Consider these points before making your web hosting purchase.

Any business that wishes to have an online presence needs a web hosting company to host that website, unless they have the resources to host it themselves. While this is a common need among modern business owners, web hosting service is something many business owners know little about, so therefore choosing the right one is sometimes difficult. Terms like bandwidth, FTP access, and host all seem foreign to many, so just what do you need to look for when choosing a web hosting company?

Compare Top 10 Hosting Companies

What are Your Needs?

Before you start shopping, take the time to consider your needs. How much space will your website take? How much traffic do you anticipate? Do you have tons of graphics or videos that will need extra space?

Also, consider the future needs of your website. Do you intend to expand, add features, or add pages at some point? Changing hosts is possible, but it is a hassle, so make sure your business will fit both current and future needs.

The Technical Stuff

Bandwidth, or data transfer, describes the amount of data that the host’s server can transfer to or from a particular website in a particular time period.

Most of the time bandwidth is measured in Gigabytes a month. If you use more bandwidth during the month than your allotted amount, you will have to pay extra for it. If your website is popular, contains many images, videos, or PDFs, or otherwise requires a lot of data, choose a web hosting company that has a package with plenty of bandwidth.

In addition, choose a company that gives you plenty of space on the server for your current website and any future development. Finally, choose a company that gives you FTP access. This allows you to go into the server and upload new pages. If you have a specific idea in mind for your site, avoid a company that only allows you to use their web builder, rather than giving you full FTP access.

Look for Reliability and Security

Both your business and its customers want a secure website. Make sure the hosting service has security protocol in place at all times. Ask about the security programming and any guarantees the host provides.

Also, you need a reliable web hosting provider. If the host goes down, your website will not be accessible. If customers come to the site, whether on their own or through search engine activity, and find it inaccessible, it will make your business look unreliable.

Choose a Company Providing Support

Sometimes you will have problems with your website and its hosting service. Those problems rarely happen during normal business hours. Look for a company that offers continual support, both online and over the phone. If 24-hour support is not available, make sure that the support and technical service is quick to respond during work hours when you send in a help request.

Compare Price to Options

While affordability is important in a web hosting company, do not sacrifice necessary functions and options for affordability. Try to find a company that has a balance between features and support and an affordable price.