How to Choose The Best Web Hosting Provider
Choosing an experienced and reliable web hosting company is essential in order to ensure that your website is safe and remains accessible at all times. If you are unsure of what features to consider when you experience problems with your existing provider, you have come to the right place! Forward Web provides some great information to help you determine how to choose the best web host provider in this article:
So, how do you choose the best web hosting provider?
- Excellent Customer Support is a Necessity:
One of the things that you want to look for is a provider who offers exceptional customer support. There are hosting providers that claim to offer 24-7 support, unfortunately, that doesn’t always mean that you will receive fast and trustworthy service. Before committing to any long term hosting contract, make sure you test the response of the customer service staff.
- Understand the Various Hosting Options Available:
Since there are different types of web hosting options available which include Dedicated and Managed Web hosting, shared and VPS (Virtual Private Server), we recommend that you become familiar with the different options in order to make an educated decision and choose the best option for your specific needs.
- A Good Reputation is Important:
Once you have explored your options and compile a list of important features you require, you are ready to find a host with a top of the line reputation. Do your research and be as thorough as possible; Make sure to do a background check and find out how long the company has been in business. Find out if they are able to provide you with testimonials, reviews and/or endorsements from current clients. You can even go as far as checking their average downtime statistics and review maintenance schedules. The more information you obtain, the easier it will be for you to make an informed decision.
- Choose a Host With an Outstanding Up-Time Track Record:
As mentioned previously, you should definitely verify average down-time statistics because you want to make sure the hosting provider you choose takes every precaution necessary to ensure maximum up-time. However, keep in mind that while there is no web host that can guarantee 100 percent up-time, on average they should be able to offer at least 99 percent up-time.
- Ability to Scale:
Scalability is important because as your business grows, your website will generate more traffic. Now, there is no such thing as “unlimited resources” but, your web hosting provider should be able to upgrade/scale to accommodate your amount of traffic growth as needed.
- Costs Should Not be Your Only Focus:
Remember that in most cases, you get what you pay for, and your web host provider is no exception. Choosing a great web hosting provider is a wise and valuable investment because as a business, you cannot afford any downtime. Your cost will of course, vary depending on your specific needs. For instance, if your site is only generating a small amount of traffic, then you can consider choosing a basic shared web hosting provider. However, of your business consists of selling products or generates mass amounts of traffic, then you would most likely want to use a dedicated or managed hosting provider. Although it may cost more upfront, it will be a better and more reliable choice in the long run and you can be confident that the quality of professional technical support will be better as well.
It is easy to feel confused or even overwhelmed when it comes to choosing the best web hosting provider because there are numerous web hosting companies out there. We hope the information we provided in this article can serve you as a helpful guide and clarifies a lot of the unknowns during this process. Remember, it is imperative to select the best hosting provider that meets your specific needs, your business depends on it.
If you are unhappy with your current web hosting provider, Forward Web is always happy to answer any questions you may have or can assist you in transferring your website from your current web host. We provide exceptional web hosting services and all our cPanel web hosting plans are backed by our 30 day money back guarantee. For more information or if you are ready to switch over to Forward Web, contact us today!
