Seven Important Factors to Consider when Deciding on a Web Hosting Plan

If you’re new to the world of web design and maintenance, it’s important to know what you’re looking for when you choose a web hosting plan. Without this knowledge, you can end up with a site that crashes, slows down, is not secure, or simply does not provide you with the memory and speed you need to maintain a professional website. There are many different things that work hand in hand to make up a solid web hosting plan. Be sure you are aware of what these things are in advance, so you can make the best choice for your needs.

Here are seven important factors you should keep in mind when choosing a web hosting plan:

1. Type of Website
When shopping for a web host, it’s important to know what your needs and goals are for the website or domain you’re working on. For instance, if the website is simply informational and there for entertainment purposes, a shared web hosting service might be best. This keeps overhead costs low and if the purpose of the website is not to make a profit through buying or selling goods or services, then shared hosting is a good option. A virtual private server is also good in this case, since it allows the website to grow over time, giving it a little bit of “wiggle room.”

Ecommerce websites that produce a lot of sales might need something larger such as a dedicated server. This can be costly, however, so it’s very important to know what the goals are for the website, and how they will be achieved through the website’s functions so that you will be able to support the higher costs of dedicated servers. High traffic websites usually need a dedicated server just to support the number of views or hits it receives, much less the amount of information being communicated to the server if there are monetary transactions being made or forms being completed by people.

2. Disk Space
Regular websites use about 5MB of space, and this is generally enough to support the basic format of a site online. However, if you need more bandwidth and web space, you may need much more. Photos and video clips tend to take up more space, as do interactive features. Remember to keep in mind that plenty of space is great, but stability should take precedence. If your provider is down often, you can lose business and hits to your website, so keep this in mind.

3. The Number of Domains
For example, if you sell shoes but you want to do so at shoes.com and coolshoes.com, you’ll need to make sure the hosting provider allows multiple domain names. It’s very important to register these domains ahead of time before you pay for a “reserved spot”, otherwise you might end up paying for something you’re not allowed to use. The more domain names you can have, the more exposure you’ll get. Promoting multiple sites gets more visitors and increases the odds of traffic to your website. Many web hosting companies charge a per domain name charge each month, while some may charge a flat fee for each, so do your homework.

4. Control Panel
As a Webmaster, it’s very important to be able to have as much control as possible over the operation of your site. Regardless of whom you choose for the web hosting, the ability to manipulate your site and make changes or adaptations when needed is essential. cPanel is an excellent choice when it comes to web hosting control panels. This program allows the web designers to log in and make changes quickly and easily, all while communicating effectively to the web hosting server you choose. cPanel runs on the Linux, CentOS, FreeBSD, and Windows Server 2008 platforms, giving users a fairly wide range of choices of server platforms to choose from.

If cPanel is something you want to use, it’s absolutely essential that the web hosting plan you choose is compatible. Otherwise, you will not have the ability to control your site through this interface. Server administration is very important, so it is definitely a feature that brings more options to the table when it comes to making any changes or upgrades to your website.

5. Bandwidth
Bandwidth is also essential to a successful website. In fact, this determines how many visitors, or hits, your website can support. Some web hosting providers charge people fees if they go over their allotted bandwidth, so look into this as well. Many newer companies are now offering unlimited bandwidth as part of a package deal, so try to find this feature to avoid problems later on down the road.

The possibilities and available web hosting companies out there seem endless, so make a checklist with the features you need, price range you’re looking for, and feedback that others have given. This will help to serve as a guide in making a decision.

6. Speed
Speed is another very important issue when it comes to web hosting services. You want your visitors to be able to see the website almost immediately. A good server will provide this without any problems. Lost time is lost business, so speed is very important. You can ping your website to get a better idea of how fast it’s moving. When you ping a website, information hits the server and then refracts it back. The speed shows you how much time has gone by before the data come back to you after going to and from the server.

7. Scripting Ability
More advanced web designers use scripting when creating their site. Be sure your web hosting provider does not have any kind of script limitations or is not able to process certain scripting programming language. Php and cgi are two common scripting formats, and most web hosts are able to process these. See about how many SQL databases you can use as well. Databases are really helpful for storing your scripts and programming for easy access later on.

All of these things are extremely important factors that a lot of newbies don’t think about when looking for a web hosting provider, but they can mean the difference between a working, smooth website and one that “crashes” often or has security issues.

Don’t bank on a cheap provider to give the best service; sometimes, a little extra cost can go a long way in making sure you get the most stable server available.

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