When searching for a web hosting provider, there are many factors that you should be considering before you pull out that credit card.
To not overwhelm you, I’m going to only focus on what I feel are the top 3 factors you should look for when choosing a web hosting provider.
Think about what you need out of your hosting. Are you just building a simple website for yourself with no frills? You require e-commerce options to sell products online? Do you need specialized software for more robust sites?
If you are just starting out with a blog or something fundamental, a shared hosting account is probably all you need. You won’t have to worry about managing the server maintenance on shared hosting.
These are usually very low monthly costs.
You want to look for a provider that is reliable. Nothing is worse than finally getting that website up and to only have frequent outages. Most hosting providers boast their uptimes of 99% uptimes.
Most shared hosting should include enough resources to manage an essential blog or standard website. But if your site starts growing and your plan your on now isn’t cutting it, there should be options to upgrade resources as needed. This could be increasing the storage limits, improving the server ram, or upgrading to a more powerful dedicated or virtual server plan.
Making sure an upgrade option is available will save the headache of having to search for another host and start over again.
I just covered some of the basics for newbies here. There are many parts to finding a right hosting provider, but hopefully, these three factors will help get you started on the right path.