To build a website, you need to lease server space from a web hosting provider. However, a provider is not only offering you space on a server; they’re also offering you server resources for the optimal performance of your website. Therefore, when shopping for web hosting, you need to consider the needs of your site. For example, are you expecting a high amount of traffic? If so, you will need a hosting package that offers sufficient bandwidth. Additionally, you will need to make sure that the hosting provider is reliable. A reliable web host is one that you can count on to keep your site up and running.
These are just a few of the things you need to look into when searching for a web host. Keep reading to find out more.
What Do You Need from A Web Host?
When shopping for a web host, there are certain things you must be on the lookout for. These include:
Uptime
The reliability of a web host is defined by its uptime rate. A host’s uptime is the amount of time a server is operational. So long as the server is operational, your site should be running smoothly. A good web host will have an uptime rate of at least 99%. This indicates that you can trust that your site will be available to users pretty much all the time. Do not settle for anything less than 99%.
Bandwidth
Bandwidth is a computer network’s data capacity in bits per second (Bps). The more content you have, the more bandwidth you’ll need. For example, if high-resolution images support the theme of your website, you will need a good deal of bandwidth. Moreover, the more traffic you expect, the more bandwidth you’ll require.
For instance, if you have 20,000 visitors per month who visit an average of 5 pages per visit, and each page is 50KB, you will need about 5000MB or 5GB of bandwidth per month.
Security
A crucial component of web hosting packages is the security they offer. To keep your site from being vulnerable to hackers and viruses, your web host should offer robust firewalls, an SSL certificate, and continual monitoring. They should also provide data backups, so you can return your site to normal fairly quickly if the worst happens. Additionally, you will want to choose a web host that offers to send you alerts when someone attempts to hack your site.
Speed
Most web users expect sites to load in 2 seconds or less. Any longer and they will most likely abandon your site, and you will lose their business. Furthermore, site speed is one of the ranking factors used by Google to organize search engine rankings. Consequently, if your site loads slowly, this may affect your ranking on Google’s search engine. Therefore, you should choose a web host with a fast server, plenty of memory, and sufficient processing power. It also helps if the host uses caching technology and data centers close to your target customers, as both these things can increase page loading speed.
Customer Support
Given that your site is crucial to your business, you want a web host that’s available to solve any issues you have at any time. Therefore, your web host should offer technical and customer support 24/7/365.
Additional Features
To compete in the hosting field, many web hosts will offer additional features with their hosting services. This can include things like email accounts, free domain names, and multi-user access.
To Sum Up
The web host you choose will influence the performance of your website. Given that your website represents your business to the online world, you must find a quality host. A quality host is one that offers reliable uptime, sufficient bandwidth for your needs, proper security, lightning-fast speed, and 24/7/365 customer support. You should also consider the additional perks offered by each web host, especially if you’re trying to decide between two similar web hosts.
