webhosting tips guidesFinding a hosting provider you can trust with your site can be a long and tedious undertaking. With so many web hosting companies on the internet today, it can difficult to decide the perfect choice for your business. Either way, we are here to help by sharing a few quick tips to get you started on the right foot when finding the best host.

Don’t have enough time to read these tips and would rather jump straight to choosing a host? Hosting Foundry reviewed a few of top providers recently – you might want to check this page on their site to see if you can find a good fit.

Still here? Let’s now head over to the tips!

1. Examine Your Specific Hosting Needs

The understanding of “best hosting company” is subjective and totally dependent on everyone’s unique needs. To be sure you’re making the right choice, start by evaluating your specific hosting needs by asking yourself the following simple questions:

What’s the Estimated Traffic Expected to My Site?

Depending on the services or products that you’re offering on your website, it’s easy to approximate how much traffic you’re likely to attract and consequently the amount of resources you need.

Which Type of Site Am I Creating?

Are you planning to code the site from scratch or will you use one of the popular content management systems? Knowing the type of site allows you to pick a hosting provider that supports it by default.

How Many Sites Am I Intending to Host?

Not all providers support more than one website per a single hosting account. So if you have multiple sites to take care of, you’ll need to find a suitable provider with plans supporting at least a number of websites.

Which Programming Languages Am I Using?

For common coding languages like CSS and HTML, no special requirements are needed in the deployment environment. However, if you’re using PHP, a hosting provider that supports the language is vital.

2. Scalability

If you’re like most new webmasters, the shared web hosting plans is where you begin with your new site. While this type of hosting is suitable for small websites, established ones with high traffic or those experiencing rapid growth might find it difficult delivering their resources properly. The limited bandwidth slows down web performance not to mention increasing the risk of your account getting banned periodically for exceeding the limits of server resources allocated to you by your host.

The best hosts offer room for growth by providing upgrading options that you can grab readily as is convenient. Migrating to another provider because your current doesn’t have the resources your website currently needs is not a move so welcome. As such, look for a company with other hosting solutions including VPS and dedicated hosting for when you’ll need to upgrade later on.

3. Security

If you scour the internet for existing security threats facing websites, the results will astound you. Data theft, website exploitation, and malware distribution are increasingly becoming commonplace with the expansion of the internet. In light of this, be sure to only work with web hosts that use up-to-date security features including the following:

An Inbuilt Firewall on the Hosting Server

This firewall sits between your website and the rest of the network on the internet, acting as a filter for the inbound and outbound connections. Hosts with dedicated malware detectors on the firewall are perfect for combating common security threats.

SSL Certificates

If your website takes in sensitive data, SSL certs are a must-have. Quite a good number of hosts now offer the feature for free while others have it as part of the premium services. Whichever the case, SSL ensures data sent on your site has end-to-end encryption from the server to the browser and vice versa.

Backup Services

These help to guard against data loss in the event of a server malfunction or unforeseen disruption of services. You can quickly restore your site data following a crisis hence lowering site downtime.

4. Pricing

Can you afford to make annual payments for your hosting or would you prefer paying monthly? Are you looking for a provider that offers an introductory discounted deal or would you rather work with a host that charges a predictable fee right from the word go?

When choosing a suitable host, pricing should be a key determining factor. Do your months and look beyond the enticing discounts – you’ll be surprised to know how expensive some hosts can be in the long run.

So, there you have it – the top four key considerations you should be making any time you’re purchasing a hosting plan for your online business. Did we forget anything? We’d love to hear your feedback!