If you are just starting your first website, one of your challenges is choosing the web hosting service that is right for your needs. With the many things that you need to consider when identifying a good website hosting provider, it is easy to overlook something critical. You want to know your bandwidth limits, server hardware, hosting guarantees, and standard platform requirements and avoid blacklisted IPs as well as nonrefundable guarantees.

If you want to know more before you finalize your decision when choosing a web hosting service, no worries. To start you off, this article summarizes three (3) basic considerations when you want to identify the right service provider for your website.

1. Determine The Type of Web Hosting You Need

While you can actually choose from many web hosting plans, making the right choice is a matter of considering your requirements and compare what a service provider has to offer. Whether you get an Ubuntu VPS or any other web hosting service, your hosting requirements differ from others in terms of performance, price, features, and storage.

Before you look for a web hosting service, it is important to note the types of web hosting services available. The three most common types follow

• Shared Hosting – This is ideal for small to medium-sized websites. Shared hosting simply means that several websites and customers share the same server. Most first-time website owners consider this as a good choice. However, since the server resources are split among various websites, your website performance may suffer sometimes. If you want to boost your traffic to the highest level by ensuring the continuous availability of your website to your public, then it is best that you do not choose a shared hosting plan.

• VPS Hosting – A VPS (virtual private server) provides more flexibility for fast-growing websites. A VPS is a middle-ground choice between a dedicated server and a shared hosting server. The VPS is a server that involves virtual machines that serve as an independent dedicated server. Although customers share a server with VPS hosting, each has bigger portions as well as greater control compared to shared hosting services.

• Dedicated Hosting – This provides maximum security and server resources. High-performing websites require dedicated hosting that entails the use of an entire server to power applications or websites. A dedicated server is configured to meet your needs. You are in control of the server architecture so that you can customize the security systems, load balancers, operating systems, and so on.

2. Know The Resources and Features You Need

If you are bombarded by different web hosting plans or packages, focus on what your website marketing really needs. Rather than settling with the most attractive option, choose a web hosting service that is compatible with your business needs. For instance, your business might prioritize email functionality instead of storage, or you might want to prioritize stringent security and high bandwidth rates. Some of the features or resources you should consider are the following:

• Bandwidth and Storage – The amount of bandwidth and storage you need will depend on your website’s goals or plans. If you are planning to include high-resolution images to your website or you have a big inventory list, choose a web hosting service that offers lots of storage.

  Bandwidth, on the other hand, determines how fast the information travels from and to your website. Thus, if your website has a high amount of traffic or you post high-resolution videos, choose a web hosting service with high bandwidth. Make sure and check that you can accommodate a huge surge in website popularity. You don’t want your server to crash just when every other user in the world is trying to access your website. Aside from server overload, a server can crash due to power failure, so make sure that your host provider includes standby generators sufficient for providing power over a long period.

• Customer Support – No matter what your web hosting needs are, it’s best to choose a web hosting service that is backed by good customer support. With this, you can be assured that you can easily reach someone whenever you need help with your hosting plan. You can determine good customer service from feedback on chat groups.

• Security – This is a top concern for some small businesses, particularly those with eCommerce websites. You should check if your web hosting service offers SSL encryption, site backup, spam protection, and other safeguards against any possible online threats such as computer viruses, rogue security programs, trojan horses, adware, spyware, phishing, rootkits, DOS and DDOS attacks, to mention a few.

3. Examine Free VS Paid Web Hosting

There are free and paid web hosting services you can consider. However, many would agree that free hosting is not always a good idea, and that paid hosting services offer more value. For instance, free hosting does not offer features such as security and support that you can get from paid hosting services. First of all, check how the pricing really works and choose the plan that offers great value.

Takeaways

It is challenging to choose the best web hosting service, particularly when it is your first time. Be sure to choose a reliable and reputable service provider for your satisfaction. Meanwhile, the key points summarized in this article should help you get started on your way towards better decisions about choosing the best service host for your website.