Once you have your website designed, you then need to decide on a suitable host. It is vital to make the right choice from the onset since moving to another hosting service later will be time-consuming and costly. Getting a new account will mean paying additional hosting and set up fees. In the process, you might lose valuable clients as a result of the downtime when transferring to another host.
The following are some basic guidelines which can help you select a suitable web hosting service.
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Reliability and speed of the hardware and servers
Make sure the hosting service offers a high speed connection to the internet. In addition, the band width provided should be sufficient enough to handle a sudden increase of traffic to your site. Finally, good hosts should also have reliable back-up systems which can protect you from losing customers and data in case of a power failure.
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Features
A good hosting service needs to have the following basic features:
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Domain name registration
- Space of at least 5MB
- Free technical support
- FTP access
- Free technical support
- Email forwarding
- Password protection
- POP3 email accounts
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Room for growth
As you look for a web hosting service, you need to bear in mind your website’s future needs. If you’ll need a database in future, or if your site experiences a sudden surge of traffic, your host should be in a position to handle those changes. This was a key consideration when choosing a hosting service for my blog which features westhost discounts and anhosting coupons.
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Support services
It is crucial that you select a web hosting service which offers excellent support services. The following are some questions you should ask before signing up with any service.
- How long has the hosting service been in business?
- Are there any prominent companies or individuals hosting with the service?
- What are the existing customers saying about the reliability of the support services?
- Is the hosting service reachable 24/7 by email or phone? You can test their efficiency by calling or sending a query via email.
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Type of hosting service
There are different kinds of hosting services available.
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Free hosting
Free hosting is for those who have small websites which are not likely to receive much traffic. However, this type of hosting has several disadvantages including no provision for unique domain names, unreliable software and servers, limited technical support and limited web space.
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Virtual hosting
Also referred to as shared or domain hosting, virtual hosting is a very cost effective and popular type of hosting. It usually offers good technical support and is ideal for business sites. In addition, it enables you to use a unique domain name. However, since it involves hosting multiple sites on one server, it might result in slow speeds. In addition, having many websites on one server also poses a security risk.
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By adhering to these basic tips, you can be assured of having an efficient, satisfying and reliable hosting service, resulting in the growth and prosperity of your business.
