When you build a website you need a special type of computer where you store your website and it runs continuously day and night to serve your website to the visitors whenever they visit. Although you can host your website on your own computer but that is cumbersome and also not many of us wants to keep our computer running continuously 24x7.
For this purpose you can buy web hosting space on these special type of computers called as web servers.
These servers are special computing machines built for the sole purpose of serving websites. There are various types of web hosting you can buy but not all will suite your needs.
Here are few points you should consider before choosing a web hosting:
1. Type of Website:
If you are building a website just for fun i.e. its not an important site and you do not expect many people are going to visit, you can use a free hosting but do not expect much from them. Free hosting comes with many handicaps and most important thing you should be aware of is that you can loose you website and data any time and you can not claim anything on free web host.For serious websites I strongly recommend using a paid web hosting server that range from cheap shared hosting to VPS and costly dedicated servers.
2. Technology to use:
Although websites are always delivered as HTML pages the technology that use to serve these HTML pages is not same. You can save your website pages as HTML but using a programming language to serve these pages dynamically gives many more benefits.Most commonly used web programing languages used to make websites are PHP, ASP.NET, PERL, Python, Ruby on rails, node.js and many more. Most of these languages work with Linux operating systems except ASP.NET where you need to have windows based servers.
You should choose web host according to your website needs.
3. Control Panel:
Web hosts now provides web based control panels so you can manage many tasks like adding domains, making sub domains, managing your website files and many more without having to contact web host's support for every small task.Most linux web hosting services like hostgator, bluehost now provide cPanel and in my view if you are not too good in technical stuff you should choose a cPanel based web hosting as it saves too many headaches.
For windows ASP.NET hosting you should go for Plesk.
Some web hosting companies like mediatemple provide their proprietary control panels that serves the purpose nicely.
4. Website Builder:
If you haven't built your website and want to use website builders provided by web host that you should look for a host with nice website builder. In this case I recommend using services like wix or weebly to make your website and you won't have to buy your own web hosting. You can make your website and they will host your website for you. Their base package is free and most of the people do not need to upgrade to paid plans.5. Web Host Support:
Before I go into the details of web hosting features to look at I like to strongly point out this, "You should always go for a web host that has better support even if it cost more".Just imagine how much frustrating it will be if your website goes down at midnight and you web hosting guys are sleeping in their bed while you are pulling your hairs furiously.
Some web host provide only email/ticket based support and others provide phone facility in addition to it. You should go for web host providing phone support (preferably toll free) but check their phone support beforehand. Some providers may give you support phone numbers but they will never pick it, stay away from them.
Some providers are even trickier, they have working phone support but they only provide fast services for sales related queries but their technical support is not that efficient. To stay away from these type of hosts you should look at the reviews of these hosts. We will talk more about reviews later.
6. Free Domain Policy:
Many web host provide free domain name with purchase of web hosting, specially with their annual plans. Never forget to ask them about their free domain policy. Main questions to get answers are:i) On whose name the domain will be registered? Domain should be on your name.
ii) Is free domain is for first year only or for lifetime of your hosting account? Some host gives domain registration for first year only and will ask you to pay additional amount to get the domain renewed after initial duration ends.
iii) What will happen to the free domain if you later on want to cancel your web hosting account? Will they release the domain so you can only renew domain and cancel webhosting?
iv) What if you want to transfer your domain to other domain registrar? Some web hosts force you to get domain renewed from them at much higher costs as compared to other registrar. Stay away from them.
v) Is there any additional charge if you want to transfer the domain to other registrar? Some hosts may lock your domain to their services and demand high prices if you want to transfer your domain to other registrar.
7. Server configuration: RAM, CPU/Processor:
Some small web host get cheap machines and start their web hosting companies. These servers may not be able to handle the slightest of the spike in load. These machines are not suitable for any serious website to be hosted on. Renowned hosts like hostgator and bluehost are known to use state of the art machines and data centers. Mediatemple goes even further and they host your websites on what they call as Grid-servers i.e. you website is not stored on one machine but on many servers so even if the load on one server increases other server keeps on serving your website to visitors. For this reason mediatemple hosts some of the biggest website on the internet.8. Server location and target audience:
Most of the web hosts have their servers in USA but you may want to host your website on server located in the region where your target audience is. This gives benefit of fast page loading and better connectivity. This also benefits as the support staff is better familiar about the traffic spike time and management and also you can get cheaper call rates if phone support is not toll free.9. Ping / Traceroute:
You can get the ip address of the server from the support staff and check their ping and traceroute stats.Pings are the time taken by the request from the moment you sent request to server to the reply you get from server. Lower ping times are better. To know ping time use this command on windows command prompt:
> ping "server ip/domain name"
Your request to server goes through different networks and servers, this is called route. The number of hops your request have to make to reach the server is called traceroute. Lower values of traceroute is better. To know traceroute use this command on windows command prompt:
> tracert "server ip/domain name"
10. Reseller or real host:
Big web hosting companies allow small web host or individuals to start their own web hosting services by selling Reseller Plans. Resellers are not real web hosts they are only collecting payments and selling services of other companies. You should stay aware of these as tech support is provided by the server owning company and not by the reseller. When you talk to sales support the reseller is replying and when you talk to tech support some guy from other company reply. Sometimes the tech support requests are to be forwarded by the reseller, that can result in slower support and frustrations.11. Space and bandwidth(data transfer):
Earlier when the cost of hard drives and data transfer were high, web host used to give very little web hosting space and bandwidth but now most of the host provide enough of both. Still you should check your requirements. If you want to host and serve large media files like videos and images then you will need much more space and data transfer in comparison to a normal website.12. Truth of unlimited space/ bandwidth:
Now a days you will find lots of hosts are providing webhosting plans with unlimited space and bandwidth. Remember there is no such thing as unlimited. They have fair usage policy in place that regulates the amount of space and data you can use. Ask your web host about the usage policy before signing up. This can save you many billing headcaches.13. https / SSL support:
If you are planning to start a ecommerce website where you will be collecting buyer's credit card details or your website collect any other sensitive information then you will need https/SSL support. You should ask your web host about this and also about whether they will charge additional for it.14. Custom email address, pop mail, mail forwarding:
If you are running a business, custom email address on your domain name like "you@yourdomain.com" make your business look more trustworthy. Ask your web host whether they provide custom email addresses, mailboxes etc. Pop mail is required if you want to connect to your mail box using outlook or similar application. You can also forward your mail to your primary mailbox if your web host support mail forwarding.15. Autoresponders:
Auto responders are special software that helps in better communications with your site's visitors/customers. You write mails in advance and the software send it to the customer when they try to contact you. For example, if you are going on vacation you can set up an auto responder that will reply with information about you being unavailable, when you will be back and whom to contact in case of any emergency. If you think you need it then ask your webhost whether they provide it or not.16. Uploading method/ FTP:
Now days most of the web host provide FTP for file transfer but still there are few who still provide only web based file transfer that is slow and there may be limits on file type and size. You should ask for FTP access as it is faster and also you can upload large files and folders with much ease. If a webhost provide SSH access in addition to FTP then it is even better.17. Logs: webalizer/awstats:
Logs are the files that saves the data regarding your visitors. There are other ways by which you can track your visitors like google analytics but having logs programs gives you access to more data and data is always good. Most popular log programs are webalizer and awstats. This point is not a deal breaker for most.18.Up-time guarantee and how they honor it:
Your web host provider is supposed to keep your website up and running 24x7 but there are times when something goes wrong and your web host need some time to fix the problem so they can not keep you website up 100% of the time. You should signup with a host which provides more than 99.9% uptime guarantee. Now you will find many host who promise of > 99.9% uptime but they do not tell you what if your website goes down too frequently. Renowned hosts gives you money back guarantee if your website goes down more than expected. Look for uptime guarantee while signing up.19. File size and type limitations:
Some host forbid to store certain types of files on their servers. for example many have problem with executable files, other don't allow adult stuff, copyrighted files etc. If you are planning to host such file ask your webhost in advance or later you may fall in trouble. Also ask them about the file size limitations or they may delete large files without notifying you.20. Backup method and restore cost:
This one is important: Always go for a host that offers automated backup of your data. Loosing your data is most scary thing that can happen to any webmaster. If your web takes regular backup then you can be assured that you will get your data back if something goes wrong. I get weekly emails from hostgator regarding my data got backed up, It really help me in sleeping well :)Also ask if there is any fee you have to pay if you ever need to get your data restored from backup.
21. email sending limitations:
If you are planning to use your webhosting account to send mass emails then stay aware that most of the webhost may have problem with that. Ask about mail sending limitations before signing up or later you may get your account suspended.22. Multiple domain hosting:
If you are planning to host more than one website then you will need to buy a plan that allows the number of you want to add. In cPanel based hosting you can host websites on separate domain or subdomain, either is counted as one add-on domain.23. Sub-domains:
You may want to use subdomains to host separate website or as a separate function of your website like redirecting or tracking urls. Look for subdomain support and addon domains allowed while purchasing web hosting plan.24. Payment term/ schedule:
Most host offer multiple payment terms and schedules. You can choose from monthly, quaterly, half yearly, annual or even sometime multiple year plans. Web hosts offer nice discounts on annual or longer plans but I suggest you stick to monthly plan at first. That is because you may want to cancel your hosting if its not upto your requirements. You can always upgrade to higher plans later, no host is going to say no to that.25. Cancellation/refund policy:
Before ordering a hosting plan confirm about webhost's cancellation and refund policy, especially if you are ordering multiple month or yearly plan. Some webhost offer refund if you cancel within a fix duration like 30 days or so and other offer to refund the amount that is left in your account while there are few those do not give any refund once you have paid.26. Transfer policy:
If you are moving to a host or taking your website away from a webhost you will need help from web host support. Ask for their policy on that. Some webhost move your websites for free and others are notorious to charge additional to move your data.27. Check for web host's review:
Before signing up it is highly recommended you check for web host's review on other websites and forums but always take these reviews with a pinch of salt. Many of those glowing reviews may be planted by the web host itself or affiliates of those hosts. In same way negative reviews may be posted by competing web hosts. If you want to save all this hassle of looking for honest reviews, you can sign up for web hosts who have made their reputation over years of serving satisfied customers. I suggest hostgator and bluehost for cheaper cPanel plans and mediatemple for people who want stable and fast web hosting.28. Check web host's support forum and knowledge base:
Many web host also run support forums where users can find answers to commonly raised queries and problems. You will also find reviews of these web hosts in these forums that can hugely help in making buying decisions.Busy forums also indicate the web host is used by many web masters. If support staff is active in forums you can figure that web host is serious about their support activities.
29. Check whois details of host:
Check for the whois data of web host's domain at sites like whois.net. Stay away from web hosts who have their domain registered within 1 year. Older domain suggest the web host is in business for long period and can be trusted but that is not always true.30. Price of hosting:
For many new web masters price is main point of selecting a web host but I strongly recommend you never to go make a decision based on price. Cheap web host have to stuff their servers with more websites to make it profitable and that will in return adversely affect the stability of web server. You surely do not want a web host that charges less but their web server is down more than its working.My recommendation for web hosting:
- cPanel based Shared hosting: Hostgator and bluehost are cheaper than mediatemple but they have cpanel hosting and they have proved themselves over many years and literally host millions of websites.
- Grid Server: Mediatemple charges $20 USD per month and onward but their quality servers are super fast, stable and trusted by lots of website owners. When it comes to reliability in shared hosting mediatemple is best.
- VPS hosting: Servint offer cpanel based VPS that are fully managed. I am very impressed by their support. I never have to wait for more that 5 minutes to get a reply from support staff.
- For cheaper unmanaged VPS you can go for digitalocean cloud based VPS server where you can get VPS for as low as $5 USD per month. Their VPS are SSD based that are way faster compared to old HDD based VPS.
- Dedicated servers: I have never used any dedicated hosting till now so cant say much but as a Servint customer and based on their support quality I would suggest their dedicated servers.
