Before you start looking for a web host for your business website, there are many factors to consider. So what do you need to know before you start looking for a host?
Here are a few of the most important considerations that you should keep in mind before you start your search.
How Much Uptime Do You Need?
One of the biggest concerns for your business will be ensuring that your website is online as much as possible. Ideally, you want the amount of uptime, which is the time your site is available online, to be as close to 100 percent as possible.
This is especially true if you have an e-commerce site. You want your customers to be able to buy your products 24/7, as if your website is down, this means you will lose business.
In this case, you might want to search for a web host that guarantees a very high amount of uptime. However, if you don’t actually sell items from your business, a lower amount of uptime may not be a big problem. You may, therefore, want to search for a host that offers a cheaper price rather than a higher uptime.
Do You Want Excellent Customer Support?
You can do a lot of the jobs involved in managing your website on your own. If you have cPanel, which is the most popular control panel, you can often carry out tasks yourself.
However, problems will almost inevitably arise, and you will want your host to have good customer service so you can get problems resolved fast.
If you want the best customer service, you will want to choose a host that provides 24/7 telephone support. Email support is not as good because you might have to wait hours before getting a response. But with telephone support, you can get your problems resolved in the moment.
What Type of Hosting Is Right for Your Business?
You will also want to consider which type of web hosting is the best option for your business before you start your search for a suitable host. There are four main types of hosting that you might want to consider. These are shared hosting, dedicated hosting, cloud hosting, and VPS hosting.
The cheapest is usually shared hosting. This is where you share the server with other customers, and it is slower and less secure.
Dedicated hosting means you get your own server. This is more expensive but faster, more secure, and ideal for larger businesses.
Cloud hosting is where multiple servers are used, so if one server goes down, you will remain online.
VPS hosting is where customers share a server, but they are each allocated resources. It’s affordable, scalable, and fast.
Do You Want Hosting as Part of Another Service?
You might want to arrange your web hosting as part of a larger suite of products rather than using a company that only offers hosting. For example, if you visit TierPoint.com/managed-services/ you will see that it offers various IT services for businesses including applications, email, security, and more.
How Much Can You Afford to Spend?
The price is often a big concern for businesses considering web hosting. It’s good to have an idea of your budget, but it’s also important to be realistic.
Don’t start your search for a host by looking for the cheapest solution, and always look at what the hosting includes and whether it is suitable for your business first.
The cheapest host can cause more problems than it is worth for your business including a slow website, not enough uptime, bad support, etc. So, by all means, set a budget, but don’t just look for the cheapest solution.
Find Some Trusted Reviews
Finally, before you start speaking to web hosts, you will want to carry out some research on them. Web hosts may make all kinds of claims on their websites, but it’s always a good idea to find reviews written by customers who will provide more details about potential problems you can expect to encounter.
If a host has lots of great reviews, this is a good sign that you can trust them. So you might want to make them your first choice when you start contacting hosts.
Know What You Want from Your Host
There are lots of web hosts out there, but know what you are looking for before you start your search. These are a few of the most important factors to keep in mind, so consider all of these before you start your search.
Once you have a better idea of exactly what you want, this will make it easier to find a web host that will provide you with the high quality of service you expect and need for your business website.