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Imagine you’re surfing the web and coming across some fascinating websites that are getting a lot of traffic. “What’s their secret?” you wonder.
The answer is simple - a reliable web hosting service. While there are several strategies that contribute to a website’s success, choosing the right hosting provider for your project is fundamental.
So, how can you nail that as a beginner?
By the end of this comprehensive guide, you’ll learn everything about web hosting and discover some handy tips to pick the best service for your website.
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows users to browse your site over the Internet. It’s one of the most important criteria to consider when setting up an online project.
Hosting providers are companies specialized in
managing, configuring, and administering servers, which house our precious websites.
When you buy a subscription plan from a host, you are essentially leasing server space for storing your site data, such as HTML and CSS files, databases, multimedia, and more.
Main Types of Web Hosting
Web hosting comes in different shapes and sizes. You’ve probably come across the terms shared, dedicated server, and VPS. But what’s the difference between them? And which one is suitable for a first-timer?
Let’s have a look at the three primary web hosting solutions.
Shared Hosting
Shared is the most basic and cheapest category of hosting, coming as low as $1 - $2/month. A single physical server can host hundreds of websites and users split its system resources (disk space, CPU, RAM, and bandwidth).
This type of hosting is ideal for beginners, personal websites, and startup projects (with less than 30,000 monthly
visitors).
Dedicated Server
A dedicated server is polar to shared hosting. You rent a full physical server from the hosting company’s data center and use all system resources for yourself. That’s why it’s the most expensive form of hosting, with fees ranging from around $100 up to $1,000+ a month.
Having a dedicated server means getting full control over configurations, security tools, software installations, and the choice of the operating system. This subset of hosting targets large, resource-hungry websites (over 100,000 monthly visits).
VPS Hosting
Virtual private server (VPS) is the mid-scale and most cost-effective solution for those who have outgrown their shared hosting resources, but still don’t need an entire dedicated server. The service is mostly popular among small to medium-sized businesses.
Using virtualization technology, hosting providers split a physical shared server into multiple partitions in the virtual space. Each user gets their own private environment and dedicated server resources. Without burning a hole in your budget, a virtual private machine gives you scalable CPU/RAM/space, improved performance, increased security, and blistering speeds.
How to Choose Good Hosting
The web hosting market is evolving in leaps and bounds, making it a tough row to hoe for newcomers to choose the right service for their needs. Still, there are some major factors you should consider to easily identify a dependable host provider.
Network Uptime
The last thing you want is for a visitor to click on your website,
only to find it unavailable. Frequent downtimes can easily drive your audience away and lower your Google ranking - two things you definitely want to avoid.
The first thing you should look for is the hosting company’s average network uptime. This is the time your website is fully operational for a specific timeframe (at least 30 days). Your best bet here is to choose a service that guarantees an uptime of 99.95% or higher.
Load Time
You’ve most likely visited websites that take ages to load. Remember how frustrating it was? You don’t want your visitors to feel the same about your site.
Google study represents the time required for a web page to display
all its contents. According to a Google study when a page takes
longer than three seconds to load, 53% of mobile site users abandon it, never to return again. That’s why you need a web host that makes everything to optimize its servers for fast load times.
Security
Security is very important, especially in shared hosting. Having multiple neighbors on the same server makes your website vulnerable to cybersecurity threats. If one user’s site becomes infected, the entire network can be compromised.
You want to safeguard both your website and your visitors’ data. Not to worry, shared hosting is still a great option as long as your web hosting plan comes with robust security features. This includes server monitoring, SSL certificates, DDoS protection, and malware filters.
Customer Support
Many beginner clients face unexpected issues due to less experience in website management and having to handle so many things at once.
That’s where professional support comes into play.
Therefore, it’s best to look for a hosting provider that offers multiple support channels (e.g., live chat, email, phone, and ticket) and is available around the clock. Self-help resources, like knowledge base and tutorials, are also a fantastic way to resolve issues promptly.
Useful Tips for Beginners
Now for the good stuff! Here are some quality tips to consider before opening an account with a hosting service:
Avoid Free Hosting
Getting free hosting sounds like a great bargain, but there’s always a price to pay. Free web hosts are often unreliable. Because of their business
model, you cannot expect much control over the environment or any fancy
features. Such hosts are largely unsecured as well and rarely invest in a solid infrastructure.
These services are also notorious for their repeated downtimes and slow speeds. That’s because they overload their shared servers with users in an attempt to cut the costs. As for domain names, they often limit you to a subdomain or an auto-generated name with no visible meaning.
A lot of free hosting providers force their subscribers to accept
advertisements on their hosted websites. Imagine your visitors being bombarded with ads when accessing your page - that’s never a good sign for its legitimacy.
If you’re a beginner on a budget, there are many reputable hosting services that offer up to 90-days money-back guarantee or free trials. Some premium hosts even sell plans for as low as $2 per month, so you can still build an online project without breaking the bank.
Aim for Fast Storage and Bandwidth
Disk space or storage refers to the amount of content you can store on your website, such as files, databases, videos, images, or emails.
There are two popular storage types – Hard Disk Drives (HDD) and
Solid State Drives (SSD). The former is a traditional method of storing
content, whereas the latter is more efficient and operates at a much faster
rate.
Bandwidth refers to the volume of data that a website can transmit to its visitors in a given time frame. The higher the bandwidth - the better for your website.
Many web hosts advertise unlimited storage or web traffic. While
that might sound very tempting, this is not something that can be realistically achieved. I mean, have you ever heard of a hard disk with no limits?
While you’ll often have more than enough space to host your site,
there are certain limitations in the Terms of Service that will prevent you
from taking too many system resources .
Don’t Forget Your Backups
A backup is a copy of your website that is a vital part of your site maintenance and its constant availability.
It keeps you from losing your progress and data in the event of a disaster. Your web hosting company should preferably provide periodic website backups or make it simple for you to do it yourself.
Look for Additional Features You Might Need Later
A plethora of features isn’t really vital for a beginner. After all, you only need what’s necessary for your starter website. Regardless, it’s always better to look for a service that offers a decent number of freebies, such as domain names, SSL certificates, Content Delivery Network(CDN), or website builder.
Even if something in your hosting plan doesn’t seem immediately
useful - check if it can somehow benefit you down the line. Thinking in advance is always good for business.
Conclusion
Now that you know all about web hosting, you can rest assured that companies offer bundles tailored to different user needs. Still, it’s always wise to conduct extensive research with your particular requirements in mind. If you follow all the tips discussed in this article, you’ll surely gain more confidence in your ability to choose the right hosting company.
Enjoy!