Choosing the Right Web Host for your website

You created your idea on what framework will your business website be built on… now what? Now it is time for you to choose the right hosting for your website. 

iDev has put together these tips to help you chose the right hosting company and of course, the right hosting package! 

Choosing the Right Web Host 

Security

You would be scared to know, and trust me you should be, that according to Forbes insights more than 30’000 websites are hacked everyday. Among these are also some of the most known websites, even governmental ones. What does this have to do with choosing the right hosting? Well, let me tell you that no matter how much security you put on your website, if someone else that you are sharing hosting with has no security at all, and the server security is also low, then you are automatically at great risk. This being said, you need to check and read about the security features of your server before purchasing a shared hosting package. 

Although we at iDev consider security the most important reason, there are also others when choosing the right web host.

Backups

Security Breach? Corrupted data?… What?! Well don’t worry, or at least don’t worry for as long as you have a backup of all your website files. You can do backups manually, but when choosing the right web host, there are plenty of them that include backups in your hosting plan for free. 

Uptime

It is 2020 and internet is considered to be a must nowadays, yet there are still some companies that have more than 10% downtime. This means that 10% of the time the server doesn’t have internet, or is shut down. Nowadays all of the web hosting companies advertise to have 99.99% uptime, but rarely that is true, so before choosing the right web hosting make sure to read the reviews about the server’s uptime. 

Support

I am a tech savvy  and I like to deal with my server myself. Hmm…. yes but no. You cannot deal with the server yourself, when you are on a shared hosting package, so what you need to hope for is having a great customer support from the web host company so that they can assist you on what you need. Again, you need to read the support reviews before choosing the right web host. 

Choosing the right Hosting Package

OK I got the right web host, now what? Now you need to choose the right package. 

1.Choose the Hosting Package you need

From Shared Hosting to Dedicated Servers there are plenty of choices for your website. Depending on what your business is about you will need to look at each package features to see if it for you. You will need to check the server resources and how much of those you will be using, the server Operating System and bandwidth. Do not rely on the price as the primary option when choosing the package.

2.Read the Terms of Services 

Sadly, we almost never read the ToS especially when we purchase online goods or services. Unfortunately I have suffered the consequences by doing so, when my previous web hosting deleted my website without any notice, just because they had it written on their terms of shrive. 

3. Add-on Domains

Yes, you can have more than one domain hosted on a single account. Being that an alias for your website setup with redirection, or being a completely different website, you should always look for a package that allows more than one domain to be hosted.

4. Price

When talking about price we are not only referring to the sign up price, in fact we are referring more to the renewal price. Many of the hosting companies double their price after the first year on the renewal price.

5. Free Trial & Refund Policy 

Not sure whether the package you selected is right for you? Well then you should request a free trial (always if the hosting company offers that as an option) or request refund (again if they offer it). This way you can be sure before paying for one or more years of hosting for your website. 

We hope to have been helpful for you choosing a hosting for your website, although our clients won’t have to go through that phase as we will always provide the best hosting option according to their needs.