What are you looking for in a hosting plan? You are looking for a reliable tool that can help you enhance your business or take your hobby one level up. There are plenty of options out there and there is something for everyone. Having said that, not everything is for everyone. This article is created to help you understand how to make this important choice.
Understand what’s being offered
Before you select a hosting plan, you need to know what you are looking at. Understanding different server types will create a good basis for making an informed decision.
If you opt for a shared server you could be sharing resources with hundreds of others. For that reason, this is the most affordable option. However, the entire load of all its users is placed on a single unit which can sometimes compromise individual performance for users. Also, hosting on a shared server could be limited in the scenes of how much access you can get to certain features of the server, what apps you can run, etc.
To level up from there, there are Virtual Private Servers (VPS) which are essentially quite similar to the shared server. However, they do imitate a private server which is best seen through performance improvements from basic shared hosting. A VPS does require some server management and server maintenance knowledge.
A dedicated server will give you a server just for yourself. However, you will need to have a person on board who knows how to manage servers. This is just like having an in-house server other than the fact that it is remote.
Instead of sharing performance, this last type allows you to share the load. Cloud servers are based on a network of servers. This means that the load is split among them thus improving responsiveness, the ease of backing up and retrieving data, as well as scalability, budgeting, etc. If you are looking for a great cloud hosting provider, check out Verpex.
Consider How much support you need and what you can handle on your own
Depending on the type and the size of your business, as well as what resources you have available you need to decide how much support you need from the hosting provider and how much support you want to have. If you do have IT personnel with Severe management skills you could do with an unmanaged plan where you still get technical support (availability varies depending on a hosting provider)
On the other hand, if you do not have in–house IT who can live up to the task you should be looking at a managed hosting plan. Most service providers will offer you this as an option regardless of the type of server-hosting you are considering. So, for example, if virtual private servers tick all the boxes for you, yet you do not have the resources to take on the large responsibility of managing a server, you should be looking at managed VPS hosting. In that case, it will be like having a designated person just on the provider’s side.
Be objective when it comes to pricing
Whether we like it or not, pricing usually plays a significant role in the decision-making process regardless of the type of service or product one is looking to purchase. Some are interested in spending as little as they can, while others believe that a hefty price always indicates high quality.
Now how do you know that you are not overpaying for the service? Alternatively, how do you know that you are getting a bargain deal, rather than spending less because the service isn’t worth all that much?
1) ensure you understand your requirements and have some sort of future development plan so you might know what resources you will need in the upcoming period. Look at the scaling of certain plans. It is not only about the initial investment. You could be spending more down the track on account of spending little initially. If you are not able to project future needs, there are plans for that as well.
2) Don’t be lazy to read the fine print – you might come across cheap unlimited offers that will turn out not to be as unlimited as they sounded and will end up costing you a lot for any extra features or resources.
3)Find a couple of reviews on the hosting provider you are considering, make sure their service is what they are saying it is.
Think about your current and future goals and requirements
This pretty much comes back to point 1 of the above. You need to be aware of your needs. How many resources you will end up using. What is it that you are hosting? If you are hosting a website, you know its purpose. If it is your main tool for attracting or doing business you hope to see high traffic driven to it. On the other hand, if it is just a replacement for a pretty leaflet with info about your business, you will be ok with low traffic and low bandwidth.
If you hope to see your business grow but you do not know how it will develop or it varies seasonally, for example, you should be looking at a plan which is easily scalable (and with predictable pricing). In such a case, you should probably focus on cloud hosting.
Prioritize additional features
Look past the initial price, and consider additional features that might make a difference to your business. We sure all want to get as much as we can for our dollar but some things are just perks, while others are necessities. This is why you need a list of priorities.
If you are hosting a website and your business relies on it, you depend on its reputation. For this reason, you will want to look into a plan that will allow you to be the owner of your domain. This way, even if you change providers, your promotional efforts will not go to waste. On the other hand, if you are hosting an app or database necessary for your business to function you will be looking for different things. You want speed and responsiveness for those accessing the data remotely and you probably want to focus more on the backup and data recovery plan.
Web hosting opens up a lot of options to businesses operating nowadays. We are very lucky to have such amenities at our disposal in this day and age. For this reason, it is very important to know how to make the best use of them and you will only be able to do it if you spend some time choosing the provider and making sure that the hosting plan suits you just right.