7 Factors to Consider When Choosing a Reliable Web Hosting Company

Choosing the correct web host for your website is a vital decision for your business. You want it to answer your needs, and to offer multiple benefits as well. In other words, you’re not allowed to make a wrong decision since you might cause terrible issues to your business. In this article, we will explore seven factors which are essential for choosing a reliable web hosting company.

Understand the exact needs of your website

There are many web hosting companies out there, but only a few of them could completely answer your website needs. Therefore, ask yourself a few questions first. What is my budget? What type of website do I need? How much traffic do I expect? Do I need WordPress? These are all fundamental questions, but quite relevant. If you answer all these questions in detail, you will have an easier time finding the right web hosting provider for your website.

Do they offer all the essential features for your business?

Many hosting companies are offering all basic features. However, you should always look for more and check if their offer includes even more tools. One of them is a one-click installer, which is a great tool to help you install applications such as WordPress or Joomla. You might also need FTP/SFTP access to be able to manage and move large files on your server safely. Finally, if you have to make some site-wide administrative changes, you’ll have to access the .htaccess file. All these tools are super relevant, depending on your business niche.

What are the server’s uptime scores?

You need a stable web host provider since no business can’t afford to be offline even for a few hours. Even though there are many server monitoring tools which are great for tracking a web host, you can, in most situations, only look at their uptime scores and see if your web host is stable or not. The current standard in the industry is 99.95% uptime. However, anything below 99% is considered harmful and should be avoided.

The ability to upgrade

Your business can (and should) always grow, and therefore, it is highly recommended to choose a web host provider which will allow your server to expand and upgrade as well. The thing is, even if you opt for a good shared hosting plan, there will always be a limit to the available resources. Once your website attracts more massive traffic, your shared hosting plan will not be big enough. That is the reason why having a hosting provider which offers an upgrade is a lot more useful than finding a new host and moving your entire website.

Do they offer a refund and free trial?

Web hosts are expensive sometimes, especially if you’re starting a new business with a small budget. That’s why it is crucial that a hosting company offers a form of refund policy, as well as a free trial period. A free trial is great for testing the hosting plan and finding out if it fits your current business needs. Also, when you are not satisfied, choosing a provider with excellent and reliable refund policies will help you not lose too much money.

Do they offer a backup policy?

Backups are vital for any website. Even if you secure it with multiple security measures, things like viruses, crashes, or hacks could always happen, and you can’t prevent it entirely. That is why a good backup policy is essential when choosing a web hosting provider. The right provider should be able to restore your site entirely, with minimum downtime. You can’t afford considerable losses to happen, such as losing your website completely.

Customer support

Problems with the server have to occur from time to time, and you won’t be able to fix all of them yourself. That’s why a great customer support team is essential. You want your provider to have an excellent customer support team to help you via live chat, social media platforms, or telephone at any time. Keep that in mind when choosing your provider.

Don’t rush with choosing your hosting company. Make the decision only when you are entirely sure that it fits all your current needs. Also, these seven factors should always be your guides for making the right decision in the end.