If you’re planning to start a website, picking the right web hosting service is crucial for your online success. With so many options available, it’s overwhelming to choose the correct one. Hence, it’s important to learn about the unique features hosting providers offer before investing your hard-earned money. This will help you pick a provider that meets your needs. From storage and bandwidth to security and customer support, there are many essential features to consider when selecting a web hosting provider.
1. Renewal/Upgrade Costs
When picking the right web hosting service, it’s not just the initial cost you need to consider. You also need to check the renewal and upgrade costs of the hosting plan you select. This is because tasks like setting up DNS configurations and databases when you change hosts can be a nightmare. But, if you renew/upgrade with the same host, you won’t have to go through the trouble of setting everything up again. So, it’s wise to inspect renewal prices.
2. Money-back Guarantee Period & Refund Policy
If you’re looking to invest in a web hosting service, it’s important to check their money- back guarantee and refund policy. This means you have a period of time where you can cancel your order and get a refund if you’re not happy with their service. Typically, reputable web hosts offer a 30-day money-back guarantee with no questions asked. It’s also important to read through the terms and conditions carefully before signing up, so you can make sure the deal is fair and has a way out if the host doesn’t meet your expectations.
Technical support is a critical factor to consider when investing in a web hosting provider. You need to make sure that support is available 24/7 and that you can reach a real person when needed, rather than a bot. Most support agents can answer hosting- related queries, but not all hosting companies have adequate staff to assist with technical questions. A good web hosting provider offers 24/7 customer support through multiple channels, such as knowledge bases, forums, live chat, chatbots, email support, and calls.
The location of the server can affect the speed and performance of your website. A great tactic is to pick a server that’s near your targeted countries. You don’t want your physical office to be too far from the web host servers, as this could cause trouble in case you need to pay a visit to the web host in person.
If your website collects personal or financial data, sign up for a web hosting plan that offers SSL certificates, automated malware scans, and firewall management. SSL certificates encrypt data sent via your website, ensuring that only the recipient can use the data.
Slow websites are becoming outdated, and Google prefers loading times of one second or less. If your web host can’t guarantee optimal uptime and minimal downtime, it can negatively affect your business. Websites with extended periods of downtime can cause visitors to leave the site, leading to lost sales and revenue. Hence, look for a web hosting service that guarantees at least 99% uptime throughout the year, with minimal downtime.
7. User-friendly control panel
The control panel is the interface through which you’ll manage your website, and it should be as user-friendly as possible. Hosting providers often use technical jargon that can be overwhelming for new users, so a simple and effective control panel like WHM or cPanel can make an enormous difference. Whether your provider uses cPanel or Plesk or some other interface, it should be user-friendly and straightforward.
Before investing in a hosting provider, it’s important to consider the free domains and fees that are included in the hosting package. If you’re running multiple websites, managing separate hosting accounts for each one can be time-consuming. While some hosting providers may have limits on the number of domains you can own under a single account, it’s crucial to check whether the number of add-on domains provided meets your business needs.
Users expect websites to load in three seconds or fewer. If your website takes longer than that, you risk losing visitors and potential customers. It also affects your website’s search engine optimization (SEO). A reliable hosting company will use servers with solid-state drives (SSD), limit the number of sites on a shared server, and offer a content delivery network (CDN) service. All these factors help to speed up the delivery of web content, ensuring that your website loads quickly.
10. Bandwidth and storage
When choosing a hosting provider for your website, it’s essential to consider the bandwidth and storage they offer. Sufficient storage is necessary for the files that make up your website, while adequate bandwidth is essential for fast loading times and good user experience. Therefore, pick a hosting provider that offers enough storage and bandwidth to support your website’s needs.
We’ve extensively reviewed and analyzed many reviews from real customers and experts to vouch Nexcess, Kinsta, Flywheel, WP Engine, Scala Web Hosting, GreenGeeks, Cloudways, Ionos, and Fastcomet Hosting offer fantastic plans with lightning- fast loading times, unbeatable uptime, reliable storage, top-notch security, regular backups, and more.
Conclusion
When we started hosting our website, we didn’t consider all the features that might become essential to our growth. After spending a lot of time and money, we have narrowed down the 10 most important features we should have considered before investing in a web hosting provider. Hence, if you are in the market for a hosting service, considering the above features and the hosting reviews will help you make a better choice that serves your business requirements and will save you a lot of money.
