What To Look For When Choosing A Web Host

Once you have set up your own website or you are thinking about it, one of the things you need to do is to find a good web hosting provider. The common problem faced by many website owners is that there are a lot of web hosting companies to choose from; thus, it becomes confusing and overwhelming. Knowing the kind of web hosting services to take into consideration and choosing a provider can be a very challenging task, especially for new website owners with no experience.

Choosing a company for your web hosting needs is essential; thus, proper and thorough consideration must be made. You have to understand that the hosting company must be able to provide you with what you need to put up your site to the World Wide Web. For this reason, it is best to consider a few things before choosing a provider to ensure that you get quality service.

Important Things To Remember About Web Hosting

Before you start considering what you need to look for when choosing a web host, you first need to understand how it works. A web host stores all the pages of your site into a machine. In doing so, you will be provided with the space you need to store your pictures, videos, and other media which you have posted on your site. In simple terms, a web host allows you to put all your information and data on a server that isn’t in your office building.

Now that you have an idea of how it works, it is essential to understand the terms that are often mentioned. Here are a few important terms you need to know and understand to help you pick the right web hosting company.

• Bandwidth: This generally refers to the information and data you can transfer over a connection. In simple terms, the information that can be transmitted from your website to your visitors.
• In-house hosting: This is the opposite of web hosting. This is when the company manages a server to hold the necessary data in their office building.
• Uptime: This is the time when the web host provider is functional.

Factors To Consider When Choosing A Web Host

Domain Names: There are web hosting providers who offer hosting services only, while others can register domain names as well. A good web host will allow you to use a website address which you have registered in another provider if that is your choice. A good web host must not charge you any kind of fee if you want to move your domain name elsewhere.

Technical Support: Before you sign up for any web hosting services, you must first determine whether they can offer you with a full technical support all day, all week, and all year. Having a web hosting provider that cannot answer your questions when you have a problem with your website can be very frustrating, and it can also lead to huge losses. Good providers must be able to provide support through email no matter what time you choose to contact them. If you are not sure whether the company can offer 24/7 technical support, you can test them out by sending an email at midnight and during weekends. You must check their response time and their technical competence.

Phone Support: This is in relation with the web host provider’s technical support. It is advisable to look for a web hosting company that offers phone support where you can easily call and ask questions. It will be more convenient to have someone to speak with directly over the phone.

Disk Space: This is usually measured in MB or GD, and the amount of space you choose will depend on your needs- whether you want to have videos, pictures, or other forms of media in your website. If your website will contain a lot of graphics or medial files, you will need a lot of space. For normal website, a 50 MB disk space is enough, but if you are thinking of putting up large files, you might want to get 100 MB space. Remember though that the more disk space you buy, the more expensive it will get.

File Type And Size Limitations: This is related to the disk space you need, so check any limitations the web host provider may have. Some free hosting services will have a restriction on the maximum size of a  file you can upload, also, some restrict certain types of files too. It is best to check these limitations and conditions before signing up to any hosting service.

Bandwidth: Today, a lot of free web hosting services also limit the amount of traffic that your website can use within a single day or within a month. This means that if the pages or media on your website is loaded by visitors beyond the limit, the web host provider has the right to disable your website. For this reason, you need to check out the bandwidth limitations given by the provider. Additionally, many experienced website owners suggest choosing at least 3GB of bandwidth every month. As your website gains popularity and traffic, you will need to increase the bandwidth size.

Control Panel: This is very essential when choosing a web hosting service. This is where you can manage the different areas of your web account on your own. This is also where you can add or delete accounts, manage your email addresses, make changes to your website, and view your traffic. Try to avoid web hosting services where you will need to go through their technical support every time you need to make simple changes to your web account.

Email Facilities: One of the biggest advantages of having your own website is getting your own email address, forwarders and auto responders for yourself. For this reason, it is vital to look into the email facilities offered by the web hosting company before signing up. You must look into the number of email addresses you can set up. There are hosting companies that offer higher-priced plans for more emails.