The selection of a web host is among the initial steps that should be taken when creating a website. There are many web hosts and hosting packages, and the temptation is to select the least expensive one or the one that has the greatest number of features listed.
But, the best web host may not be necessarily the cheapest or the one with the best specs. Your site requires adequate resource, efficient performance, suitable security, good support and scalability.
Before choosing a hosting service provider, it is always better to know what you will be receiving and if that particular plan would suit your site or not. The following is a checklist of the major considerations when looking to purchase hosting.
Table of Contents
What You Need to Know About Website Hosting before Purchase
1. Know What Kind of Hosting Service You Require
Begin with determining which hosting service suits your website.
Some of the most common types include:
- Shared hosting
- VPS hosting
- WordPress hosting
- Dedicated hosting
- Cloud hosting
A personal website, blog, portfolio or even a new website for a business may not need the computing power that can be provided by a VPS or dedicated server.
However, a heavily trafficked web site or resource-heavy application will ultimately need more control and processing power. Do not overpay for unnecessary resources now, but make sure your website will not be underpowered in the future.
2. Consider the Server’s Location
The location of your server will have an effect on the network latency. If your main users are from Nigeria, you will need to consider the connection between the locations of the servers offered by the hosting company and your target market.
A closer server can reduce the distance data has to travel between your visitors and the hosting environment. Other aspects include network performance, server performance, website caching, optimization, and CDN use.
If you need an elaborate answer, check out our article that explains how server location impacts website speed.
3. Determine Whether Your Storage is SSD or NVMe
Different storage types have the potential to influence the speed of your server. A lot of today’s hosting service providers use either SSD or NVMe storage solutions, which might be quicker compared to HDDs.
The speed of storage operates together with the CPU, RAM, performance of the database, and network access to it. Yet, do not pick a hosting package just based on “NVMe.” Configuration of the entire server is still significant.
4. Check on Inclusions
Do not assume that all hosting plans come with the same inclusions.
Find out if your package includes:
- Free SSL certificate
- Database support
- E-mail accounts
- Website backup
- Control panel
- Malware scanning
- One click app installation
- Free website migration
- Domain registration
- CDN integration
- Staging environment
Not all options may be available with the lower plans, so you should always verify the actual plan to which you subscribe.
5. Control Panel
The control panel is very useful when it comes to managing a website; especially for those who are not server administrators. See if the web hosting service offers any kind of control panel including cPanel among others.
Depending on the service provider, control panel may help you in:
- Managing databases
- Backing up data
- Managing files
- Creating email accounts
- Configuring domains
- Setting up cron jobs
- Creating an SSL certificate
- Managing DNS
- Monitoring resource usage
In case you plan to manage your website on your own, make sure the control panel that is available is offering you all the required services.
6. Verify the Security Features
The hosting environment is critical for the safety of your website. Before you pay, look for the following security features:
- Firewall security
- Free SSL certificates
- Scanning for malware
- Isolation of accounts
- DDoS security
- Security on the server
- Security monitoring
- Software updates
There are variations in security options among providers and various hosting packages, so you shouldn’t think that all the available security options are included in a basic hosting package.
As for WordPress sites, there are also some measures to take into account in addition to the hosting security options.
7. Consider the Renewal Rate
While signing up for a hosting plan, you can find that it is cheap since the service is offering you a promotion rate.
Before buying, consider what you will be charged after the promotion expires.
Here are a few points to consider:
- Renewal Cost
- Frequency of billing
- Initial Cost
- Cost of renewing the SSL certificate if you have one
- Cost of renewing the domain
This provides a better sense of how much it will actually cost you to maintain your site.
8. Examine Hosting Resources
One of the most essential things you should look for while purchasing hosting is the allocation of resources.
Go beyond the storage and bandwidth capacity, as depending on your hosting type, you may have to take into account the following parameters:
- CPU capacity
- RAM or physical memory
- Storage type
- I/O limits
- Entry methods
- PHP workers
- Inode limits
- Database limits
Two web hosting plans may offer equal disk space yet differ greatly in terms of their performance. The performance will be greatly affected by the availability of such resources for sites running WordPress, dynamic applications, databases, or e-commerce sites.
9. Look at the Backup Plan
Backup is very essential since websites may suffer from data loss due to various reasons such as update failures, plugin conflicts, and many others.
Before purchasing hosting, know the following:
- If backups are included
- How often are backups made
- For how long are backups kept
- Where backups are kept
- If you can do backups by yourself
- If backups cost you additional money
The knowledge that a particular provider offers “daily backups” may be valuable to know, but it’s also important to know what exactly is included within the backups and how to restore them.
It’s always advisable to keep an additional backup of the website data whenever possible. Read our article on how to backup a website.
10. Find out How Much Technical Support You Get
Technical support is especially important when there is a problem. Before purchasing hosting, find out how technical support is offered by the hosting provider.
Some of the important questions that you may need to ask include:
- Does support come with your hosting package?
- Do they help out in migrating?
- Are they available around the clock?
- How fast is their response time?
- Can they be contacted through chat and ticketing systems?
- Do they assist in investigating any problems with the server?
Although a good hosting company will have excellent infrastructure, getting timely assistance if anything happens to the website is quite important.
11. Consider the Hosting Provider’s Reputation
Lastly, find out about the company. The following should be researched:
- Reliability
- The company’s reputation among customers
- Quality of support
- Charges for services provided
- Performance of servers
- History of service provision
Do not rely solely on customer testimonials found on the website of the hosting company. Do not use as the sole determining factor testimonials posted by the provider himself on his site.
You should also examine the independent reviews and talks. Your aim should be to gain knowledge about how satisfied people are after buying that service.
12. Verify the Migration Options Offered by the Hosting Service Provider
If your website already resides elsewhere, verify that the service provider in question will help you migrate your website.
The process of migration will help avoid complications regarding:
- Databases
- DNS
- E-mail accounts
- Domain configuration
- SSL
- Website files
In case you are migrating an existing WordPress site, verify if the migration support for WordPress is provided by the provider.
Quick Website Hosting List
Before clicking on “Buy,” please ask these questions:
- Have I done some research into the terms of the host?
- Does it come with backup facility?
- Is there a useful control panel in the package?
- Are there enough CPU, memory, storage, etc.?
- Is there SSL?
- How much does it cost when renewed?
- Are there any available security features?
- Where are the servers located?
- What is the uptime guarantee like?
- Is this hosting appropriate for my website?
- Am I allowed to upgrade at a later time?
- Is website migration allowed?
If you can answer all these questions, you will be able to make a wise decision regarding your website’s hosting package.
Conclusion
The best choice of a website host is based not only on the most affordable service or the one that offers more storage space than others. It will all come down to what your site requires in terms of resources, the whereabouts of your visitors, security, backup, support, cost, speed, and the scalability of your service provider.
Before making your purchase, make use of the website hosting checklist. This could save you from incurring additional costs, resource limitations and performance issues in the future.
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