Choosing a web hosting company is a great task and requires a lot of efforts. With every other company promising great support, unlimited hosting, and many great features, choosing the right solutions at times becomes really daunting.
So, what all factors do you really need to consider while choosing a web hosting solution? What are the features of an ideal host? Let’s take a close look at some of the most crucial factors you must keep in mind while choosing your host:
1. Price
You should always consider the price of your web hosting solution much in advance before settling for a package. Try to evaluate the package price & features to make sure you are actually paying for what you are getting. It is not necessary to settle for a cheap solution, in a bid to save money. You can find a range of web hosting companies offering affordable solutions and then can make a comparison for the best fit offer.
2. Area of Focus / Specialties
Not all web hosts can cater to the varied needs of users. While some have great plans of shared hosting, they might not be able to cater to the needs of growing businesses, or they might be having affordable solutions for a big enterprise (Véla) but a small blogger owner might not be happy with the price. So, before settling down for anything, evaluate the area of expertise of your hosting service provider. Go through their reviews & testimonials to have a better idea about their customer. You should feel free to ask them questions and have each of your queries answered so that you don’t feel trapped at the last.
3. Know your needs
Before going on a quest for a perfect web hosting solution provider, you must make sure that you know what exactly do you need for your company? Whether you want to host your eCommerce store, want to sell products on simply wants to host a blog? You should have an idea about your requirements and should only move ahead and choose a host, who caters to your requirements efficiently.
4. Tech Support
Having good customer support is simply indispensable thing you simply just can’t ignore. There is no point in having an expensive host, when they simple can’t help you out through a difficult situation. Can they really track down the problem? What all kinds of support are they really offering- email, chat, or phone? Are they available 24/7? Most of the web hosting services includes all time support, but you should take a close look at their terms & policies to make sure they actually mean what they say.
5. Features / Add-Ons
Apart from all the most common features, you should also consider what sets your web hosting provider apart from others? What is that they offer differently? Are their known for their ultimate customer support, data backup feature, affordable hosting solutions or ultimate service quality.
6. Hardware
Hardware plays a very important role in the performance of servers. How can you expect a great service quality from devices that are outdated? So make sure that you are actually paying up for something great and do not have to face poor server performance & other problems.
7. Customer Reviews / Satisfaction / Reputation
A look at some of the customer reviews of your host can actually help you in having an idea about their service quality. How do they actually treat their customers? Are they the best choice among their peers? Is there really anything good about them or what sets them apart from other hosting service providers? A close look at the customer reviews or testimonials will help you to clear all your doubts. You can check their website or can go through forums or consumer complaint websites to have a deep background check of your host.
8. Email Features
There are many basic email features that every host generally offers but here you need to make sure that you are actually getting what you want for your business. How much business ids do you want to create? Do you need a SMTP server? Is the unlimited auto responder feature useful to you? Try to take every aspect under consideration.
9. Control Panel / User Interface
Even if you are the last tech savy person in the world, still there are some things you should be able to handle on your own rather than just ringing the customer support number. Things like installing wordpress, email setting, FTP accounts management are some of the most common things which you should try to learn on your own. So, does your provider use cpanel or plesk to make updates? Is the user interface easy to figure out or you will regret having such a control panel later? You are most likely to be working with these things the most, so try to figure everything much in advance.
10. Scalability / Room to Grow
This is one of the most crucial factors you need to consider while buying hosting package. You must make sure that the package & company you are considering actually keep your future needs in mind. There is no denying that you business will grow in the future and with growth comes different responsibilities & requirements. What if in future you desired to have your own server or wish to switch to dedicated hosting solution? So, you must make sure that your host is open to these requirements.
So, if you are really looking out for an affordable hosting solution, then try to keep all these points in mind ahead of your search and you will surely bag in a great deal for your website.