If you have a website, you have probably heard of web hosting, but chances are that you aren’t really sure what web hosting really means. You know you have to have a host but how do you know whether you have the right company and whether you have the best hosting for your site? This article has solid advice for helping you figure that out.
Read the terms of service when dealing with a web host who offers “unlimited” services. Many times web hosts will offer unlimited bandwidth or sometimes hard disk space. Read the terms carefully, as they may reserve the right to ask you to upgrade your plan, if you are a higher profile customer, that has increased usage.
Make sure that the web host you select has a very high uptime guarantee. Uptime is the percentage of time that a server is online. For instance, if a web host claims that their servers provide 99% uptime, then their servers are online 99% of the time. You don’t want to select a web host whose servers do not provide high uptime percentages. This is why uptime is so important when selecting a host.
An important tip that all web designers should consider when trying to decide what hosting provider to use is to learn about the company’s spam policies. There are those hosting providers out there that allow anyone to register a domain name, so long as they pay, spamming the internet with junk.
You should only get an expensive or fancy web host if you plan to load many videos to your site. The extra expense is not needed if you are simply loading information to your site. This is a great way to save money when you are looking for a host.
Carefully consider all of your budgeting needs before selecting a web hosting company to maximize your use of it. Many companies offer you the option of paying in advance by a year or more, and some are available for around five dollars a month. Understand what you can and want to spend, and that you have a number of payment plans available.
Before picking a web host, check to see if they have some type of money-back guarantee, or even a trial special where you can test their service. There should be a way to get your investment and money back if you decide their hosting service is not for you. Most hosting companies will give you around 30 days.
You should look for genuine reviews of a host before subscribing. You will find this kind of reviews on forums and by talking with other webmasters. Any blog post or featured reviews might be written by people working for the affiliate program of the host you are reading about.
Make sure you find a hosting site that is both reliable and stable. Meaning that they only take on the number of clients and sites that they can properly handle. They will also generally maintain dedicated servers and will do their best not to overload. A good hosting site will also take care in choosing which sites they will host and which ones they won’t.
If you are using your website primarily as a blog, choose a web host that will allow you to sync with popular blogging tools like WordPress. These tools are usually free and simple to use, but you will likely want to host them with a professional service. Choose one that allows you import the files directly into their platform.
You should look for a web host that offers a good FTP application. An FTP software allows you to upload new content to your site quickly and safely. If you have to go to your host’s site and log in to upload new content, you are losing a lot of time.
Be aware that if you use site templates to create your website, the monthly web hosting fees will almost always be higher. This is because you will be constantly accessing their online tools to update your site, thus creating more use on their system. Though it can easy for a beginner to build a site this way, consider the cost effectiveness of hiring a professional designer upfront, and saving much more than that on monthly fees.
Avoid any web hosting company that has a reputation for messing up the billing and payment system, no matter how reliable their hosting may seem. Even when a company offers reliable web hosting, failure to manage other key aspects of the business can mean problems for you as well, including sudden outages if the billing automation system cannot accurately keep track of customer transactions.
No matter how reliable your web hosting may be, it is very wise to regularly back up your site on your own PC or some other source. Even if your web host tells you that your data is safe or that they have backed it up, do not depend on this. The company could go bankrupt, among other problems and your data is too important to risk losing.
Forums are a great resource for finding a good hosting site. They usually have special sections where sites have been reviewed and you can talk to a variety of people about their personal experiences. Don’t rely on just a couple of reviews to make your end decision.
If you are going to obtain a shared web hosting solution, conduct some research on the websites that you will be sharing your server with. You should definitely avoid sharing servers with websites that participate in spam due to the fact that if any of these websites receive an IP address ban from search engines or internet service providers, your website will be banned along with them. Adult websites in particular tend to participate in these kinds of activities.
Now that you’ve read a bit about web hosting, use these tips to help you find the right hosting for your website. This can be a complicated issue without information, but the advice in this article has provided you with a sturdy foundation you can stand on. Best wishes with your site!
