It’s surprising that many website owners underestimate the importance of choosing the right web hosting providers to host their sites.
In deciding the right one for you, you need to identify what would be the best scenario for you. Hosting a 5-page websites is different to hosting a 500-page websites. You also need to identify your platform – HTML pages can be hosted anywhere easily while pages using markup language and database access (such as ASP or PHP) are better-off hosted in a certain type of web hosting.
The following are some tips you should consider in choosing the best web hosting provider for your needs.
1. Windows or UNIX Web Hosting
First, you have to decide which operating system you will host your site in. Windows web server hosting is less-desired these days because many programming capabilities can be done in UNIX web server hosting, unless you want to take advantage of the all-powerful .asp and .net.
Hint: If you are using CMS for your websites and would like to have a SEO-friendly link structure, I highly suggest you to host your site in UNIX web server. Windows web server is having problem in supporting URL rewriting systems, and change your server is a hassle and not many web hosting providers offer you this free of charge.
2. Free or paid web hosting
The general rule of thumbs is that web hosting providers charge a hosting fee for a reason – They offer top-notch (supposedly) customer service/support and superior web server reliability.
On the other hand, free web hosting providers charge nothing also for a reason. Free web hosting providers charge you nothing in exchange for either link backs/ad supported pages or service upgrades with the web hosting providers they are affiliated with. Take note: Customer services/support could be a problem.
3. Choice of Web Hosting Services
You must decide whether the range of services provided by a web hosting provider is appropriate to what you are expecting. For example, if you want to install scripts on your site, consider a provider that offer Fantastico, allowing you to install CMS and scripts, such as WordPress and PHPBB in one click.
4. Reduced price or free domain registration
As in #2, reduced price or free domain registration is offered for a reason. Be sure you read the fine prints – Some web hosting providers offering cheap or free domain name registration charge a premium rate for domain renewal.
5. Secure server transactions on their server
If you are planning to run an online retail site or any other websites accepting payment or involving personal information exchange online, the availability of a secure server is a must. Consider a web hosting package that includes SSL or hosted shopping cart.
What’s next? You need to compare web hosting providers and decide which one has the best value for money.
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I am a believer that you get what you pay for so it does make sense to pay for quality Web hosting. Customer support will deftly be a huge problem with free Web hosting!
I would also say – connection speed, I prefer ones with direct connection to the backbone of the internet. Also look at the number of databases they provide as they frequently limit you to only 1 db only. Check out the situation with SSL certificates – if they will assist you with installing one if bought from another place.
This is a great article on how to choose a webhost. Whenever deciding, you must decide what features you’ll need and whether that host is right for you. Thanks for sharing.
Too right, I got loads of free domains once… but when it came up for renewal they were £10 each… meaning £100!
Kate, LOL - That happened to me, too... Now I read the small prints carefully and if I can't find what I want to know, I just contact the support team. And yes, £10 is darn expensive for renewals :)
Karl, Agreed - If you have a large website, the slow connection speed is very, very annoying to your site visitors. Regarding the database and SSLs - The bottom line is for us to check the small prints. If we are unsure about a thing or two, we'd better to clarify them by contacting sales support...
to me, good customer support is one of the most important criteria that I look for. Some webhosting company are so nice that they will help you debug code. It will save you a bundle.
Great tips for someone new to identify which server they want to go with. When I first got into hosting my websites I went with Godaddy, I was a bit of a newbie back then, but I’ve since switched to a better web hosting thanks to some advice from a friend of mine =D
Till then,
Jean
is Godaddy a good webhost?
I got my website there.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Jeromee, Godaddy is good, but not too PHP/MYSQL friendly. Of course, getting used to in Godaddy's web hosting environment helps you to set up sites faster... One more thing - Don't host sites on Windows server (Godaddy gives you the choice to host on Windows or Linux) if you expect your site links to use "nice looking" or SEO-friendly links (something like i-like-small-website-host-dot-com.html)... That just won't work.
Ryan, Wow - I don't know many web hosting companies would do that for you - Any recommendations?
Hi! This is David! This was an excellent list of criteria that we all have to consider when trying to decide which website hosting company is best. One issue that keeps coming up for me is this: My web hosts continually tell me they don’t provide support for WordPress. I’d love to find a host that also provides assistance with WP themes and plugins. Anyways, thanks for this post, David
David, Unfortunately, all they did is host your sites, not serving you with any installations. However, many web hosting services offer Fantastico, a fantastic in cutting your hassle in half in installing Wordpress (not the plugins and themes, though...)
I am at the moment confused to choose which hosting provider, I don’t want it to be expensive, cheap and good. I need a domain name and hosting to start a wordpress blog, I value web hosting, thats why want to know which company is good for handling it. Thanks for your tips, I’ve got a few sites but thinking whether to go for them or not. Will check it out.
Secure server transactions on server is most important and specially for ecomm business and shopping site webhosting and server deadly important so you absolutely right about choosing web hosting service provider.
Mark, I'd go for HostGator, but since Namecheap is offering all-in-one account management for web hosting, domain name, SSL, I highly consider NC :)
Agreed - If you gather visitors info, it's an essential move to implement SSL to the site to avoid phishing, etc.
This is an outstanding article posted. Its a big help . whatever features are needed has to be decided before hand.
Finding a free host that offers all of the bells and whistles can be really tough. Most of the free hosts offer everything except one annoying thing but they only charge like $3 for hosting. So find a free host, and their plans are going to be a lot cheaper than most hosts that don’t offer free hosting.
Hello! This Post is really big help to me. Thanks for sharing.
Any feedback from you?