What to look for when choosing a web host

Here are some tips on how to select a web host for your website.

It is imperative that when you select a web hosting company that is able to provide you with secure and reliable web hosting services, especially if you are launching a business site. In addition to providing access to your website, web hosts also offer support, bandwidth, and speed, along with services related to managing these servers and software. Choosing a web host should be one of your top things on your mind.

Choosing a free web hosting service comes at a price

Allowances for bandwidth usage

As the term implies, bandwidth (sometimes loosely referred to as “traffic” or “data transfer”) is the amount of data that you allow to be transferred each time someone visits your site and browses through the content on it. Does the hosting plan provide you with enough space to meet your needs? In order to give you a rough idea of how much bandwidth is typically required by a website, most new websites that do not include video or music on their website use less than 3 gigabytes of bandwidth per month. Consider a paid hosting provider if, for example, you anticipate that your site may expand significantly in the near future or if you need sound, video, etc. on the site.

You should think twice before you go for a free host. You should first take into consideration the size of your site and how many visitors you expect on a daily basis. A lot of free web hosting providers have imposed daily or monthly limits on how much traffic you are allowed to have on your website. If the content of your website includes hundreds of images or videos overall, which is more than the number of visitors (traffic) you have agreed to receive per day, week, or month, the host may be entitled to disable your website, or send you a bill for breach of contract.

In addition, there are other considerations before using free hosting services, such as the fact that the files you upload may be limited to a certain size. The key advantage of using a paid host is the ability to load larger file sizes if you wish to distribute software or high-resolution imagery.

Advertising

In order to offset the costs of providing your website free web space, many, but not all, free Web hosts impose advertising on your website. Most people get annoyed when they see ads in, or pop-ups appearing on, their computer screens. Advertising-heavy websites tend to be perceived as low-quality and even spammy, so they may be considered immediately off-putting to potential visitors. Before signing up for free hosting, it is wise to read the fine print to make sure advertising isn’t required in exchange for the free service.

Choosing a web host option to upgrade your system

It is important to find out if you can grow your website with the host. Generally, new websites are going to be hosted on a shared hosting account, which is relatively powerful these days. If, on the other hand, you expect your website to grow in the years to come, then perhaps you need to consider a more powerful server (virtual private or dedicated, for example). The hosting company should have suitable plans for upgrading the system to and make sure the process is as smooth and straightforward as possible.