With its numerous advantages to various industries, website had become an indispensable tool in every company—young or matured brand, small or big. Various hospitals and medical centers are utilizing websites in promoting medical services, providing rapid access to information, and remote patient monitoring. In education, website is considered as a vital instrument of integrating technology in school. Entrepreneurs put up company websites as an online marketing strategy to persuade customers and increase profit.
Since over three billion people are now using the internet, it is not surprising that the number of websites of different niches is also growing. Website owners are rising in figures as well. A study linking personal websites to professional success revealed that “professionals today have received tangible benefits from creating and maintaining a personal website.” Seventy-one percent of the respondents believed that personal websites are important in building personal brand.
Put in mind that your website will not be accessible over the Internet without a web host. Web hosting service providers give your website a web space and corrects uploaded files to the internet for all to see. Moreover, web hosts provide the latest technology and security services to their clients. Websites can be hosted by either free web hosting providers or paid web hosting agencies.
The process of selecting a suitable web hosting provider, either for personal blog or company website, is overwhelming especially to first-timers. The variety of web hosts to choose from plus the large number of misconceptions floating around makes the selection process confusing and nerve-wracking.
Before purchasing, it is a must that you know what type of web hosting do you need. Shop the internet for client based reviews to know which among the web hosts belong to the top web hosting providers of today. To guide you, here are some important questions you need to ask web hosting providers before signing-up.
1. How Do You Handle Security of the Website?
A good web hosting provider has an extensive security measure. A specific software which prevents Distributed Denial of Service (DDos) attacks should be a basic feature. Moreover, a reliable firewall is also crucial to block threats from outside networks. Websites should be protected against natural disasters, power failure and clever hackers. When a site has been infected, it should be suspended until the security problem is addressed to prevent danger to other users. There are web hosts which are offering automatic alerts to website owners when a hacking effort was made.
Take note that prevention is better than cure. The best website is a secured website. Whether you are planning to create a personal website or a business website, security matters. There are a lot of risks and consequences involved if a website is compromised such as identity and data theft. This does not only apply to the website owner because it will also include your clients. Relationships can be destroyed because of losing clients’ trust not to mention the amount of profit loss and the cost of service fee for the security problem to be fixed.
2. What Are the Costs Involved?
To beginners, free web hosting services is definitely appealing because websites can be created without the need to pay for a single cent. But, what is the catch? Free hosting providers put ads on your page which you have no control over in exchange of the free hosting. Moreover, with free hosting, website owners cannot have their own personal domain name. In addition, customer support is not as excellent as paid web hosting because the former has lesser customer service. The bottom line is, you get what you pay for.
If you are planning on starting a website and would want to receive something in return, investment is necessary. There are web hosting provider reviews available in the World Wide Web to guide you in choosing the suitable web host for your website. Make sure that the price is within your budget and the hosting package contains the necessary features you need.
There are web hosting companies which tricks their clients by offering low price hosting but will charge additional fees after a space is purchased. Beware! Research if the hosting provider you have selected is known for hidden charges. The price of web hosting varies from one web host company to another. It is worth noting that not all expensive web hosting providers offer more efficient services and it does not also mean that if the web host is cheap, the service is inefficient.
In general, $5-7 per month is the average rate of a web hosting service cost which already contains quality features and services for small businesses and amateur websites. You can get the most for your money if the web hosting package is right.
3. Is the Technical Support Division Available 24/7?
If businesses need to offer 24/7 customer support to clients, web hosting agencies should also ensure their customers that they provide uninterrupted, round-the-clock support and services to customers. It is essential that technical support are always available to answer website owners’ queries especially in cases of server problems because customers want constant accessibility.
No matter how efficient the web host provider is, it is inevitable that downtime and unforeseen situations like natural calamities may occur. Also, even though most web hosting firms provide answers to frequently asked questions, there are unusual errors that can be encountered.
It is such a relief if you know that in cases of technical difficulties, there are support team that can help you fix the problem. If the tech support of the web hosting company is only available during business hours, loss of productivity, online visibility, customer and revenue may occur.
In addition to the accessibility and availability of tech support, the IT professionals that make up the support team should be skilled and experienced in managing technical problems. Spare yourself from frustration. Before you sign-up, try to call the web hosting provider’s customer service to gauge how knowledgeable are the staffs in resolving issues. Top web hosting providers employ IT technicians and engineers who are already experts in their specific fields. Knowing that your web host support team can solve any website problem can put you at ease.
4. How Much Storage Do You Offer?
Free web hosting services offer limited amount of storage space and bandwidth whereas paid web hosting providers have various storage space packages that are suitable for your website needs including unlimited storage package for big companies. The amount of storage space is related to the size of webpage and the category of a website. For instance, E-commerce website will consume more web space due to the necessity of high quality images and individual product reviews compared to a personal website which focuses on narration of experiences with quite a few pictures.
The storage space is made up of the total quantity of various files you have uploaded including videos, audio, images, documents, scripts and others. In conjunction with the question “How much storage do you offer?” you must ask yourself first, “How much space does my website need?” To answer the question, the following must be answered:
- Which category does my website falls?
Websites can be an E-commerce website, a personal blog, a company website or a website that is solely for music or videos.
- What type of files will I upload to my website?
If your website will contain mostly of simple text files, the storage space needed is smaller compared to a website that needs to upload high quality images and videos regularly.
- What are your future plans for the website?
All websites had started from scratch. Matured brand websites were young websites once. In calculating storage space needs, you must not forget to think of your future plans. For instance, a personal blog about weight loss can be turned into a profitable fitness blog after a year which will need bigger storage spaces for videos and images of various exercise routines.
Knowing your website storage space demands can help you choose which web hosting package to purchase.
5. How Long Have You Been in Business?
As a customer, you want to make sure that your files are stored in a safe place. With the numerous web hosting providers of today, it is difficult to choose which among these service providers are credible and reliable. Is long term partnership possible?
With the vast changes in the online market, it is surprising that there are web hosting companies which remained stable through the years. There are a lot of new companies offering cheaper hosting services however, they lack experience. Better find a web hosting provider in which you are certain that they will not disappear any moment. Breaking a web hosting service agreement is very common to unstable web hosting companies. When it comes to reputation of web hosting firms, experience matters!
Selecting the best web hosting provider is crucial for your website. A bad web host can destroy your site which may result to loss of customers and revenue. Do your homework and take note of these five essential questions before you buy a web hosting service.
Are you looking for a web hosting provider to house your website? Visit web hosting provider reviews on CrowdReviews.Com and explore client feedbacks regarding the top web hosting providers of today.
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