relatively cheaper as compared to the VPS hosting. The dedicated shared hosting is even more costly. In the case of shared hosting, many users share the resources of the server and system. In the case of VPS, the server is divided into virtual machines which thereby act as independent dedicated servers. This provides you greater control over the hosting plan. However, in the case of dedicated hosting, you are granted complete control over the resources of their server.
Now, if you are a new web owner and your business is in the beginning phase, the shared hosting plan is the most cost-effective plan for you. It can support up to 30,000 -40,000 unique visitors per month based on the site size and your hosting provider.
The VPS hosting turns out to be useful for the websites that receive a vast amount of traffic. This can support the sites with a monthly visitorship of about 1 million.
If your website receives more traffic that cannot be handled by VPS, it is a wise decision to choose the dedicated hosting option. Furthermore, you can choose to add more servers and add different resources like RAM, storage, and other such options.
However, before choosing a company for your web server, it is necessary to inquire if the automatic upgrade option for the hosting is available. This ensures that as the traffic on your website increases, you can upgrade your hosting plan.
Windows or Linux:
Windows or Linux are the two most popular operating systems available on the web servers. To do so, it is necessary to have an idea of whether you need to use any Windows resources or not. While Windows host support Windows products like Active Server Pages (ASP) technology, Visual Interdev, Microsoft FrontPage and Microsoft Access. Both of these servers have their own set of benefits, but the Linux servers are relatively cheaper as it is a proprietary software whereas the Linux is an open source software. Linux servers are also relatively very stable as it runs for longer duration without any failure and can also handle several concurrent processes. The updation or configuration of the Windows servers requires a reboot which is not the case in the Linux servers. Linux servers are also less prone to malware and virus attacks thereby providing security. The above options illustrate that the Linux based servers are the best option for you, however for using the Windows programs, Windows servers are required.
Software support:
The current websites are not confined to only using the HTML and CSS only, but makes use of many other programming languages, scripting languages, databases, and many other such resources. It is necessary that you get an idea of your requirements and inquire if the hosting provider offers support for the same. This can help you get the best web server as per your needs. It is also necessary that you have a proper idea of the version support for different programming languages.
Multiple domains and add-on domain support:
Due to the low prices of a domain name, a person may choose to avail more than one domain name. It has been found out in the surveys that many people own more than one domain. Apart from that, you may also feel the need to add multiple subdomain/addon domain. This helps you in your website rankings as Google has a preference for the availability of the keyword in your domain and subdomain. With the growth of the website, the number of domains and subdomain may increase considerably. Hence it is a wise decision to inquire about the number of subdomains and addon domains that are allowed by the hosting provider.
Resources available:
There are many resources on which the web traffic that can be supported on the website depends. Some of the factors like RAM, processing power, storage, bandwidth, etc. must be taken into account before you choose one. Hence it must be made sure that you are provided with ample resources to keep your website up and running at all times and meet all the user’s requests.
Simple and easy Control panel:
The site hosting control panel is one of the most frequented pages that is visited by the web owners and web developers. Here, you can perform many tasks like managing the hosting, setting up sites, upload/download files, create backups, installing scripts and CMS, add a subdomain and add-on domain, manage emails, forwarding, and several other such tasks. Hence it becomes necessary that you choose a control panel that is simple and easy to use. This makes sure that all the services that you need are easily available and accessible.
Server reliability and uptime scores:
The websites need to be operational 24*7 as when the websites are down; your potential customers may move to the next site for completing their transaction. The downtime in your sites also affects your website rankings. It is necessary that you choose the web hosting providers with the uptime scores of 99.5% and above. Any web host with the uptime below 99% must be immediately rejected.
Website builder or not:
Many people plan to build the website, whereas not everyone has the technical knowledge to do so. Some of them choose the option to get it developed by the web development companies. This helps them to build professional websites with many outstanding features. For those users, who do not have the technical knowledge to develop the website and also do not have sufficient budget to design the website, the website builders are provided. The website builders offer drag and drop methodology to design the website. However, it is necessary to know that the website builder is a paid service for which you need to make payments. For the long-term website, it is advisable to get it designed from the best web development companies. It will help you to provide a professional look and feel to your website and ensure better returns.
Account suspension:
In many cases, the account is suspended for many reasons. These may be when the website utilizes too much of CPU power, violates certain rules, and other such reasons. Hence it becomes necessary that you get an idea of the cases, in which the accounts are suspended. This can help ensure that you can freely express your opinions and reach out to your users.
Hosting prices:
Apart from the above factors, it is also necessary that you have a proper idea of your budget. This will help you decide which hosting service comes within your budget. While choosing a hosting provider, it is also necessary to have information about the renewal costs because while the signup costs are relatively lower as compared to the renewal costs. You cannot afford to go all over again to set up your website. Hence it is necessary that the renewal hosting prices must be checked and then appropriate hosting provider must be chosen. While purchasing a hosting service, you can also look for the current offers and avail the hosting at amazingly low prices.
