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CREATE YOUR WEBSITE
Large or small, every business needs a website. A company without a Web presence leaves many opportunities on the table, as a well-designed website is a factor to attracting clients or customers. And those visitors can translate into big money. You don’t want to miss out on the money, so choosing a Web hosting service and setting up your website is essential. Fortunately, with the right service, the process can be relatively simple and reasonably affordable. The first step is to find a Web host, the company that will store your website’s files on its servers and deliver them to your readers’ and customers’ browsers.
Web hosting services offer varying amounts of monthly data transfers, storage, email, and other features. Even how you pay a month-to-month payments vs. annual payments which can be radically different, too, so taking the time to plot out exactly what your company needs for online success is essential. Web hosting services also offer different types of hosting, including shared, virtual private server, dedicated hosting, and managed WordPress hosting plans.
Shared hosting is good for users who don’t want to spend a lot of money on hosting packages and don’t mind some of its traffic and data transfer limitations. VPS hosting is great for small businesses that want more power than shared hosting, but don’t want to deal with dedicated hosting’s prices. Dedicated hosting, on the other hand, is both powerful and pricey; it’s reserved for sites that experience incredibly high levels of traffic per day. Managed WordPress hosting is for those who want to build their sites on the back of the popular WordPress content management system
but don’t want to bother with a lot of the backend stuff such as updating the apps and CMS, and enabling automatic backups. If you’re not sure of the type of hosting your business will needed, start small with shared Web hosting. You can always graduate to a more robust, feature-rich package of, say, VPS hosting or even dedicated hosting in the future. Unfortunately, some hosts don’t offer all hosting types. Consider how much you expect to grow your website, and how soon, before you commit to anything longer than a one-year plan.
It’s worth spending the time up front to make sure that the host you select with is able to provide the growth you envision for your site, as switching Web hosting providers midstream is not a trivial undertaking. Once you decide you price range, you need to consider how long you’ll need Web hosting. If it’s a short-term project, say, less than a month or two, you can typically receive a refund should you cancel your hosting within 60 days. Some companies offer 30-day money-back guarantees, others offer 90-day money-back guarantees. Once again, it’s beneficial to do your homework.
The Features You Need
Many Web hosts offer limited features in their starter packages and then expand the offerings that are sometimes tremendously for higher-tier plans. Read the small type to make sure the plan you are selecting offers what you need. If you need a site builder application to design your website, make sure that the low-cost Web host you are picking actually comes with a site builder. Many of them require you to pay for the builder as a separate add-on. Website builders usually don’t cost a lot of money, but if you can find a Web host that includes one for no cost, that’s money in your pocket.
And, if it’s integrated with your hosting service, you’re more likely to have a smooth, supported experience. You also want a Web host with 24X7 customer support, if not by phone, then at least by chat. Forums, knowledge bases, and help tickets are all well and good, but sometimes you just need to communicate with another human to get things ironed out as quickly as possible. That said, not all 24X7 customer support teams are created equally. Companies like GoDaddy and Liquid Web boast incredibly knowledgeable and helpful customer support squads.
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Provider
Without the best web hosting, your ability to run a successful website is going to be seriously hindered. One of the worst mistakes you can make is to choose a web hosting provider at random. If there’s a situation that calls for some thought, consideration and research, choosing a web hosting provider is it. There’s a dizzying array of web hosting providers competing for your business. How can you pinpoint the best one? Start by keeping the following points in mind.
a. Technical Specifications for Your Website Hosting
The first thing you need to do when shopping for a web host is to evaluate your disk space and bandwidth needs. If your site will feature a lot of graphics, dozens of pages and get a lot of traffic, you’re going to need decent amounts of bandwidth and disk space. Unlimited plans are available, and they make life easier. If your site is going to be simple and not generate a huge amount of traffic, you should be able to get away with smaller amounts of disk space and bandwidth. Keep compatibility in mind, too. In the excitement of looking for a website hosting provider, you might overlook one critical thing.
This is usually the type of operating systems that are supported. You’re not going to want to switch operating systems, so double-check this point before settling for a provider. Security is also an essential concern. Choosing a web hosting provider without learning about its available security features is a big mistake. Things like firewalls, daily backups and user authentication should all be included. It’s also nice to receive notifications whenever changes are made because they can alert you to suspicious activity.
b. Get a Feel for Web Hosting Pricing and Value
Some people choose web hosting providers strictly based on price. That’s not a great strategy, but you should definitely take pricing into consideration. The best providers offer options for every budget. In some cases, signing up for long subscriptions will qualify you for extra discounts. Also, try to leave yourself room to grow. It’s great to choose a web hosting plan that suits your site’s current needs. With any luck, though, your site will grow and expand over time. Your needs could change. Switching to a new web hosting provider is a major hassle, so look for one that offers scalable plans.
In other words, you should be able to upgrade to another plan easily if necessary. Low prices are always great, but if the low price comes with limits on space or bandwidth, you want to make sure the deal is really worth it. In the same vein, you may want to note how many e-mail accounts are provided. Whether you think you’ll need dozens of email addresses or not, it’s nice to have the option to create as many as possible. In most instances, more expensive plans include larger numbers of email addresses. This feature isn’t very important to some people, but it is critical to others.
c. Always Investigate Hosting Providers’ Support and Customer Service
Even if you’re a whiz at setting up websites, it’s nice to know that help is available whenever you need it. Confirm that the web hosting provider has 24X7 support. Make sure that there are several ways to get support too. The most reliable providers provide support through email, phone and online chat. Great customer support includes customer.
Review their policies to ensure that you have a clear money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with their product. After you’ve narrowed things down to just a few candidates, search for online reviews about each one. Ideally, the reviews should come from real people. Testimonials on web hosting providers’ websites don’t count. It shouldn’t take long to get a feel for how a web hosting provider treats its customers.
