Web hosting can be complicated. You may not know which hosting package is ready for you, but more than that, picking the right company to host your site can be crucial to your site’s success. Here are some tips about web hosting to help you pinpoint what you need to look for.
If you want a good website, look for a web hosting service that comes with different features such as a forum, a chat room, a shopping cart or a subscription form for instance. Often, coding this kind of pages or tools is too complicated for someone with limited experience.
Be sure to understand how much storage space that you will be getting through your web host. It is important to have enough space to build your current website, however, it is just as important to know that you have enough space to grow your website with you as your business grows.
To get started with your very first website, consider a free web hosting company. After all, your initial site is the one that will teach you lessons – not make you a ton of profits. You may end up with a lot of downtime, and you’ll have ads that aren’t yours, but you’ll get an intro to running your own site.
Before you agree to do business with any web host, you need to do some research on the web host. Be sure to find out exactly how much you are going to have to pay to do business with them and what exactly you are getting for your money.
When transferring your site between hosts, have a copy of your website at both your old and new hosts for a few days. It’s important to do this because it takes 6-48 hours for the DNS to propagate. During this time, some visitors will be sent to your old website, while others whose ISPs have updated their DNS info will be sent to your new site.
Look for a web host that offers great customer support. Any reputable host will have only support that is available when you need them. When something goes wrong with your site, you more than likely will not have the time to wait for a response to arrive hours later.
When selecting a web host, consider how much the host costs. Some hosts charge on a per-year basis while some may be month-to-month. Look for a host that costs an average of about $5 per month as this will most likely give you a great value for your money as opposed to a free hosting site that may not offer as many options.
If you are thinking about using a free web hosting provider, it is generally a good idea if you can find a hosting provider that will allow you to use your own custom domain name. Most free providers don’t allow this so finding one that does will make it much more valuable.
Be aware that many web hosting providers are actually reservers. They do not actually own their own their web servers, so beware. You may experience delayed times for fixing problems or customer service requests. You can often get the exact same service directly from the company that they are leasing space from, so ask who that company is.
For a modest site, pick an affordable web hosting services but do not necessarily go with the cheapest. There are even hosting services offered for free, but there is always a tradeoff. The site may be slow, the service inadequate or offers no backup services. Rather than settle for a free service, you can usually find a decent web hosting company for under 10 dollars a month.
Web hosting is a very volatile and risky business. Therefore, the web hosting companies can experience many ups and downs, and many companies do not make it. Therefore, it is important not only to do your research, but make sure you understand the conditions behind the environment. Choose your web hosting company wisely.
Avoid long-term contracts unless you are already familiar with the host. Many web hosts will offer a discounted rate if you sign a long-term contract, but this can be a risky way to save money. If you end up unhappy with your service or amount of down-time, you will face hefty termination fees or be forced to remain with the service. Always start out with a short-term contract. If you are happy with your hosting, you can always change to a long-term contract when it is time to renew.
If you will be using more than one domain name or run more than one website, it’s important to select a web host that allows add-on domains. You can find hosts that allow you to have up to 20 different websites on one account for free which should allow you plenty of options.
It is important when trying to decide what web hosting service to use, to join various forums on the internet to gain better insight as to which providers are good and which providers you should avoid. This is a great place where like-minded people can get together and share their experiences.
Know the speed and reliability of the internet connection that the web host uses. The web host you choose should have at least a T3 line as their connection to the internet. Some of the premium hosts also provide redundant connections, ensuring that even if one of their internet connections experiences an outage, service is not interrupted but be prepared to pay more for this type of speed and reliability.
If you are considering using a particular web hosting site, read reviews about it. Specifically, check for reviews written by users of the site’s hosting services. Just as you wouldn’t make a major electronics purchase without first checking out product reviews, nor should you bypass looking at reviews for web hosting sites you’re considering using. Doing this now can save you frustration further down the road.
Now that you know more about web hosting, hopefully you feel like you can confidently choose a web host. Web hosting can be enormously important to your site, so think about it carefully and utilize the tips laid out here before you make a final decision on which host to go with.
