How to Buy Web Hosting – What You Need to Know

Web hosting is a part of a bigger discussion about the infrastructure of websites and is essentially about your website being hosted on a server rather than inside your business or home computer. Hosting providers provide the space on their servers for you to upload your website’s content. In some instances, such as WordPress and Blogger the uploading process is directly from your computer, but most hosting companies require that you sign up to their website. The content then becomes accessible through the internet.

Web Hosting Providers

Two segments can be used to describe web hosting. There are companies who do the basic hosting service where your website is hosted stored on their servers, however you are responsible for managing it while there are other companies who do all the work for you, including regular backups to ensure that if something happens to your site or it’s compromised, your site isn’t gone for ever (like Bluehost). A new kind of host known as managed hosts is also on the market. It falls somewhere between the two. Although managed hosts generally offer better support and 24 hour availability, expect to pay more for that level of service.

Picking the Best Web Host

There are four aspects to consider when you shop for a hosting provider including price, uptime assurance (or the promise of at least 99percent uptime), customer service and features. The site will be unable to earn money if it is not up and functioning. If it’s down for even an hour your business could be severely affected, so make sure you examine the company’s past history on their uptime before making any purchase. Customer service is extremely important as if there is something wrong on your website the issue must be rectified immediately to avoid losing customers and revenues.

The services are paid monthly or annually. The majority of web hosting providers require at least three years of services. If you choose to terminate your service after this time the service will cost all the cost of the three-year contract even though you’ve only had access for a couple of months. Make sure you understand the terms of the agreement prior to making any purchases, so you don’t get stuck with huge charges at the wrong moment.

What is the Uptime?

Uptime refers to how reliable the service has been over an extended period of time generally from 30 days to 10 years. Based on their uptime percentage, you can be sure that your website will be up and running at minimum 99% of the times. Uptimes are usually offered by hosting providers, meaning if they can’t do this, they’ll reimburse you for your lost revenue due to delays.

These are the top questions that web hosts will pose to you prior to making any decision

How much do you budget? What is the number of years and customers the business have? What kinds of files are I planning to add to my account? What is the location of your visitors geographically? What are your next goals for your site?

Beginning with Price

A hosting company should offer the user a variety of packages at various prices. The cheapest plan will permit you to upload files. But, the packages that are more expensive include more options and features. It’s better to opt for the most basic plan first as if you need any of the other features later it’s significantly easier to access them through the existing account. You may not have the option of upgrading these services if you choose one of their more costly options.

While looking over these options , ensure that they include all you require in terms of bandwidth (the amount of traffic you can use per month), storage space (how much space you have for files), etc. You can obtain domain hosting free of charge during your first year. This is an excellent option, since you will require a place to host your website.

Utilize the most up-to-date technology. Businesses that use outdated technology aren’t concerned about their customers or their websites’ success, only what they can charge the least amount of money every month. Old servers are usually less reliable, have more problems with downtime, and are generally slower than modern alternatives. Remember that every second that your website is down, you’re losing revenue.

Ask Them About Uptime Guarantees

A crucial thing to keep in mind when choosing a hosting service is whether they provide uptime assurance on their plans (99 percent or greater) and what the repercussions for failure to meet this standard. Most guarantees will offer you a rebate or credit on your account for any downtime that happens but you must make sure their uptime is actually as promised before signing any contract.

Request them to walk you Through The Technical Aspects Of Your Account

If you don’t know much about the terms used in hosting such as cPanel FTP MySQL, cPanel or MySQL or MySQL, you can ask the host to explain the concept in plain English. Whatever you decide to spend on them, a trustworthy hosting service can explain the process of your account.

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