Anyone who is interesting in starting a website has to be concerned with web hosting. However, there are many things that people don’t know about web hosting. They don’t know what it is or how to choose a host. Here are some great tips about web hosting so you can make smart decisions about your website.
You can almost always save money on your web hosting by paying in advance. Discounts for multi-month and yearly packages are common. However, you don’t want to lock in with an unreliable host. Try out a new host for a month or two before you lock in a long-term commitment, and check out the cancellation and refund policy beforehand.
Make sure that you think of smoking as an all or nothing situation. Do not argue with yourself in your head about how much you think you need to have a cigarette. Anytime you feel the urge to debate try to remind yourself of the reasons that you are quitting.
Switch web hosts if an outage lasts for more than a day. Even if the host explains why the server is down, the most likely reason is that the host did not invest enough into back up plans as far as outages are concerned. Any truly professional web hosts will have ensured that outages will be short and infrequent.
When transferring your site between hosts, have a copy of your website at both your old and new hosts for a few days. It’s important to do this because it takes 6-48 hours for the DNS to propagate. During this time, some visitors will be sent to your old website, while others whose ISPs have updated their DNS info will be sent to your new site.
When choosing a web hosting company, you want to go with security over cheaper prices. It is important that not only is all of your information secure, but all of your customers’ information, as well. Select a web hosting company that you know you can trust and that provides secure web hosting.
If you are considering a free web hosting service, be careful. You will want to keep your own backups of all your important data, since free hosting services often have minimal backup services, if any. If there is a system failure or downtime, you may be stuck without any recourse if you site or certain files disappear.
It is important to determine your needs prior to shopping for a web hosting service. There are numerous packages you can choose from that vary significantly in price. Some of the factors you should consider include the amount of bandwidth you need, how much disk space you require, and the types of databases offered. Knowing your requirements in a web host will make it much easier for you to select a hosting package.
If a web hosting provider offers you a deal that seems to be good to be true, it probably is. No provider can offer unlimited storage space or unlimited bandwidth, so if a host claims to provide these, they are most likely scamming you. Look for a host that offers more realistic services.
Before choosing a web host provider, check to see how fast files can be uploaded or downloaded from their server. If this information is not readily available from them directly, use a “website speed test” service who can run a test for you. Realize, however, that accuracy varies and can be different depending on the time of day.
Now that you’ve learned a bit about web hosting, take the information in this article and use it when you are choosing a host or hosting a site yourself. The right web host can make or break the success of your site, so learn as much as you possibly can about hosting and you’ll be happy you did.
