Choosing the right Web Host matters
Whether you’re creating a personal or commercial website, you should pick your web hosting service carefully. The reason for this is because you will undoubtedly want as many individuals as possible to notice your website. To do this, it is critical to devote some time to reviewing certain fundamental yet critical criteria that will increase the exposure of your website.
Points to consider when choosing web hosting
There are numerous web hosting providers and packages available today. Each of them has their own set of pros and disadvantages. So how does one chose which one to pick?
Even once you’ve narrowed your search to a specific provider, you still need to select the hosting package that’s right for you. Every web hosting company provides a wide range of options from which to pick. The ‘Unlimited Bandwidth’ bundle is the most popular.
The following suggestions should help you choose web hosting more easily.
1. Server Uptime & Customer Support:
The most basic requirement for a website to be found on the internet is that the server where the files are stored be online, i.e. up and functioning at all times. This is referred to as server uptime. The majority of web hosting companies will claim a 99.99 percent server uptime. Some even claimed to be 100 percent certain.
If you have the time, look for remarks from the provider’s customers on internet forums or elsewhere online. Alternatively, go with larger, more established hosting businesses that have a solid reputation. The majority of reputable hosting firms have several server data and power backups. A few also guaranteed 100 percent, and they do so by guaranteeing money refunds in the event of any downtime.
Customer support is another critical aspect of a decent web hosting service. Customers should have access to phone and internet help 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you need assistance, they should have a good collection of tutorials and FAQs readily available on their website. Make no mistake: if you are serious about your website, you will need to contact your hosting support more frequently than you think.
2. Pricing & included features
The pricing and services included in web hosting packages vary quite a bit. You’ll want a good blend of features and quality that will meet your requirements. As with any other product, inexpensive usually translates into lower quality. On the other hand, some prices can be expensive without providing any additional value.
The cost of hosting packages is usually determined by the number of features provided. These include data storage and bandwidth constraints, the number of permissible addon domains and subdomains, the number of hosted email and FTP accounts, shared or virtual or dedicated server plans, programming languages and databases, site tools, shopping carts, and so on. With so many options, it’s easy to become overwhelmed, especially if you’re unfamiliar with them. Don’t worry, we’ll go through the important ones in the next paragraphs.
Pricing for a good value shared hosting bundle starts about 6-8 US dollars per month. Virtual Private/Dedicated Servers cost between $30 and $50 per month, whereas Dedicated Servers cost between $60 and $80 per month.
Pricing tip: If you don’t already have a domain name or wish to add another, some hosting services give a free domain name. They can be a good buy.
3. Data Storage and Bandwidth limits
If you are new to website creation, you may have no idea how much data storage space and bandwidth your site would require. First and foremost, don’t be too concerned. Even the most seasoned professionals will tell you that. Because your requirements will change as the number of visitors to your website grows, you will learn everything as you go.
Data Storage Space: Unless you want to host a large number of video/movie clips or a massive number of high-resolution images, most hosting packages will suffice. Normal webpages rarely exceed 40-50 MB in size (megabytes of storage space). The top registrar’s basic shared hosting option, which costs $4.99 per month, contains 10 GB (1000 MB) of storage capacity.
Bandwidth Limits: The quantity of data transfers permitted by your hosting provider every month is referred to as the bandwidth limit. This is determined by the number of visitors to your site and the sort of assets you provide, such as simple web pages, images, or video clips. There isn’t anything to be concerned about here, either, for standard websites. Even on low-cost shared hosting packages, most hosting providers will include “Unlimited Bandwidth.”
A word of warning, however, for anyone planning to host video/movie clips or high-resolution images. Don’t be duped by Unlimited Bandwidth Shared Hosting plans. If you read the “Terms of Use” and “Common Usage Policy” for most shared hosting packages, you will certainly find a part stating that “abnormally high data bandwidth usage” is not authorized or would result in additional charges. You’re probably better off going with a VPS or dedicated server, Cloud hosting, or high bandwidth options.
4. Shared Hosting vs Virtual Private Server vs Dedicated Server vs Cloud Hosting
How do you decide which type of hosting to use? Simply said, you should choose based on how busy or popular you anticipate your site will be, i.e. Shared – VPS – Dedicated – Cloud, in that sequence.
Shared Hosting: The vast majority of websites on the internet are hosted on shared servers. It is suitable for personal and small-scale websites. They are the most cost-effective hosting options. A number of hosting accounts, often 10-100, are housed on a single physical server in shared hosting. They both have access to the same server storage and broadband connection.
Shared hosting is especially suggested for newcomers and small to medium-sized personal and commercial websites that do not host image/movie/video downloads. They might range in price from $5 to $15 per month.
Virtual Private Servers: This hosting package is commonly used by medium-sized websites with moderate storage and bandwidth needs. Virtual Private Servers have unique IP addresses (for example, 192.17.1.61) and work similarly to dedicated physical stand-alone servers, but at a reduced cost. Multiple accounts, say 3-10, are kept on a single physical server, each with its own unique host id or ip address, data storage, and bandwidth separated by software.
VPS hosting can range from $30 to $150 per month for a one-year contract, depending on the services. Please keep in mind that the price of all hosting packages decreases as the number of years of contract increases.
Dedicated Server: They are typically utilized by medium to large websites that require scalable storage and bandwidth. They are each hosted on a different physical server. In other words, they have a server that is rented to them. They have complete command of the server, which has its own unique address, hard disk, RAM, and bandwidth.
The cost of renting a dedicated server is determined by the server’s physical components, hard drive capacity, CPU version, quantity of RAM, and broadband connection. Prices per month might range from $65 to $200 or more.
Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting is a relatively new concept in the world of web hosting. It is the next generation of hosting. Instead of a single physical server, cloud hosting makes use of multiple servers situated in different places that are linked together.
The key benefits of cloud hosting are scalability and cost effectiveness. There are significant advantages for large websites. When a website’s capacity exceeds its current capacity, all that is required is the addition of another server to the networked group of servers.
Depending on the storage and bandwidth requirements, cloud hosting packages can range in price from $100 to $550 and beyond.
5. Addon Domains & Sub Domains
Addon Domains are the domain names i.e. websites eg. “http://www.yoursite1.com”, “http://www.yoursite2.com” that you want to host with your hosting provider. If you want to host more than one website, you must select a package that allows it. The majority of the cheapest web hosting services only allow for one website.
Sub Domains: They are the various directories that you may wish to set up, such as “http://directory1.yoursite.com” or “http://directory2.yoursite.com.” The amount of Sub Domains allowed varies depending on the bundle. This is not to be confused with folders, such as “http://www.yoursite.com/folder1” or “http://www.yoursite.com/folder2.” There is no limit to the number of folders.
6. Email and FTP accounts
Email Accounts: These are distinct email addresses for your website/s, such as “[email protected].” You can make these and give them to anyone, including friends, guests, and clients. There’s no need to be concerned because the majority of hosting services will provide you with plenty of space.
FTP Accounts: FTP is an abbreviation for “File Transfer Protocol.” FTP accounts are used to access your hosting files from web-based applications. They are extremely useful to webmasters since they allow you to update, delete, or create new files and directories in your host directly from web design and ftp software. There’s no need to be concerned here, either, because most packages include more than ten accounts. You can assign this to your designers and coworkers as you see fit.
7. Programming Languages & Databases
Frontpage Server Extension, PHP5, Custom PHP.ini, Perl w/FASTCGI, Python CGI, Java, Ruby CGI, Ruby on Rails w/FASTCGI, ColdFusion, MySQL(Unix), MsAccess, MySQL(Win) etc.
These are the programming softwares and databases that your hosting server makes use of. They are used for more advanced web capabilities such as automated content management, user administration, scripting and program execution, and so on. You don’t have to understand them if you don’t understand them. Because the majority of the packages include the popular languages and databases that you may require when using them.
8. Content Management, Blogs, Forums: Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, Nucleas, Moodle, WordPress, Geeklog, Lifetype, Serendipity, phpBB, SMF, Vanilla Forum etc.
These are ready-made tools for creating blogs, forums, and content management systems to improve websites. Most packages offer a sufficient number of options in this area as well.
9. Website Tools, Marketing Tools, Shopping Cart Website Tools: Website Builder, Web Analytics Tools, FrontPage Extensions, Google Custom Search, Google Webmaster Tools etc.
These are basic tools that helps in building websites, gauging website popularity and statistics and site enhancements included in most hosting packages.
Marketing Tools: Google AdWords Credit – $50, Yahoo! Search Marketing Credit – $25, Facebook Ads Credit – $50 etc.
These are ad credits for advertising your website. They are great bargains if it is included.
Shopping Cart – For those wishing to sell products online this tool is quite important. Most packages include them.
10. Web hosting tips for good SEO
The location of the server is one factor that influences Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and should be considered when selecting a web host. When conducting a search, search engines favor locally hosted websites. Large search engines, such as Google, are known to favor locally hosted sites. This means that if you want to rank higher in the UK, for example, you should have a web hosting server in the UK. Regional TLDs or domain names are another item that is recognized to improve SEO in local search rankings. For the United Kingdom, domains.co.uk or.org.uk are preferred.
Another thing to keep in mind is that shared hosting might have a negative impact on your website’s SEO rankings. According to experts, if you have a site that shares the same server and IP address as a Google penalized site, your site will suffer as well. The apparent solution is to host your site or sites on a distinct IP address, which would imply a dedicated server or a Virtual Private Server.