If you’re like most people, you know very little about web hosting. If you have a website, you know a bit more than most people, but the truth is that choosing a web host can seem a bit strange. Luckily, this article has a number of smart tips about web hosting to make your hosting decisions easier.
Find out which plans are offered by each potential web host you’re considering. Some free sites do not allow you to add your own scripts to the static pages they offer. If your site requires scripting to run, you’re better off searching for some good paid shared hosting.
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.
You must be familiar with band-width, or the amount of data that is able to transfer in and out of your web hosting account. Different web hosting companies offer different prices on different band-widths, so you need to make sure you use this to help you make a decision as to who you should select for web hosting.
If your web hosting service does not notify you of planned outages, you should change. A professional service needs to do some maintenance on their servers and be able to plan when your site will be done. If you never receive this kind of notification, look for another service who communicates with their clients.
If at all possible, choose a web host that has 24-hour customer service via telephone. The larger hosting services often provide this valuable service. You do not want to be working late at night and find that are experiencing technical difficulties. Call them before you sign up, and test the level of expertise of the agents, and whether or not they can give simple instructions that are easy to understand.
Choose a hosting service that can offer you enough space for your website to grow. One page of HTML doesn’t require much space, but as you make your site more complex by adding images and video, your space requirement will grow rapidly. You need about 100 MB to adequately develop your site.
When choosing a web host, you should ensure that you choose one that has lots of features for you to utilize. Although the features of most hosts will be very similar, they will differ in their bandwidth and disk space. If you are in need of a large amount of these two things, then you should ensure that you select a web host that provides this.
The amount you have to pay for web hosting depends on how many people regularly visit your site. Find out how web traffic changes your bill. Some hosts charge a flat fee but raise the fee if you get a certain amount of traffic, while others charge you monthly based on the number of visitors your site received.
When you’re looking to hire a web host, perform online research in addition to reviewing the company’s promotional materials and what is stated on their website. Look around for online reviews from independent websites that talk about the quality of this host provider. While a host can control what is said on their own website, they can’t stop people from posting legitimate complaints elsewhere.
Choosing a web host can be a bit of a hassle if you don’t know what you are doing. Let the tips in this article guide you and spur your own research so you can make a good decision about your web host. Learn as much as you can about web hosting so you can always be sure your site is being hosted by the best.
