Hosting your own website requires a lot of decisions to be made. The biggest and most important one being, selecting a web hosting solution. This decision can impact your website performance in a larger way. All the efforts of designing can become a big waste if you don’t choose a web host that is right for you.
With so many options available, this job of finding a web host becomes very tough. Below I have listed some very important pointers that can help you take the right decision.
Identify your needs and wants
The requirement for a website is an important aspect. Every web hosting solution will provide you certain features and specification, what you need for your website will depend on the type of site you will be hosting. Some features that are essential to look for are.
- Site-Builders : Its always good to have tools that can simply the process of making a website, site builder tools are one such tool that can give you option to create your own thing. These site builders have drag and drop or pre-template material that can give you a head-start in the process of designing you site.
- Control panel : A control panel will give you an interface to do lots of things. For examples create blogs, using FTP to upload files, handling email services etc. If your hosting has a control panel that can ease your workflow then it give you less headaches while doing regular stuff.
- Option to upload : Upload your files to web host is always required and if you have multiple tools for that than you can do it easily. File managers, uploader and ftp solution can give you enough flexibility while managing your files and sites.
- Security features : If you have good security features, than you can plan a big website like e-commerce websites that requires SSL certificates and HTTPS protocols etc. Your visitors will also feel secured once you have these security measures in place.
- Customer service : When you need support in a problematic situation, a good customer comes into play. There are many levels of support that a web host can provide. From email to phone support and helping you manage your web space. All of these can make a big difference while selecting your hosting company.
- Scripts, Databases : Many of the websites today run on CMS platforms and its good to have multiple options. I like to use WordPress as a CMS and Prestashop for e-commerce, so if you can install these by scripts your time developing gets reduced. Web hosting solutions with scripts can give you a lot more than you can ask.
- Linux or Windows server : Your website needs a server software and it may run on Windows or Linux according to your website need. If your web host provide both options than you can freely opt for the one you have designed your site for.
Types Of Hosting
Shared
Although shared hosting are cheaper, there response time may be on slower side. This happens due to shared resources for number of websites. Hosting companies provide this cheap solution for beginners that don’t have high traffic and don’t need high performance. This service is only recommended if you are just starting your website and don’t know how will you make it big.
Dedicated
When your website has high traffic and you need dedicated resources for a particular website, then dedicated hosting environment is what you require. All the RAM and Disk will be yours you can host unlimited websites in the space you have. You don’t have any restriction as such. But, this comes a higher cost and you need to have good experience of handling dedicated servers. Choosing for a hosting that need extra resources from server due to high traffic should opt for these servers.
Co-location
This is the next step forward for extra secure websites, you will have a co-hosting service that will give you more control and power on your web server. With 24×7 support and prompt maintenance you will get the best services in Co-location hosting. The cost is highest in this case, people opting this should have extra budget for this type.
So considering all these above requirement and hosting services you can find a good hosting solution that can fit all your needs. Leave your comment below and share your experience if you have used any of web host that you like.