Creating a personal or business website/blog is an amazing journey that starts with hiring a reliable web development agency to develop and manage the site.
Even if you are hiring a web agency to handle the entire process, it’s important to have an idea on how the backend works.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a type of hosting service that allows you to make your website accessible through the World Wide Web. A web hosting providing company provides technologies that will make your website to be seen on the internet.
Hosting is a sensitive aspect of your website that could negatively affect users’ experience. Therefore, it’s important to be smart when choosing a hosting service for your website/blog.
Before you choose any web hosting provider, it’s advisable to ask yourself the following questions;
- Is this site for personal or business?
- Do I want to sell products from this site?
- How many monthly visitors do I plan on having?
- What is my knowledge level when it comes to building websites?
- What is my price range for keeping my website up?
- Do I need a domain name?
It’s important to know that every web hosting company offers different products and services. So, answering the above questions will guide you to choose a provider whose products and services will work best for your website.
For a beginner, it’s better to choose a provider that offers just hosting services. It saves you money and time. If possible, work with a hosting service that can with you as your website grows.
Personal vs. Business
One of the things you should consider before choosing a hosting company is the goal of your website/blog. For instance, it doesn’t make financial sense to spend much money on hosting a hobby blog.
Product Sales Page
If you want to host an online store or ecommerce website, you will need web hosting services with special tools and plugins that can host products and process payments.
You could also create a separate online store and link your leading site to it. Weigh your options and go with the one that saves you money and gives your audience a better experience.
Even if you have already created a website or blog, having an online e-commerce store is a great idea. It’s advisable to hire some of the best e-commerce web development companies to work with you as developing an e-commerce store is a bit complicated
Monthly Traffic
If you feel that you can grow your audience and traffic, ensure that you have a web hosting service that can grow with you.
Most web hosting services will put a cap on the amount of traffic you can have per month, especially for the lower-priced packages.
For instance, if your web hosting package only allows 8000 visitors and your website gets 10,000 monthly visitors, it may crash. And this will give a negative experience to your audience/visitors.
Knowledge Level
Except you are an experienced website designer, it’s advisable to hire a website design expert to handle your website. There are several technicalities involved in designing a website. It takes experience and skills to do a perfect job.
Alternatively, you can host your website on a platform with easy to use templates and editors. But if you use this approach, you will need to hire an SEO expert to optimize the site.
Price Range
There are several pricing options available for you when choosing a hosting provider. You can either decide to use a free trial (depending on the hosting provider) or subscribe to a budget friendly package.
Again, if you are starting a hobby blog, you can go with the free hosting option. And when your website starts getting a reasonable level of traffic, you choose an advance package.
But for a service like a law firm, a free package hosting isn’t advisable. Do you know why? It’s because you won’t get the professional look you expect. Also, the website may not perform optimally.
Domains
Domain is another important element of a website. It refers to the address where internet users can access your website.
Most hosting providers sell domain name as part of the package you are getting. That doesn’t mean you can’t get a domain name from somewhere else. But it’s cheaper to get hosting and domain name from one provider.
Best Web Hosting Providers
Web hosting providers are so many that I sometimes lose count of them. But here are some of the most reliable hosting providers you can use to host your website.
Blue Host
Blue Host is a popular brand in the hosting niche. it’s reliable and affordable. Whether you are hosting a personal, business, or ecommerce website, blue host is a great hosting company to use.
Most webmasters prefer bluehost because it doesn’t put a limit on the number of visitors your website gets per month. Interestingly, the hosting brand provides woo-commerce hosting for online stores. It also provides domain name and user-friendly site builder.
Host Gator
HostGator is another excellent web hosting provider with a user-friendly site builder. The hosting brand is affordable, gives unmetered traffic, and perfect for large businesses.
HostGator also has unique features that enable Facebook and Instagram live streaming to your website via social media tools. Interestingly, you can also connect with Google Suite. Again, the web hosting provider comes with an ad voucher you can use on Bing or Google.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is arguably one of the most extensive and popular web hosting platforms. Surprisingly, it’s also one of the biggest domain name registrars out there. Most webmasters usually get their domains on GoDaddy.
Even if you want to host your website with another provider, it’s advisable to get your domain on GoDaddy.
With a GoDaddy annual plan, you get one year of free Microsoft 365 services, a guaranteed uptime of 99.9%, unlimited storage on most packages, 100GB storage on their cheapest package, unlimited bandwidth, and a free domain name.
Wix
Wix is an excellent choice if you don’t have much design experience. The platform has over 500 templates to choose from. And you then edit these platforms to suit you with Wix’s user-friendly website builder. Whether you want a business site, a blog, or an online store, Wix can provide you with what you want.
They do offer a free package. But it limits your bandwidth and storage space and brands your pages. Certainly, Wix’s free package isn’t advisable, if you want a professional site, but perfectly fine for a hobbyist.
Hostwinds
We have been discussing hosting services for individuals or smaller businesses. But there are large companies out there, or companies with large media files that want to host their website on the internet.
Hostwinds is an excellent option for companies who want a dedicated server. By having a dedicated server, your site will be the only one running off a particular server. Hosting through sites like Wix and BlueHost will have you sharing a server.
The disadvantage of sharing servers is that one site’s actions on the same server could affect your website.
Compared to other hosting platforms mentioned here, Hostwinds is very expensive and isn’t budget friendly for bloggers or small businesses. But if you run a gaming site or your website receives a lot of traffic and needs faster bandwidth, you will find Hostwinds handy.
Wrap Up
Web hosting has changed over the years, but so has the technology for websites and what they can accomplish. Gone are the days of AngelFire and AOL sites, thankfully.
Nowadays, a website or blog gives a lot of impression about a business or individual. And how it looks and acts will determine how many people visit, purchase, and return.
Websites have turned into the new age’s storefront and business sign. These days so much happens on the internet, from getting information to purchasing, which makes hosting such an integral decision. Unlike brick and mortar stores, customers don’t drive past your place of business twice a day on their way to and from work.
To ensure you have an online presence that will fulfill all of your needs, and deliver exceptional experience to your customers, you need to have a premium quality, functional website, and that all starts with your web hosting.
