What is web hosting?
Do you have your own website and would like this website to be posted on the internet? Web hosting is what you now require. Web hosting is a service that enables individuals and organizations to post their web pages and website on the internet. This enables the individual’s or organization’s website to be accessed through internet by third parties. In web hosting, you will require a web hosting service provider who acts as servers through the use of special computers. All that you will be required to produce is a domain name which internet users will type on their browsers to get to your website.
There are a number of web hosting service providers in which you can use either one of them to have your website hosted and enabled on the internet. The current best web hosting service providers include; Bluehost and SiteGround web hosting service providers as discussed below.
Bluehost
This is a WordPress hosting service provider who is committed to offering up-to-date hardware standards on your web hosting. It has gone a higher notch in providing excellent services in the various hosting niches and in VPS as well. Bluehost services are very affordable and user-friendly making it very effective and a reliable hosting company. You will get all hosting services from the Bluehost which include; cloud, shared, and dedicated servers. They will offer site building services and a free domain for the website and unlimited traffic is promised with the 24/7 website being online virtually.
SiteGround
This is another best hosting company being the leading in their innovativeness in offering web hosting services. They offer impeccable software solution as well as wonderful customer support services. Web hosting services offered by this company include Cloudflare CDN, SSH access, Bandwidth, unlimited MySQL databases and cPanel. In addition to this, they offer extremely pocket-friendly prices on services offered to their customers. They work with improved technology to provide backup of your websites with the use of a custom backup software on daily basis.
You can also check this SiteGround vs Bluehost comparison in order to make dcision to choose one between these 2 popular web hosting.
The web hosting used will either break or make your website hence the need for proper choice. This will majorly be determined the traffic attracted by the hosted website.
Choosing which web hosting to use becomes one of the major challenges hence the need to have some things you must know before choosing a web hosting. This will assure you of quality service and ensure that you receive the best web hosting that will make your website highly competitive on the internet.
Below include some of the things you must consider before choosing a web hosting;
- Customer reviews and ratings – Before choosing a web hosting, you need to have an in-depth research on customer reviews and ratings. This provides first-hand and the most current information on how satisfied previous customers have had from the web hosting. Poor ratings indicate poor services from the web hosting while high ratings indicate excellent services. In addition to this, you will be able to get to know the response rate by the customer support department on any queries raised by customers on their website.
- Specialization and the focus areas – Different website have different requirements and needs based on the purpose of each website. Based on your website, choose a web hosting which matches your specific needs. Ask yourself questions such as; what are our long-term goals? Do we expect growth in our website? With this, you will be able to access what are the specifications of your website and the focus areas. After you get to know your needs, seek from the web hosting service provider if they are in a position to provide your requirements. Make a decision after full satisfaction on the service provider.
- Pricing – As much as you need the best services from the best service providers, you as well need to get a service provider you can afford to pay. Some service providers overcharge especially if they are dealing with big companies’ websites and this would not be favorable if your website is not in such position. Compare the pricing and then pick the one you afford and with quality services.
- Customer support – In your web hosting, you will always need some technical support from the service providers. Their availability in offering support to customers will determine how well you make sound decisions. Different web hosting service providers have different methods in which they offer customer support such as through live chat, email, and comment replies or through a toll-free phone. With customer support, you are sure to get ease with the use of the service to provides.
- User interface and control panel – Updating your site easily by your own will be essential on how to ease you use a specific web hosting. You will always need to modify your website in case of any changes you may need to make on it. You don’t need third-party assistance in website modification hence the need to know a web hosting user interface and how you can interact with it easily.
- Upgrading options – As your website grows, you will require multiple websites under the same web server rather than having multiple servers for different websites. This is achieved through shared hosting. At a point where you speculate growth of your website into a big website, consider web hosting which has upgrade options in a time you will need purchasing the upgrade.
- Refund policies – Web hosting service providers usually offer refund policies in case you get not satisfied with the hosting services. This acts as a guarantee on the services you receive from the service provider. In this, service providers will give a trial period after which you are charged the whole amount. Where you are not satisfied with their services during the trial period, you can then be refunded the full amounts paid to the service provider. Service providers with long trial periods should be preferred more than those with a short period. This is so since you will be able to assess the services for an appropriate time.
- Server reliability – Web host server reliability indicates how much satisfaction you obtain from the service provider. A web host with a good hardware, powerful server and with stable network connections will be highly recommended and suitable for your web hosting. This will assist in building up your trust on the service provider as you will be assured of receiving quality and reliable services. In reliability of the service providers, you might also consider security, and bandwidth by the service provider.
- Addon Domain – An Addon domain option allows you to run several websites on a single website hosting account. This is enabled through shared web hosting options. Different options on the Addon Domain are provided in specific hosting companies. Addon domains will be quite expensive than one with one domain as they have an unlimited number of domains in which you can add. To ensure you get the best plans, consider using web hosting with Addon domain offering unlimited domains. This will benefit you a great deal especially if you are a blogger.
- Backup services – Your website may crash anytime and this would be very frustrating. It would cost you much if your website crashes on time used to prepare the website. This would rise up from hackers who might damage your database or while modifying your website and then add or deleting codes unknowingly. With this, you will need a backup such that you can be able to restore your website again. Some hosting companies will offer daily backups to ensure you get your website back in case you lose it. Ensure that you get a hosting company which provides backup services on your website with one which provides frequent back becomes the best.
In conclusion, it is very key to know your end while at the beginning. With these factors to consider, you will not mess up in choosing a web hosting on your first website. This has been seen from the above clearly and well explained things you should consider to ensure you get the best. This promises you a wonderful website enjoyment without any interruption while receiving the best services ever.