Selecting a good web hosting service provider is perhaps more difficult than actually developing the website. This is due to the fact that a web hosting service provider provides a pivotal service to any website: it launches the website on the internet for the world to see. Hence it is imperative that a web hosting provider is reliable, because nobody likes a website which is down, even once.
How to make the Ultimate Choice
It may seem like a walk in the park to select the best webhosting service provider; however the choice is anything but easy. Here is a list of all the factors which you must consider when dealing with web hosting providers:
- The Price:
- Technical Specifications:
- Hardware:
- Customer Reviews:
- User Interface:
- Option to upgrade:
Cheap is not always the best; however you may get your hands on a pretty good deal in the market which is both cheap and of a high quality. This principle, unfortunately, does not apply to web hosting service providers, as they are bound to compromise on quality services to compensate for the cheap cost. Remember, if you want a lot of traffic on your website, then look for the high-end options, price wise, because they are much more reliable with excellent customer support (and busy websites need extensive customer support). If you are not planning on monetizing your website, then an option at the cheaper end will be a much wiser one;
Again, the purpose you are launching your website for will be the deciding factor in this particular scenario. If you are planning to put rich content on your website such as videos and music, then you need space as well as a lot of bandwidth. Space and bandwidth come with a higher price tag, and not all web hosting service providers offer great bandwidth options. Make sure the web hosting service provider you are going for offers up bandwidth as well as space options which are well suited to the purpose of your website;
This will require some research on your part, as you will have to inquire about the hardware your web hosting service provider is using. You should look for a webhosting company which has state of the art technology that does not break down often. With hardware defects comes downtime, and downtime is never good for a website’s image.
Most of the time, whenever you are about to purchase a particular good, you always try to know what other people think about it. All the companies of the world market their products as being the best of the best; however the customers know the real deal. To get to customer reviews regarding the web hosting service provider you are interested in, try running a search around the internet. You are bound to come to many positive and negative reviews of the webhosting service provider which will give you an authentic picture of how your experience will be with that particular service provider.
You will be working on the control panel of the hosting service provider for hours every day, either to upload a chunk of your website, or to remove some etc. To do all this, you need a user friendly user interface, one which is well responsive to your commands. Do check out the interface to see if it matches your requirements and preferences.
As your website grows, so will your requirements. Make sure you sign up with a website hosting service provider which has a vast range of upgrade plans, even up to unlimited bandwidth and space, because you never know how far up your website will go as far as traffic is concerned. The more traffic your website will have, the more bandwidth it will need to function properly. So keep this in mind.
Closing Note
Even though web hosting service providers will tell you they have all you need, always research for options as thoroughly as you can. Also, focus upon technical functionality, and make an educated decision at the end. The information provided above should be enough for you to make an informed decision, but if you think you need some technical assistance, hiring a hardware professional is not such a bad idea.
Author Bio:
Derek Lee rose to fame on internet forums with his review of iPage, which garnered tremendous response, and has been providing advise on website hosting ever since. He has a Masters degree in Computer Science and works as a web developer at a major company.