Hosting providers are on every corner of the Internet, popping out from animated adverts and their sheer amount can be overwhelming. This raises the question “How good are they?”. Every host specializes in different aspects, but they all aim to be good in everything, overall. Also, it depends on your needs, goals and the location of your targeted audience before all else. As you know, hosting providers allow paying customers to have access to internationally-connected servers and networks.
Thus, you should have a clear goal of what you want to achieve. Regardless if you already have a website or want to create a new one, you should have a clear view of where you want your server located and bandwidth limit. If your customers are primarily going to be Americans, you would want a server located in or close to America. Next, you should allow your site to handle traffic according to your needs. If the site is new try with the cheapest plan, first. We have asked https://howtohosting.guide/ for more advice.
What Exactly Should You Look For?
After choosing your traffic quota, setting in on a server location you should choose between site platforms, like WordPress and Magento. From then on, you start comparing hosting providers on different criteria. Starting with reliability, know that most providers just exaggerate with their 99% Uptime marketing. Servers do fail and periodically are upgraded, so shut down or at low capacity when it happens. This leads to the next criterion, which is Support. You want to get a host service with Support available 24 hours, preferably over the phone.
Backups included in the plan you choose are a must just as much a fast connection speed. You want your web portal to load fast for each visitor and information to be backed up weekly at worst, hourly at best. Hosting providers have many side-products and applications they develop themselves and offer for free. Some of them are nice, but mostly fillers to try and attract you into buying a plan. Stick to the basics. Also, SSL is a must, but can be purchased separately.
Finding a Good Deal
All that we wrote until now was about desired basic features. Let us remind you that quality has a price. While that is true in most cases, know that hosting providers have worthy competitors and often offer discounts. You should know that there are different prices for:
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Signup offers;
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Renewal plans;
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Yearly contracts;
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Hidden discounts and coupons.
Usually, providers give you around 80% off discount with each of their hosting plans as a newcomer to their service. Read the fine print and see what limitations are included and what obligations you have, such as renewing the plan yearly. A good idea is to call up the marketing team of the host you would like to try out and ask for further discounts and active coupons for cutting the price even more.
So, here are a few tips we at HowToHosting.guide believe are counterparts of a good deal:
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Find a host company which has all the desired features you seek;
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Find discounts (not only starter discounts, but ones that apply over yearly periods);
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Get something free with your plan (Storage, unlimited e-mails, SSL, etc.);
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Have smooth upgrade options and scalability by just paying for a higher plan;
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Try to get benefits which are permanent even if you switch hosting providers.
Check Out the Reviews
Reviews are always a good indicator of the worth of most hosting providers. Read at least three reviews per host and do not skip the comment section, too. You will definitely gain some insight about the company you wish to sign up with and check their history. Paying users might reveal technical errors with the host or share their first-hand experience that will help you gain a perspective. In the end, different clients have diverse situations and target audiences, so keep that in mind.
Final Thoughts
Above all, make sure that you own the domain of your website, because you might change hosting providers, but you want to keep all benefits like SEO rank and domain authority for the future. An abundance of good hosting providers is to be found all over the Internet. You should look for one that will be best suited for your target audience.
In addition, look for specific services and features that you want, such as:
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Fast Speeds and Loading times;
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Friendly Interface both in the admin panel and client-side;
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Good Security and periodical Backups;
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Enough Storage space and Bandwidth availability;
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24/7 Phone Support and Guaranteed Uptime.
