When you’re building a new website, a web hosting service is one of the last things that come to mind. This is ironic considering the sheer importance that a good web hosting service would have for a successful website.
There are many things that you need to consider when selecting a web hosting service. As with many things, choosing the cheapest option will often entail that you sacrifice quality and security. Even worse, you could fall victim to a scam. But, in the spirit of efficacy, you need to make sure that you’re able to get the best value for your money. The only way to do this is to make an informed decision. And this can only be done if you have sufficient information. So, how exactly do you select a web hosting service provider?
How Much Assistance Do You Need?
The very first decision you have to make when choosing a web hosting provider is to choose between an unmanaged web hosting service versus a managed hosting service.
Unmanaged hosting services provide the user with a hosting platform only. All other aspects of website management, such as web performance, security, and software are aspects that the user has to consider and implement on their end.
This is not the case with a managed web hosting service wherein these website management aspects are handled by the service provider. The reason that most businesses opt for a managed web hosting service is because this comes with everything previously mentioned as well as technical support. While managed web hosting costs significantly more than an unmanaged web hosting service, the convenience more than justifies the higher cost and will most likely even bring more benefits than if you would simply opt for an unmanaged web hosting service.
An unmanaged web hosting service is not without its perks, though. Web developers are given a high degree of freedom with an unmanaged web hosting service and they can tweak and tailor their website to their preferences. If you have the skills and the resources to take responsibility over web maintenance, then you’re going to want to get an unmanaged web hosting service.
Determine What Resources And Services You Need
Knowing what resources and services you need will also help you choose the type of web hosting best suited for you. There are three types of web hosting:
Shared - a great starting point because they don’t cost as much. As the name suggests, you do have to share server resources with thousands of other sites, which means that website performance could suffer. This is fine for websites that do not yet have a lot of web traffic.
Dedicated - makes use of an entire server to host your website. Because an entire server is dedicated to your website, you also have free rein on many aspects of your website, such as security. This also means that resources will be readily available for your website at all times. However, this all comes at a steep price.
VPS - a virtual private server is a middle ground between shared and dedicated servers because the server is divided into virtual machines, which act as independent dedicated servers. Each website that is hosted by these servers has a significantly bigger portion than those that opt for a shared server.
Cloud hosting - a hosting option that makes use of a number of different servers to balance load and to ensure maximum runtime. These servers make up a single cluster, which draws resources from a centralized pool. Should one server in a cluster cease to function, a different server is able to replace it, thus becoming part of the cluster. The more machines connected to the network cluster, the more resources become available for use.
Consider Client Reviews
While the selection process entails a lot of factors to weigh, the most time-efficient way to evaluate a web hosting service provider is to look at client reviews. This is because reviews are often the most accurate reflection of the actual performance of a service provider. The value of a review also depends on the authority of the reviewer. For example, review authorities like MangoMatter’s UK hosting reviews are going to hold more weight versus a random person’s rant-laden review.
Consider Scalability
As a bonus, you need to choose a web hosting service provider that you can grow with. Not all service providers can sustain a website’s growth and if your provider can’t support the growth of your website, you could find yourself back to square one. So, choose your service provider well.
This was a sponsored post.