Some people may not realize the importance of partnering with the right web hosting company. It’s like a partnership. When businesses decide to choose the wrong web host, they can struggle to get support, experience downtime, or even worse. The loss of your initial capital investment pales in comparison to the damage resulting from poor website placement. Choosing a hosting package doesn’t have to be a daunting task though, as companies just need to consider the following points when looking for one and they’ll find that which plan to choose becomes much clearer.
Type of accommodation
- Does the company need its own infrastructure?
- Do you need more access or control over your website and server(s)?
- Aren’t they too technical?
- Would it be advisable for the web host to maintain the website?
They should ask these kinds of questions. No matter what type of hosting – shared hosting, dedicated hosting, managed hosting or VPS hosting – the pros and cons must be considered. They should know the purpose of your site and not be afraid to seek advice.
They may wonder if they will build their own website. This requires more skills than basic HTML. Those who are new to website design can use website builders like Shopify, Squarespace, Weebly, or Wix, among others. There are web hosts that offer them as a package in their standard package.
Support
What are the support channels available: email, live chat, forums, phone and are they 24/7 or only during office hours?
Where are they based?
In case something happens to their website/services, such as technical errors and DNS attacks, they need to address the issue immediately. The severity of the situation depends on the type of website. For example, if it’s an e-commerce site, the company could lose money during the time it’s offline. Therefore, they must be sure of the support that will meet their needs.
Communication is critical when it comes to issues that need to be resolved quickly. A US based web host knows what it’s like to work with your business, clients and time zone. This hosting provider can add a personal touch in terms of customer service and success in addressing your issue.
Characteristics
What are the features offered by the web host?
Does this vendor use cPanel for one-click installs of your chosen software?
What is the available storage and bandwidth? How many domains can one account host?
Functionality is crucial for all websites and it is future proof. When a website is further developed it requires more space, so does the capacity and features of web servers allow for growth?
The web host that businesses choose should be able to seamlessly move them to the next plan and storage space capacity to suit their needs and those of their website. Scalability, upgrade and downgrade, is another essential feature that is often overlooked. They should be able to scale down when they use the wrong hosting product that is too big for their website. They need to make sure they choose a hosting provider that allows them to move freely to the right plan.
