Because of the volume of elements that can affect choosing a web hosting service, this blog will be split into two parts.
Firstly, What Is A Website Host?
A web host is a company that provides storage space for website information. They normally have many hard drives in their possession to store the data (either bought or rented from another company) and provide web advice to the customers that they service.
If you are looking at creating a new website (or thinking of switching to another web host), there are some things that you should consider if you want to make the right decision. This guide will help you ask the right questions and make it easier to find what you are looking for.
The Type Of Website
The first thing that you need to think about is the type of website that you are looking to create. More specifically, the kind of CMS that your site is going to have.
The CMS that your site is going to be using is the most important factor in deciding which web host to use.
If your site is going to be using a basic CMS like WordPress, it is very likely that you are going to be able to use almost any web host out there (because WordPress is highly supported). However, if you are going to be using a higher-end CMS such as Concrete5, you will have to investigate whether the web host will support it. This is the same for any ecommerce CMS.
The Price
The pricing of website hosting services will depend on a few different things. The first thing is the CMS of the website that is going to be hosted. Basic WordPress sites are going to be cheaper and sophisticated ecommerce CMS sites are going to be more expensive.
The second thing that will affect the price is whether your site will be hosted on a shared server or a dedicated server.
We will explore the pros and cons of each service a little bit later on.
The Level Of Tech Support
Ideally, you want to find a web host with excellent tech support. There are plenty of services that provide 24/7 support and many other ticketing services that are very good also.
Tech support is so crucial because you never know when you are going to need assistance. You may be in a situation where your site crashes before an important three day weekend, only to find out that your web host provides support from 9-5 weekdays. Thankfully, there are many web hosts that have 24/7 support, so this doesn’t have to be a problem.
It is not uncommon for companies to claim that they have great 24/7 tech support and then fail to deliver when it comes to crunch time. One way of protecting yourself from this happening is to check out online reviews of the services before you purchase. The Whirlpool forums in WA have some great information about this.
Note: Don’t ever be afraid of switching web hosts if you find that you aren’t getting the service you were promised.
What To Look For In A Website Hosting Service (Part 2)
Check out our other blog posts on Website Design:
What Is Responsive Web Design?
Top 5 Most Common Mistakes For Ecommerce Website Design
A Guide To Small Business Web Design
The Top Web Design Mistakes To Avoid
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