Choosing a reliable Web Hosting provider can be a tricky decision especially when there are so many to choose from. So whether you have an online business, provide important information online, enjoy blogging or sharing your views online, you will need a reliable Host which provides you with the correct package for your specific needs and allows online visitors to browse through your site effortlessly and quickly. There are many Hosting providers on the web so it’s vital you do your homework and choose one which has good resourceful information on their website, provides a customer friendly control panel and gives good technical support. It is also important to find a provider which gives you complete control of your Web Hosting and Domain Names, just in case you wish to change providers easily in the future.
Most good providers now offer a hassle free 30 day money back guarantee, companies who don’t offer this probably don’t have confidence in their own service, so stay clear from them!… Once you have identified a good Hosting provider for your online business, it is then time to decide which features you will need and decide on a suitable package. You can find below some of the most important aspects of web hosting to help you make the correct decision:
Disk / Web Space and Bandwidth
First you need to know how much web space your website will need and approximate data it will generate, taking into consideration file sizes, images and the amount of pages on your site etc. Disk space, also referred to as web space is the amount of storage assigned to you by the hosting provider. The bandwidth is the amount of traffic that is allowed to access and leave your website. If your website has a lot of graphics and imagery then you would require more web space and if you are expecting a lot of traffic to your site then you would require a greater bandwidth.
Windows or Linux
Linux based hosting is by far the most popular platform of hosting on the Internet. This is because most website technologies that run on Linux hosting, as well as the operating system itself, are all open source. Linux based hosting is generally cheaper because of these factors. The Linux hosting platform supports a wide range of software, applications, languages, and databases such as PHP, Perl, MySQL, and many others making it very scalable. Linux is not fully compatible with some Microsoft technologies so if you are using Access, ASP, MS SQL, or VB development tools then the Windows hosting platform would be the one to choose.
Shared Hosting or Dedicated Hosting
The most popular choice for people is shared web hosting. Many companies give away free web hosting, but this has many disadvantages such as being really slow, resulting in people moving away from your site, while having dedicated web hosting can be too expensive. Shared web hosting, however has many advantages. Shared web hosting involves your website sharing space on a server with other sites. Every site on the server will have its own amount of space. For small businesses, personal sites or blogs, shared hosting is the best choice.
Support, Uptime, Security and Backups
Security and backups are two very important aspects that you need to consider and a good provider will be able to provide you with these features. You should always choose a provider with reliable telephone support, and some now offer a ticket system which can be quicker at getting your problems solved.
Pricing
You need to compare pricing before you choose a web hosting provider and suitable package. Most providers now provide feature rich web hosting services, which include 1 click installs for WordPress, Joomla and Drupal etc and offer full 24hr support on both linux and windows hosting plans usually starting for as little as £19.99 per year.