When you want to run a website, you must host it. You must buy a webhosting plan that can reliably host your website. How can you find out that a webhosting plan can reliably host your website? The following are important checklists you should take into consideration when choosing a webhosting plan.
1. Basic Webhosting Features
Basic features include space, bandwidth, side builder, and the platform the plan offers. If you are a starter, buying a webhosting plan with limited space and bandwidth is a reasonable option as long as the plan is reasonably priced. Being reasonably priced doesn’t always mean that the plan is affordable. It is okay to buy a little bit expensive plan that offers limited space and bandwidth as long as the price is reasonable. Don’t get tempted with unreasonably cheap plan that offers unlimited space and bandwidth because there are many more besides space and bandwidth that you have to be concerned with. A site builder can be helpful if you want to skip the hassle of building a website. It automates the building task and you can have your website in no time. The platform signifies the software you will rely on when building a website. Decide whether you will use PHP, ASP or JSP as your platform.
2. Uptime
Why are some cheap webhosting plans that offer unlimited space and bandwidth considered unreasonably priced? They may show poor server uptime record. Remember that your website must be available 24/7. If your webhosting server is down even for half an hour, you will lose a lot of money, especially if your website has been fully developed. Before you buy a webhosting plan, you should see its server uptime record. You can use such tools as Site 24×7, Pingdom and Monitor.Us to do that. One important thing to remember is that you must keep monitoring the host’s server uptime even after you buy a plan. A webhosting plan that is known to be everlastingly up may not be similarly reliable in the future. If it performs poorly after you buy it, you may want to consider buying another plan.
3. The Availability of Multiple Domains
After you build your first website and give it a unique domain name, you may want to build another website to multiply your income. As time goes by, you will build more and more websites with their own designated domains. Be sure that the webhosting service provider allows you to use multiple domains. One recommended host that offers unlimited domains is HomeHost—a Brazil-based webhosting service provider. In addition to offering unlimited domains, it also offers both gTLD (.com, .net, etc.) and ccTLD (.br), which will be useful if you are dealing with both global and local SEO.
The three factors above are the most basic factors that beginner website developers should mind when buying a webhosting plan. As your website undergoes development, you will notice more and more factors that you must be concerned with, such as ecommerce features and site backup feature. Be ready to deal with those factors when they have become tangible concerns.
