When planning to host your own website, you have many decisions to make. One of the most important decisions will be choosing a web hosting solution for your website. This is a very important decision as it can affect the performance of your website. All the hard work you put into website design can go to waste if you don’t choose the right web hosting solution to host your website.
With so many web hosts available in the market, it is not an easy task to choose the web hosting that is best for you. Below are some pointers to help you make the right decision. Check them out and use them to find a web hosting solution that works best for your website.
Identify your requirements
It is important to know what is required of your website. Only when you have an idea of what you need can you search for it in the web hosting solutions. The website requirements depend on the type of website and the features that the website will have. Below is a list of features to look out for when choosing a web hosting solution.
- Site builder option
If you have hired the services of a web design company to create your website, you can get the list of requirements from them. If you are planning to build the website after opting for web hosting, it is a good idea to opt for hosting solutions that include site builder system. Site builder tools simplify the process of creating a website and help you host the website in a few simple steps.
- Switchboard
Check if the web host gives you access to a control panel to help you manage the web space you have purchased. If the web hosting solution has a control panel, you can create blogs and websites much easier than having to upload files via FTP.
- upload options
Identify the different upload options available at the web host. If the hosting solution gives you a variety of upload options, this is a good option as it gives you flexibility in managing and uploading your website.
- security features
Identify the various security features that the web hosting package has to offer. When planning an e-commerce website, a lot of importance must be given to the security features.
- Customer service
It is always ideal to choose a web hosting company that has good customer support. The support offered by the web host is not limited to just email or phone support. FAQs and to help members manage their web space must be in place.
- Scripts and Databases
Websites require different types of web components, scripts and databases to function. Choose a web hosting company that offers you all the scripts, web components, and database support your website needs.
- Windows or Linux server
Websites are designed to be hosted on either a Windows server or a Linux server. Always decide on the type of server required by the website to ensure that all the functions and features of the website are running as intended.
Types of web hosting options available
Shared Hosting Services
Shared Hosting Services or Virtual Web Hosting Services is a type of hosting service where many people share storage space on a server. The number of websites hosted on a physical server depends on the configuration of the server. Some physical servers feed more than a thousand websites. However, this raises the question of performance. Such shared hosting services are highly equipped to handle reasonable loads, but when they are overloaded, server performance is an issue. Reputable web hosting companies constantly monitor server usage and performance and act accordingly, adding more servers as needed. Shared hosting services are cheaper but server response time is slower.
Dedicated hosting services
Dedicated hosting companies are the opposite of shared hosting companies. You allocate a dedicated web server to just one customer. This ensures better performance compared to the shared hosting service. A customer leases the web server for a period of time and has a variety of web server options. With a dedicated web server, the customer has the option to host more than one website. The customer has greater control over the web server. The provided bandwidth and storage space is much higher in dedicated hosting plans. This gives you the ability to host a high traffic website. Websites that contain extremely sensitive data generally opt for a dedicated hosting service.
Co-location hosting service
In contrast to the dedicated hosting service, with the co-hosting service the customer owns the web server. This gives the customer even more control over the web server. The web server is housed in one of the secure data centers of web hosting companies. This hosting service ensures that the customer has full control over their web server. The web hosting company will monitor the server 24/7 to ensure 99.9% uptime. The secure data center provides the customer with timely maintenance. This ensures maximum uptime for websites hosted on the server. Co-location hosting services are the most expensive of the available hosting solutions but are considered to be the best option for highly secure websites.
Reseller Hosting Services
Reseller hosting services are considered to be the cheapest hosting services and are becoming a hot favorite for small and personal websites. The web hosting company offers its web storage space to a reseller at a lower price, who in turn resells the storage space to their customers. Website designers, website consultants and system integration companies are usually the resellers. The price of such hosting services is quite low and with that comes the problem of the service. Since there are many more people involved in hosting, it takes time to resolve issues and hence reseller hosting services are best suited for personal websites or blogs. Reseller hosting services are not an option for corporate websites that need a fast backend service. It is the cheapest of all hosting services and a good option for someone trying to find a personal space online.
By considering your needs and the best hosting service you can afford, you will be able to find a web hosting solution that works well for your website.
