When deciding on the hosting plan for your website, the availability of plenty of hosting plans and providers might perplex you. This becomes even more challenging for those who are initiating their online journey and are less aware of the basics of web hosting.
Whether you are embarking on a new journey or looking to change your hosting plan, this know-how guide will ease all your concerns and enable you to choose the right hosting plan for your website in the simplest manner. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
Why Is Choosing a Good Hosting Plan Essential for a Website?
A web hosting plan is the most basic and essential factor that enables a website to go live on the web and make it accessible to users.
Unless you reach your users, you can’t succeed online. This is why you must opt for a reliable and high-performing hosting plan. A good hosting plan and provider make it easy for you to go online and keep you online, and allow you to attain your website goals.
How to Decide on the Right Hosting Plan?
There are various factors that you must be well aware of before choosing the right hosting plan for your business. In this section, we’ll cover all the important aspects to help you choose the best plan for your business.
1. Get familiar with the types of plans.
The first and most important thing that you must know when choosing the hosting plan for your site is to be familiar with all types of plans. There are various types of hosting plans, including shared hosting, VPS hosting, & dedicated hosting, which come with different features and prices. Let’s go over each one by one.
- Shared hosting plans
A shared hosting plan is the most affordable plan among all types of plans and is most popular among small website owners. In this form of hosting, you share a server and its resources with other users. Since you share the server with others, the hosting cost is divided among all the users, making it an affordable option. With this, you have limited server control.
- VPS hosting plans
VPS or Virtual Private Servers is the second type of hosting where you are allocated a virtually separate server to host your website. This is more secure, better performing, and costlier than shared hosting, but it also is more affordable than dedicated web hosting. This is because, even though you share the server with others, your website is in a separate, secure environment. Websites with increased data and traffic can opt for this web hosting. VPS hosting offers more control over your server to users.
- Dedicated hosting plans
The most secure, high-performing web hosting is dedicated web hosting. Among all, it is the most expensive of all as it provides you with a separate server that solely belongs to you. If you have a large website with enormous data and huge traffic, and you need full control over your server, you can go for dedicated web hosting.
2. Determine your website needs.
The next step in choosing the right plan for your website is to assess your website needs. This means determining whether your website is large or small, enjoys more traffic or less, the amount of data your site has, and the amount of resources you would need to handle all these. Evaluating all these can help you choose the right plan for your site.
For instance, if you are launching a new site, reliable shared hosting can work for you, and you do not need to invest much initially. You can effortlessly upgrade to a higher plan when your site expands and requires more resources.
If you have a medium-level website and are looking for a more secure environment at an affordable price, you can opt for a VPS plan.
Besides these, if you are running a large website receiving enormous traffic and need total control over your server, you can go for a dedicated plan. But remember, dedicated hosting comes with more responsibility. You have to manage everything on your own.
3. Prioritise the features.
In order to determine the best plan, consider focusing on the following features. All are essential to supporting your online presence, allowing you to grow uninterruptedly.
- Check Service Uptime
Ensure to check the service uptime guarantee of the hosting provider to make sure your website will be up and running most of the time. Don’t choose a hosting provider with a lower uptime guarantee. This will impact your online presence, user experience, and trust. Nowadays, many hosting providers offer a 99% or higher uptime guarantee. This will help you shorten your list and allow you to choose a reliable hosting plan.
- Check for reliable customer support
Despite opting for a reliable hosting plan, you might need help at times, which can be easily resolved by a reliable helping hand. Check whether the hosting provider offers customer support. This will help you get your concerns resolved at the earliest, without impacting your online presence, user experience, or trust.
- Check out the reviews of the host
Everyone is doing business out in the market and is trying hard to entice users to make a profit. Therefore, it’s crucial to check what customers feel about the services. This will help you determine who is actually providing quality services and is capable of supporting your online presence on the internet.
Also, make sure you are not fooled by fake reviews. Try looking at real customer reviews.
- Opt for a reasonable plan
When choosing a hosting plan, many users often overlook the reliability and are enticed by the cheap hosting prices.
This is not to say that you should opt for an expensive plan. Remember, an expensive plan is not a guarantee of reliability, and a cheap plan is not always bad.
Thus, ensure to assess every aspect of a web hosting provider and choose a reasonable hosting plan that is easy on the pocket as well as proficient and featureful.
- Check for security measures
Website security is one of the major things that you must focus on when choosing a host. Check what security features the host offers with the plan. This will secure your site from cyberattacks and keep your data secure. Choose a hosting provider that offers powerful security features and allows you to perform uninterruptedly.
- Check for the backup feature
Despite the high-performing security features, it’s crucial to check whether your host offers backup options and how frequently it backup your website data. This will ensure your website data is in safe hands and is stored in a secure place that you can access in case of any mishappening. Choose a host that regularly and frequently backups your site.
- Check the host’s server locations
Next, you have to check your web hosting provider’s server location. The servers must be located near your targeted audience. This is because the closer the server locations to your host, the faster your site’s loading times will be. This will help you choose a hosting provider that can efficiently enhance your site’s performance. Thus, ensure to choose a host who has server locations near your audience.
- Check for the Add-On features
Last, but not least, check for the additional features your web host is offering. To stand out, many web hosts offer additional features that can act like a cherry on the cake. This will provide you with additional benefits at the same price along with the above-mentioned features.
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To Conclude
Selecting the right hosting plan can be tricky at the beginning, especially for novice users. But, once you learn the basic know-how of web hosting, you can easily select a plan and help your website grow uninterruptedly. Here we’ve covered various factors, including the types of hosting plans, understanding your site’s needs, and factors such as service uptime, server location, pricing, backup features, and security measures. All these can ease your selection process and help you choose the best hosting plan as per your needs and budget. Whichever plan you choose, either Shared, VPS, or Dedicated, make sure to purchase it from a reputable web hosting provider. Ensure to keep all the points in mind while selecting your new web host and let your website connect with the audience effectively.
