Web hosting is a service that allows you to post a website or web page onto the internet. A web host provides the technologies and services to help websites get and stay online.
Choosing a suitable web host might be challenging because thousands of different companies offer different features and prices. Thus, this article will explain how web hosting works and how to choose the right one for you. Let’s get started!
How Does Web Hosting Work?
A web hosting service stores your website data on a server. When internet users want to access your website, they type your domain name into a browser’s address bar. Then, their computers will connect to your server, and your web pages will be delivered to them.
However, a web host also comes with various other features to help you manage and develop your website. For example, Hostinger provides WordPress optimization to help your sites powered by the CMS perform better. If you want to read more on what this hosting provider offers, take a look at this Hostinger review.
How to Choose the Right Web Host for You
Choosing the right web host depends on your need for several things, including performance, speed, and security. This is because a web hosting service provider is responsible for keeping your server running and keeping it safe from malicious attacks.
Since there are thousands of web hosting service providers, below are the qualities to consider when choosing one.
Uptime
Website uptime is the time a server hosting your website is accessible to visitors. Web hosting companies offer different uptime guarantees. An uptime guarantee assures your website availability for a certain percentage of the time. Otherwise, you are entitled to a refund.
Note that a website can go down because of many reasons, including traffic spikes, hacker attacks, and equipment failures. Thus, you may want to read each web hosting’s uptime guarantee terms and conditions.
Consider your website’s business impact and audience behavior to estimate your ideal website availability. This is important to help you plan your website downtime for scheduled maintenance. Then, you can roughly find your desired uptime percentage.
Performance
Generally, website performance refers to how quickly your website content loads in a browser and how well it responds to user interaction. When choosing your web host, features such as hard drive, Central Processing Unit (CPU), and bandwidth affects your website performance.
Web hosting type also affects website performance. For example, shared hosting might not be ideal for increasing your website’s speed because your server’s resources are shared with other users.
Resources
Web hosting resources consist of several elements, including Solid State Drive (SSD) storage, bandwidth, CPU, and Random Access Memory (RAM). These elements affect your website’s performance, storage size, and costs.
Different web hosting companies offer different plans and web hosting types. When choosing, consider the size of your web pages, the number of visitors, and the bandwidth your website needs.
Control Panel
A control panel is used to manage your hosting package, including installing applications and managing domain names. Different types of control panels include cPanel, Plesk, and Webmin.
Most hosting packages include a control panel. The best way to know whether a control panel is suitable for you is to look for an online preview or a free trial.
Security
Website security is essential to protect your business and customers. This is because an unprotected website is prone to malware attacks and data breaches.
Web hosts offer different levels of security in their plans. Essential security features include reliable backup and restore features, secure server capabilities, and malware scanning. You might also want to look for web hosts that offer a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate.
Support
Customer and technical support are both necessary to help you run your website. Customer service ensures you have a good experience by various means, such as offering suitable products and services for your needs.
Technical support helps you with more complicated tasks, such as installing new tools, fixing site errors, and managing upgrades. Nonetheless, you might want to evaluate your web hosts’ customer support by reading reviews about their response time, resolution time, and contact method.
Most web hosts offer 24/7 professional support that includes options such as live chat, help ticketing systems, and email support. Additionally, you can consider choosing a web host with phone support.
Types of Web Hosting
Different types of web hosting include shared hosting, VPS hosting, and cloud hosting.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is a setup where multiple sites are hosted together on the same server, which keeps its price low. It is an excellent choice if your website doesn’t need high uptime and has low traffic.
Shared hosting is also an excellent choice for beginners. This is because your host will take care of your website’s maintenance and server administration. However, remember to consider your business’ scalability and growth.
If you plan your website to reach high traffic at some point, choose a web hosting provider that gives you the option to move to VPS hosting. This way, you don’t have to find a new hosting provider.
VPS Hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting offers dedicated resources for your website on one central server. This mitigates most resource drain issues and allows your website to have a relatively stable performance during traffic surges.
Different web hosting providers offer multiple VPS hosting plans. This option enables you to scale your website when you need more resources.
Additionally, you will get root access. Root access gives you more in-depth customizability and more administrative power over your server partition. Thus, VPS hosting is an excellent choice if you have the adequate technical knowledge and want greater control over your server.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting has the combined benefits of shared hosting and VPS hosting. It offers dedicated resources, scalability, and beginner-friendly controls. Cloud hosting is an ideal choice if you are running ambitious projects with a higher budget.
Final Thoughts
Choosing a suitable web host might be challenging because there are thousands of different companies to choose from. However, understanding your website’s needs may help you decide which web hosting service provider is the best for you.
We hope this article helps you choose the best web host for you. Good luck.