Picking The Right Web Host For Your Site
How many times have you tried to hire a company to build your website, only to see that they want you to pay exorbitant fees to them in exchange for hosting your site after they build it? Don’t fall for this tactic. There are many web hosting companies out there, fighting for your business. Use the tips below to find the right one for your needs that fits into your budget.
Make sure you, and not your web host, controls your domain name. If you let your host control your domain name, you may be stuck with that host if you don’t want to change domains. Some unscrupulous hosts won’t release the domain info if you leave on bad terms. If you control the domain, you can point it at another host’s nameservers and start fresh.
It is important to determine your needs prior to shopping for a web hosting service. There are numerous packages you can choose from that vary significantly in price. Some of the factors you should consider include the amount of bandwidth you need, how much disk space you require, and the types of databases offered. Knowing your requirements for a web host will make it much easier for you to select a hosting package.
Do not be deterred from using a web hosting service that employs customer service agents in a foreign country. Though it may be difficult to understand various accents at times, realize that many countries spend extraordinary amounts of time and energy in making their citizens technologically superior. This is particularly true of India, which is why many companies employ educated technology services overseas.
If you’re going to use a free web host, make sure that you know all of the restrictions about site content, as different hosts have different rules about what you can post, especially in the areas of music or video, as streaming can take up bandwidth. If you know the rules, you won’t be in for any surprises.
Don’t choose your web hosting provider based solely on price. Although using a cheap or free web host may save you money in the short run, these hosts might not offer the disk space or bandwidth you need. Price should be only one factor in your final decision so that you ensure that you get what you most need.
Consider how much downtime the web host will have when looking for one. These downtimes vary from 10% to .000001%. This means that there could be hours of downtime per week or as few as seconds. Select a host with the lowest amount of downtime that you can find.
If you are getting started with your website, you should look for a web host that allows you to use 30MB of storage space. This is the average size of a new site, but you should expect it to grow as you add more content over time, at least up to 100MB.
Sometimes it will be necessary, for various reasons, to switch your existing service to a new web hosting provider. Before you do this, however, consider the implications and the process for getting your valuable files over to the new host. It is always a good idea to sign up with the new provider and start transferring your files over several weeks before your current contract expires. This will help you avoid glitches, delays and the potential that your current provider could shut down your account before you are finished.
Find out what kind of other websites your service is hosting. If you notice that a lot of spammy or unreliable websites are hosted alongside yours, most search engines will be more likely to rank your site lower because of this. Remember that your business will be associated with the host you choose.
Be wary of review sites that are also affiliates of a web hosting company. While affiliate marketing is a legitimate sales approach, if a site is being paid a commission for sales of a product or service, they are more likely to review it favourably. After all, they will not make any affiliate money if nobody makes a purchase. Instead, look for user reviews or recommendations from friends and family if you want unbiased opinions.
Make sure you find a hosting site that is both reliable and stable. Meaning that they only take on the number of clients and sites that they can properly handle. They will also generally maintain dedicated servers and will do their best not to overload. A good hosting site will also take care in choosing which sites they will host and which ones they won’t.
When in doubt, simply go online and do some price comparisons against the hosting price your web developer wants to charge. Chances are, you will find a better price for hosting elsewhere. Take advantage of the information here to help decide which web hosting company best fits your needs and saves you the most money.
