Web hosting is something that people would never have thought about 30 years ago because the internet was in its infancy, and it was not the norm to have our own websites. Fast forward to today, and suddenly it is an extremely important part of setting up your own website. Effectively, a web host provider will allocate space on a server to store the information that is on your website, and this server is necessary for other users of the world wide web to see your website.
It is actually impossible to have a website that is not hosted on a server, so this makes the choice of web host an important one if you want your website to perform as it should. Many people aren’t technologically minded and don’t know the difference between the web hosting options available to them, so here we are going to take a look at the ultimate checklist for choosing amazing web hosting.
Bandwidth allowance
Depending on the size of your website the bandwidth allowance available to you will be extremely important for the functionality of your website. Bandwidth allowance is the number of bytes needed to send your site data to all the people who are trying to visit your website. The larger your website, the larger the bandwidth required, and if you include a lot of videos or music on your site, this will lead to large increases in the data transferred, hence you’ll need more bandwidth.
If you are a small website, but you think that you will rapidly expand, then it is worth finding a host that makes a larger bandwidth available that you can grow into, and you may find that you need to pay for this service rather than using a free provider. Free hosts tend to only work for small scale websites, whereas if you experience a lot of traffic, then the paid-for options will make more sense.
Compatibility
Depending on what program you use to create your website, you will need to make sure that it is compatible with your chosen web host. Experts from https://www.justhostme.co.uk/ advise that you should be looking for a fast, secure, and reliable host that can provide services to websites written using common programs such as WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal. Some hosts are only compatible with one publishing platform, and these will be less reliable than a host that has the experience of multiple platforms, so bear this in mind when searching for your perfect host. If your website is in its infancy, then think ahead as you don’t want to be changing hosts every couple of years, much better is to use a host that will cover all your future needs.
Paid for vs. Free
We touched on the fact that some hosts charge earlier in this piece, so it merits assessing the pros and cons of each option. There are many free hosts out there, but the drawback that many of them have is that you will obliged to host their advertising on your website. This could mean a huge banner or pop up ads that are every viewer’s worst nightmare. Maybe in the early days, you cannot afford to host, but do think of the negative effects these ads will have on the overall functionality and readability of your website. Conversely, paid-for service will not have any adverts, and you will get much better reliability in terms of uptime, which is vital if you want your website to be reliable and easily reachable for customers.
Renewals
It is important to look at the contract that you are signing as many hosts try to drag you in with expensive renewals. You may only pay £5 per month in the first year but then receive a shock when your bill doubles or trebles in subsequent years. The host is banking on the fact that it is too much hassle for you to change hosts and therefore thinks that it can get away with charging you more. Always make sure you check the small print in the contract and that there are no increases to your costs if you renew year after year.
As we have learned, there are many important things to consider when it comes to choosing a web host. Bandwidth allowance needs to be considered if your website has a lot of videos or music within it, and you should make sure that the host is compatible with your publishing platform, as some are only designed for a particular platform. Consider the benefits between a paid-for host versus a free host when it comes to advertising, and make sure you are not locked into expensive renewals. If you follow this handy guide, you should have a trouble-free web hosting for years to come.