subject: 5 Steps To Find The Perfect Web Host [print this page] If you are new to building or setting up websites, the world of web hosting can seem like a confusing and frustrating one. In this article I try to simplify it all for you, with five steps you should take to ensure you find a web hosting provider that is ideal for your needs.
1. Identify your minimum requirements
As with most things in life, with web hosting you get what you pay for. There are hosting providers that will offer you dedicated or virtual hosting on super-fast networks, load-balanced servers and relationship-managed accounts. The problem is, it costs you a fortune in monthly hosting fees, and those sorts of features are really only needed by big companies with huge volumes of traffic. More often than not a shared hosting plan will be more than sufficient for a starter website. You can always scale up when your website traffic has grown enough to warrant it.
2. Research trustworthy web hosting providers
There are more than a few untrustworthy web hosts in the marketplace who will gladly take your money and give you very little in return, apart from poor service and flaky server uptime. Make sure you do your background research before purchasing your hosting plan to minimise the chances of this happening to you. Consumer review and comparison websites are a good place to start - you can start to familiarise yourself with the industrys better known names, and see what actual website owners think of them.
3. Consider the importance of your web hosts location
If the location of your hosting provider isnt important to you, you can often benefit from some good discounts and deals. Traditionally the largest budget hosting providers have been in the United States, and this is still very much the case today. These companies have built up the scale, customer service platforms and technology infrastructure that make them very hard for new entrants in the market to compete against. With the variety of contact channels that these companies tend to have (toll-free phone, email, support ticket, 24/7 live chat) it doesnt tend to matter where they are in the world, as they are so easy to get in touch with at any time of day.
4. Check if they have introductory offers
Shop around for web hosting, and you will undoubtedly spot a number of introductory offers from hosting companies. Its always worth considering these offers for obvious reasons, but make sure you dont overlook the necessity of researching thoroughly, since its most important of all that you select a dependable web host. Also, check the small print for what the renewal price of the hosting plan will be. You dont want to be in for a nasty surprise after the initial 12 month sweetener.
5. Check if they will back up your website
You need to be secure in the knowledge that your web host will be able to rescue your website if anything goes wrong with it - and you can guarantee that at some point in its life, something will go wrong. Whether you accidentally delete a bunch of files during upload, or overwrite a web page with wrong information, you need your hosting company to be able to roll the site back to the version of the pages that were appearing on the site before the problem occurred. Its always worth checking with a prospective web host how often they run back-ups, and whether they are included in the cost of the hosting plan.
