1. Pricing
Consider the cost of hosting as part of your online business costs. Note that cheap isn't always the best solution. Purchasing a more expensive hosting plan may be necessary for optimal website performance.
Consider your needs when choosing a hosting package. What kind of traffic will your website receive? Are you planning a slow or rapid expansion of your business?
Adding more features and resources to your hosting plan will increase the cost. The best way to boost your website's performance is to leave room for growth. Choose a hosting company based on its pricing plan and hosting type.
Hosting plans usually come with extra stuff like a domain name subscription for the first year. Check to see what these services will cost in the years to come.
2. Server Uptime
The server's uptime is the percentage of time it is available and operational. It measures how responsive your website is.
People can access your website at any time, so it shouldn't be down. Consider uptime when building a business website. Having a 502 bad gateway error greet a potential customer upon opening your site can damage your reputation and lower profits. Make sure your hosting provider guarantees 99.9% uptime or more. If the company cannot meet this promise, make sure there is a compensation policy.
3. Loading Speed
If your site is not loading fast, potential customers will leave, increasing your bounce rate. The loading speed is the speed at which your site loads its content.
The slower your site loads, the less traffic you'll get. According to Google, 53% of people will abandon mobile websites if they don't load within 3 seconds. Smartphones generate around 54.8% of Internet traffic globally.
In addition to increasing your SERP rankings, a fast loading speed will increase organic traffic. If you have the right content, your website will load faster. Larger files take longer to load, so try to avoid rich media.
Your web host should offer caching and additional bandwidth to enable your website to load faster. Make sure you read customer reviews before making any decisions.
4. Scalability
First-time website builders can expect limited traffic volumes. Thus, you may choose a hosting plan with fewer resources.
During promotional campaigns, the number of visitors to your website will increase. Learn the web host's policy on hosting plan upgrades. Perhaps it would be better to stay with your current company instead of switching.
Additionally, you can find plans that allow scaling up or down based on the situation. This is a good option for promotions if you only expect high traffic.
5. Security
A website that runs an online store will store your customers' personal information. Security and data protection are essential for transactions.
Additionally, cybercrime actors are getting more sophisticated, so you need security measures to avoid breaches. Here are some:
Check if your small business web hosting plan includes the above or if you need to pay extra.
6. Backups
Your data is still at risk of loss, so you should make regular backups. Your hosting provider may back up your website data to a different server. In that case, your data will remain safe, even if the hosting server fails.
Moreover, inquire about the company's recovery procedures. Often it is as easy as clicking a button. You can do a backup manually or automatically. According to the plan, many hosting companies provide automatic weekly or daily backups.
7. Customer Support
Customer support is an indispensable aspect of a web hosting company. If you need help, you can reach them via live chat, phone number, or email address.
Verify whether support is available 24/7 or only during specific hours. Also, find out what previous customers have to say about its quality.
Furthermore, check out the web hosting provider's tutorials and guides on their website. Familiarize yourself with the hosting control panel. Each hosting company has its version of the control panel. Otherwise, they may use a control panel like cPanel. Ask the best web hosting service for the control panel they use, how it works, and if it is compatible with your device. In this way, you can prevent minor errors from occurring.
Conclusion
Compare every aspect of your potential host. Do your homework before selecting the best web hosting service.
It will take time, but it will be better than settling for a service provider that can't meet your needs. You can use our list to figure out what you should consider before purchasing a hosting plan. Best of luck!