You are excited about your new domain name, and now all you need is a company to host your web site. But, where is the best place to start looking? Do you know what features are important in a good web hosting company? How can you know if they’re reliable? This article will guide you through the process of choosing and purchasing website hosting services. With a little knowledge, you can easily avoid common pitfalls.
Always register your business’ domain name on your own, outside of your hosting site. This way, if a shutdown or argument ensues, your valuable domain name will remain protected. If you register your domain through your host, they have control of it.
You should ask about any security measures that are in place when choosing a web host. Websites are under attack regularly, and there are very many other threats, as well. Ask if the host you are using has protected themselves, and you from attacks that will cause harm, including DDoS threats. Ask your host how these attacks could affect your website.
Make a hard copy backup of your website data, whether your web host requires it or not. It’s important to do this, because you need to ensure your data is safe for compliance and strategic reasons. In the worst-case scenario, since you have a copy of your data, you’ll know that you won’t be starting from scratch.
To increase your overall profit margins, research the prices of the hosting companies gunning for your business. Expect to pay up to $60 a month for hosting; however, cheaper services may be more reliable than expensive ones. Whereas you may get more bandwidth from a more expensive hosting site, that doesn’t necessarily mean you will have less downtime with that site.
When selecting a web host, figure out which one will give you in-depth information and data about how many visitors are accessing your site. Independently add a traffic counter somewhere on your website, then compare its results to those that are provided by your host. When you run an online business, this data will help you customize your strategy in reaching out to your audience.
Be cautious with packages for web hosting that allow unlimited services. For instance, an offer of unlimited disk space may limit the types of files you can store. Also, unlimited bandwidth could come with multi-level payment plan. Do your best to get as much as information as you can with regard to these kinds of plans. Don’t assume that unlimited actually means unlimited.
Data Center
Many web page hosting services actually rely on an even larger host. These companies are in the business of buying bulk server space from a large host, and making money by leasing it to end-users. Figure out which data center your site will be located in and buy hosting from the cheapest provider using that data center.
A control panel (cPanel) is of utmost importance if you are choosing a web host. A cPanel allows you to add common applications to your site easily. Applications, such as these, are incredibly easy to install and make the perfect middle man for management between you and your hosted files. Not to mention, it will help remove a lot of the excess clutter that might go by unnoticed to the non-machine eye and help your website function with less memory and higher speeds.
As you now know, it is not enough to register a domain name and draw up the plans for a website; you must also select a hosting service. You will find it is not difficult to do if have a good idea of where you should look and which features you need. Apply the tips from this article so you can get your website up and running as quickly as possible.