Expert Tips For Choosing The Best Web Hosting Service

Choosing the right web hosting provider is critical for the success of your business. Everywhere you look, there is a web hosting company trying to convince you to try their services. But how do you know who to trust? 

If this is your first time seeking web  hosting services, you might be overwhelmed trying to figure out how to go about it. What do you look for? Which service is the best? How much should you? These are all valid questions.

Our experience in web design has given us a lot of insights into what works and what doesn’t. So, we want to share what we know would help you find the right service.

What is Web Hosting?

Website hosting basically refers to the service that helps individuals and organisations to make their websites digitally accessible by storing website data, files, and content on specialised computers called servers.

Web hosting services provide the technologies that help your website visitors seamlessly view and interact with your website. As such, you must get it right when choosing a hosting service. Failure to get it right will only lead to serious implications.

However, with so many web hosting services around, it is easy to get lost and confused. And more importantly, it matters a lot the type of web host you end up choosing. 

Why Choosing The Right Web Host Matters

Let us use a scenario to illustrate the importance of choosing the right web hosting company.

Consider a case where you need a new website for your business, either by designing it yourself or contacting an experienced web design company. 

You use the recommended tips for choosing the right web design agency and pay a premium for the perfect website. Now, most experienced and professional web designers will help you choose the right hosting service based on your website. 

But if they don’t, it will be upon you to make the decision. So, how do you do it?

For one, if you choose the wrong hosting provider, you risk several things, including;

• Slow page load times: Poorly optimized servers or overcrowded shared hosting environments can cause delays in delivering web pages to users.
• Data privacy concerns: Low-quality providers may have inadequate security measures, putting your data at risk of breaches or unauthorized access.
• Limited scalability: Some providers may not offer the flexibility to upgrade your hosting plan or infrastructure as your traffic grows.
• Frequent downtimes: Poor server maintenance, unreliable hardware, or insufficient resources can lead to interruptions in your website’s availability.

The list is endless. Why does this happen? The quality of the hosting architecture of the hosting provider. A host with poor infrastructure will have outdated hardware, weak network connectivity, or insufficient redundancy measures.

How do you avoid all this and more?

You choose the right hosting provider. Notice that we are using the word right instead of best. This is because best is relative because what works for one website might not work for yours. So, next up, we will share with you tips to find the right hosting provider. 

Tips For Choosing The Right Hosting Provider

Do you want to avoid guesswork when choosing a hosting service? Here are three tips to help you do it the right way.

Tip #1: Understand Types of Web Hosting

Knowing and understanding the various types of web hosting will help you decide which one you want. Let’s briefly describe the common ones.

1. Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

This hosting provides your website with a dedicated, private space on a shared server. You can decide to configure your VPS from scratch and obtain the required resources. It all depends on your hosting provider.

Note that some VPS hosting plans may not automatically include a control panel. This means you have to use the command line for server configuration and website setup. Therefore, this can be limiting if you want a straightward dashboard for managing your hosting plans.

Ideal for: Growing businesses or websites with moderate traffic.

Example: An e-commerce store with hundreds of products that needs better performance and security than shared hosting can offer, but doesn’t yet require a dedicated server.

1. Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is the entry-level option for most website owners and is widely used due to its affordability. In this setup, a single server is shared among multiple users, which means hundreds (or even thousands) of websites are hosted on the same physical machine.

The quality of shared hosting can vary significantly depending on the hosting provider. Key factors that affect its performance include server management practices, the number of websites on a server, and the resources allocated to each account.

Ideal for: Small websites with low traffic and basic requirements.

Example: A personal blog, portfolio site, or small business website with minimal monthly visitors.

1. Managed WordPress Hosting

For this type of hosting, you can pass several day-to-day maintenance tasks to your provider. This is because it is not just a plan but a service. So they will provide a range of services including software updates, backups, and security monitoring. Mostly, this service comes at a premium price. 

Ideal for: WordPress-powered websites that require optimized performance and automated management.

Example: A professional blog, a news site, or a WordPress-based small business website where the owner prefers to focus on content instead of server maintenance.

1. Dedicated Hosting

As the name implies, dedicated server hosting is all about complete control and exclusivity. Here, a dedicated server provides exclusive access to a single server. It may also serve multiple servers. But basically, you have full control over its configuration. The hosting provider only houses it for you. As you’d expect, dedicated servers come with a pretty high price tag.

Ideal for: Large-scale websites or businesses with high traffic and specific performance or security needs.

Example: A popular streaming platform, a large e-commerce website, or an enterprise-level website with custom configurations and sensitive data.

1. Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting refers to distributed Virtual Private Servers (VPS). For this form of hosting, your virtual server is hosted on interconnected computers instead of a single computer.

Candidly, cloud hosting isn’t quite beginner-friendly. It is an excellent choice if you need flexible resource allocation and have the experience. But if you have simpler needs, it may be best to go with other options that align better with your requirements.

Ideal for: Scalable websites or applications with variable traffic patterns.

Example: A SaaS platform, an online store during seasonal sales, or a high-traffic website that experiences unpredictable spikes in traffic.

Tip #2: Identify Your Priorities

What type of website do you want to host? This question will help you know what your priorities are. If you want to host a portfolio website with minimal web visits, you might not mind the minimal downtimes experienced in shared hosting plans. 

However, SaaS products that are used by thousands of people require dedicated or cloud hosting services for guaranteed support and uninterrupted performance.

Let’s explore some of the priorities that would influence your decision.

• Reliability and uptime

Are you looking for 24/hr uptime and support? Most cheap plans do not have dedicated support and if they do, they’re unreliable. Still, you should read online reviews for each provider before taking the plunge. 

You need to choose a hosting provider that can guarantee a minimum uptime of 99.9% with a proven track record of meeting that provision. Uptime ensures that your website is always accessible to visitors and that your data is safe.

• Speed and performance 

Website performance and speed affect not only user experience but also search engine optimisation. As such, you must choose a hosting service that prioritises fast load times as this gives your website a competitive edge.

You also want to think about the scalability and flexibility of the web hosting plans you are offered. It is important to confirm that they can handle future growth and accommodate traffic fluctuations without considerably affecting performance.

• Technical support 

This is even more critical if you have no technical knowledge. If you are a business owner, you need to make sure the provider hosting your website is accessible and responsive. 

This is important because situations may occur requiring prompt resolution. Given this, make sure you prioritise hosting providers that offer multiple support channels or 24/7 support to ensure swift assistance whenever you need it.

• Security and backups

Another essential factor to consider is the security measures the hosting provider has in place to protect your data and website. Cybercrime is at an all-time high. 

Therefore, you must only go with providers that offer regular malware scanning, firewalls, and SSL certificates to secure sensitive information. Also, confirm If they offer automated backups to retrieve your website in case of data loss or breaches.

Tip #3: Choose The Right Web Hosting Service Provider 

The number of hosting providers is huge and it keeps growing. Therefore, you can be assured that you won’t struggle finding the right fit for you. However, if you are not careful, you might fall for the marketing hype and end up choosing the wrong provider. To avoid this, you need to perform due diligence.

Here are two things to consider when choosing the provider;

1. Available hosting plans

In most cases, web hosting service providers price their services in tiers and offer either subscription or licensing payment options.

Some will have base and premium tiers which are differentiated by the available features and the price. For instance, a base tier can have limited support while the premium tier will have a dedicated customer relations manager.

Still, you will find that the plans are either paid for every month or as a one off licensing fee that you won’t have to pay for every month.

The decision here depends on you and what you feel is most favourable based on your needs. That means there are pros and cons to picking either type of plan.

1. Your budget

Like most financial decisions, the choice of hosting service you choose should be dedicated to your budget. 

Different companies price their services at different prices based on several things. For instance, top providers might price their products high because they have established a client base. On the contrary, emerging hosting providers might have discounted prices to convince you.

However, be cautious since cheap, as they say, is expensive. Essentially, just because a service is cheap doesn’t mean it’s the best. imagine paying for a cheap service then losing all your data because you wanted a bargain. 

Also, there is the issue of hidden costs. A plan might be listed as costing $4.99/month but what they don’t indicate is that you will have to pay $20.00 running costs every month. To avoid this,  review the provider’s terms and conditions to ensure there are no blind spots.

Generally, consider the overall value and affordability of the plan before making a decision.

Bottom Line

Considering the points highlighted in this article will help you in choosing a hosting provider that helps your business website thrive. This provider must guarantee fast loading times, uninterrupted accessibility, and robust security measures for your website. In other words, these are non-negotables because they play a huge role in determining the performance of your website.

If you need affordable website designs or web hosting services, we can provide these to you. Kindly reach out to us to discuss your specific needs. We are ready to take your digital presence to the next level!