Many new small businesses make the mistake of choosing a cheap web host, in order to minimize costs. If a web host company is cheaper, this may be because they are not able to offer you everything that you ideally need. Continue on to the article below for some great website hosting advice for small business owners.
Should you choose shared or dedicated hosting? If your website has a lot of traffic and is very involved, shared hosting may not be to your advantage and may actually hurt your business. You should probably seek a dedicated host, instead.
Think about and list down priorities before you look into different web hosts. Determine your needs and wants in advance and check how well each potential web host meets those needs. Having a list of priorities means you won’t just pick a host because it offers the cheapest service, but because it genuinely meets your needs.
Considering using one of the many free web page hosting services out there for your site? Remember that free hosts rarely offer backup features. If you go with this option, you should be diligent in backing up your own data. If you choose not to do this, a problem with the site could result in substantial data loss.
Choose a host that will allow your growth. An individual static HTML page should not take much space, but adding videos or pictures can cause your site to grow quickly. Look for a plan that gives you 100MB of space to develop your website in the next year or so.
If you want to save money, try free web hosting. While the cost is obviously less, you will have other people’s ads on your site, and you’ll only have limited storage space. On the other hand, commercial or security-sensitive sites are best left to paid website hosting.
If you do not have much experience in web design, pick one of the web hosts that has excellent customer service instead of a lot of other extras. When you first start out there are a lot of questions that pop up in your head about web hosting, so you’re going to want a host that has great customer service available and ready to answer all of your questions. If you are given access to a knowledgeable and helpful technical support team, you’ll gain far more advantages than you would from a provider that offered you a lot of intricate and complicated features.
You should aim to talk directly to a web host’s customers through message boards or forums if you can. By asking questions you can rule out any company that does not satisfy your needs. These chats will help you feel more confident that you are choosing the right company. If you can speak with a current customer of a company, they will probably be the best person to find out information about a company you are interested in.
Look for a hosting that has won lots of awards. You can tell whether or not their service is up to snuff. Not all awards are reliable, but in most cases, Internet users vote for their favorite website hosting service, meaning hosts with many awards are probably a safe bet. Try to find a hosting company that has a number of such awards.
Understand that certain hosting services are based on Linux, while others are based on Windows. This means you need to get accustomed to and access different features. Linux is usually much cheaper to use than Windows, and could result in lower monthly rates for your site.
As you might be able to tell, it is not always a good idea to focus on costs when you are choosing a web host. If customers cannot get to your website, you will quickly lose your customers and then your business. Take the advice you have learned here and apply it to your search for a web host. Knowing what to look for and what to avoid is half of the battle.
