Ultimately, the efficiency of your website depends on the web hosting option you choose.
A web host stores the database and all files of your website. You may not have to choose the fastest hosting with the biggest storage space, but it’s crucial to match the option with your budget and needs.
Here are the things you need to avoid when choosing a web hosting provider for your website.
#1. Avoid Unreliable Hosting
Reliability is key, especially for business websites. The reliability of a website is determined by uptime – the amount of hours a website is online and running during a certain time.
A website’s uptime is commonly presented in percentage and typically ranges around 99%. For example, Hostinger provides around 99.97% uptime.
When your server experiences downtime, visitors can’t view your website – it will be offline and inaccessible. For your business, this will create a bad impression on potential customers.
More downtime also means Google will receive more reports about your site, which impacts your SEO performance.
To avoid this, research uptime statistics of every web hosting provider you’re interested in. Make sure that the uptime is at least 99.90%. Some web hosting providers even offer compensation if their uptime is below the promised rate at a given time.
#2. Avoid Slow Hosting
Your web host choice also determines how fast your website is going to load. There are several factors that can slow your website down.
Your website server may have a slow response time, which can be caused by the hosting provider using older hardware or software. It may also be caused by low bandwidth or slow transfer speed.
Like unreliable hosting, slow hosting can also increase the bounce rate of visitors. Slower loading time means worse user experience. BBC has found that for every additional second its web page takes to load, 10% of their users will leave.
If your provider uses outdated software or hardware, it can negatively impact the speed of your website. Make sure that you don’t make the wrong choice by checking if they utilize the latest technology.
#3. Avoid Paying Too Much
Choosing the more costly option doesn’t always mean you’re getting better service and features.
Similar hosting plans may be priced differently between various hosting providers. To make sure that you’re getting the best option, you’ll have to note the budget you’re willing to spend for hosting first.
When you have a clear idea of how much you’re willing to spend, check out the options you have from different providers. Examine the plans that cost closest to your budget and check their features and review. Choose the one with the best value for money.
#4. Avoid Poor Customer Service
Even if you choose the most reliable provider with minimum downtime and cutting-edge technology, there will always be a chance your server will experience issues down the road.
When it inevitably happens, make sure that your hosting provider has reliable customer support to guide you. If not, you’ll have to deal with the technical issues on your own; potentially adding time for maintenance. This will also negatively affect the experience of your visitors.
To make sure that you’re choosing a web host with excellent customer service, look up reviews from their clients. If the provider has a support message board, check how they respond to their client’s questions and the time they take to respond.
Try out their live chat and email by asking them questions not included in their FAQ. If they take too long to respond or don’t give a helpful answer, consider opting for a different web hosting.
#5. Avoid Getting The Wrong Hosting Solution
If you don’t know what your website needs or choose without considering their whole features, it’s very easy to accidentally choose the wrong hosting plan.
The three main hosting plans that can be found in most hosting providers are shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting.
If you consider only the price, you might choose shared hosting, which is the cheapest option. But for a website with growing traffic, this can cause issues. This option means you have to share server resources and space with other users, which means your website will lag more often.
Some hosting providers have extra add-ons or an option to upgrade your plans as your website traffic increases. If your provider doesn’t offer scalability, choosing the wrong plan can have long term consequences for your website.
Before choosing a plan, consider all the features that your website may need first.
If it’s a personal project or a small blog and you don’t have to worry about massive traffic, you’re free to choose shared hosting.
However, if you’re growing a business and may have lots of visitors coming to your site in the future, opt for VPS or dedicated hosting instead. VPS and dedicated hosting have more features and customization options which allow you to optimize easily.
#6. Avoid FOMO Offers
FOMO offers, like flash sales and limited time offers, are ways used by hosting companies to increase the urge of buying a hosting plan.
Oftentimes, the low price is shown during a limited-time offer or a flash sale only applies for a certain period of time. After the time period is over, it’ll revert back to the original price, which may be more than what your budget allows.
As the time limit on flash sales and limited-time offers are often very short, people also tend to make quick, poorly researched decisions when making these purchases. They may end up with add-ons and features they don’t need, or on the flip side, plans that don’t have what they need.
In the end, sales and limited offers are nice to have, but shouldn’t be the only reason you’re basing your purchase on.
Be sure of what your website needs before looking for web host options. Do thorough research of each hosting provider and what they offer, and decide which one matches your needs best.
Author Bio
Juliet is an Editor at PRable.org, all in one content marketing agency. She loves creating articles about technology, innovative product reviews, and technical writing to help scale up digital growth. She is a writer by day and a frustrated singer by night.