Updated July 13th, 2022

Back to Basics in Web Hosting: What You Need to Consider

If you are on the hunt for a web host, then there are a number of factors that you should look at carefully before making your choice. Maybe you’ve got a brand new website that you want to host, or maybe you are not happy with your current host and are looking to make a switch. Whatever the reason, it’s important to do a little research first before you decide which hosting company to work with.

The one great thing about being a consumer in the world of web hosting is that there are so many different companies all vying for your business. From huge international companies offering a range of digital solutions to small local firms, there is such a wide choice of potential web hosts to work with that at times, you might feel overwhelmed by the choice.

What type of hosting do you need?

The first thing when it comes to looking for a new web host is to decide what type of hosting you are looking for. Are you planning to host a single or multiple sites? Is your website a large one, such as an e-commerce site with hundreds of different products, or it is simply a portfolio website of your work?

Different sizes will require different hosting solutions, so it’s important you know what type of hosting you require. Most people starting out will go with what is known as “shared hosting”, which is where a web host will split up the resources of a single web server, and allocate blocks to clients. On some shared hosting packages you will be sharing the resources of the server with hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of other users.

Shared hosting is usually pretty cheap, and most hosts will offer you a choice of different packages starting from a shared hosting account for a single website, going up to packages for multiple or even unlimited websites. The price for a basic shared hosting account should be around the $10 per month mark, though you might find it for a couple dollars cheaper at some web hosts. One thing to avoid are the $1 a month hosting accounts. These will be on poorly managed servers and will cause you nothing but problems.

What resources do you need?

If you are going to use a shared hosting option, then you will need to consider what amount of resources you are going to need to host your website. Disc space refers to the amount of space you will have on the server for the files of your website.

If you have a relatively small website, then disc space of 1GB should be plenty. However, if you have a larger website, then you might want to go for the shared hosting option that has around 5GB or even unlimited disc space.

Bandwidth and data transfer are also important things to look at, though in many cases, you’ll probably see that the host is offering you an unlimited amount, so you wouldn’t really need to worry about it. If your host is restricting the amount of data transfer, then you might want to check with them if upgrades are easily available in case in the future you find your website getting a lot of traffic than it did at the start.

For a quick and easy to understand the comparison of different web hosts, head over to the Fortune Lords website, where you will find a ton of helpful advice and information.

What is the pricing?

Different hosts will have different prices for their services – that’s a no-brainer. The thing to consider though is that even though prices won’t be exactly the same, they should always be within the same type of price range. If you are looking for a shared hosting solution, then the prices per month should be around $10 per month. Anything above that, and you might want to consider looking elsewhere.

Sometimes, you’ll see prices for something like $4.99 per month, but when you actually click to view more information, that $4.99 price per month is the monthly cost when you sign up on a three year contract. So if you want to pay on a monthly basis, the actual price you’ll pay will certainly be more than the one being advertised on the website.

Spend some time checking different hosts, and comparing their prices on a month, quarterly and annual basis, and see which one is offering you the best deal for the frequency you’ll prefer to pay.

Read testimonials and reviews

Getting an idea of what a host is like is not something you’ll really accomplish by looking through their website. Every business will blow their own trumpet and tell you how great they are at what they do, and why they are the best choice.

There are a number of places online where you can go and check out real feedback about a web host. Most should have a Google business page, as well as a Facebook page, and you should head over there to check out their reviews. Google in particular makes it difficult for businesses to remove bad reviews with low ratings, so this could be the best bet to get a real picture of what a host is like. You won’t ever see a web host place negative reviews on their own websites, but Google and to some extent Facebook will display all reviews.

There are also a number of websites that you can visit which discuss different web hosts and let people share their experiences of using them. This is a great place to get some first hand feedback about what a host is like, and what type of performance and support they offer to their clients.

Final thoughts

With so many potential web hosts to use, you do need to spend some time doing a little research and comparing the prices and features of a number of different hosts. It’s important that a good host also has 24/7 support, as you never know when you might run into a problem.

Another thing to be aware of  is how your website was built. Did you use a CMS such as WordPress, or is it a static HTML website. Most hosts shouldn’t have a problem, but there might be some who use older servers, which are not as upto date as they should be.

You will also want to work with a host who provides easy hosting upgrades, without disruption to your website, so if your website becomes successful and you start getting thousands of daily visits, you need to know that upgrading to a more powerful hosting account can be done as smoothly as possible.