When it comes to running a successful online business, a web host is your business partner. You should look for information about different web hosts from reviews like these web hosting reviews on MangoMatter that reveal the best hosting providers. While it’s possible to find cheap hosting, don’t forget to consider the availability of the most important features that your site will run on. Here are some tips that you could follow to choose an affordable web host.
Consider Server Features
The operating system allocated to your server will affect the type of scripts your website can run. It also impacts speed and things like security. Don’t go for hosting services that are cheap and forget that you need to consider server features.
Linux servers are cheaper and stable, but if you are running ASP scripts, you will have to look for a web host that offers Windows hosting. Confirm that the host offers these minimum features:
- FTP, SSH
- CGI, PHP, Perl
- Subdomains
- FrontPage extensions
- Statistics and logs
- SSL certificates
Consider the number of emails you will need for your business to run smoothly. Also, ask if there is email forwarding and auto-responders because this could help you to manage client communication better.
Data Transfer and Disk Space
Also, remember that disk space is important when you want to host a site that could have many files. The data transfer bandwidth or traffic plan offered will impact performance and stability of your website. If your website is small, you may just do well with small disk space, but for big sites, it’s important to choose a host that offers bigger space and bandwidth. These are parameters that affect performance, and therefore you should not settle for less even when the price is low. However, you can still find an affordable host with all these features, so make sure to shop around.
Uptime Guarantee
You also don’t want your website to be offline when traffic has peaked. It’s advisable to consider a web host with an uptime score of at least 99% because even slight downtime could affect your business. Also, check that there are multiple backup locations for the server (mirrored servers) so in case the server goes down the system switches to the other servers to keep your site online.
Follow Up On Testimonials
The best way to know whether a web host is reliable is to consider the experiences of other people. Check for testimonials to know if the service is reliable and to also understand the kind of challenges to expect. You could follow up with a few of those who have used the service to know how they rate the hosting provider.
Choosing a hosting provider is not a difficult process if you know the things to look at. You need to look at the type of hosting available, the features offered, and the pricing of different packages. Make sure the web host has a reliable infrastructure that will guarantee your site security and performance without having to pay more for services.
