After creating and designing one’s own website he/she wants to host his/her own website other wise all the hard work will go in vain. Deciding the host for the website is far more difficult job then creating and designing it. While choosing host one should be very careful and should gain proper knowledge. One should consider all the factors while opting one host, as if this one decision went wrong then all the previous work will ruin.
Following are the few factors to be consider while choosing hosting plan-
1. Uptime of the web server?
2. Does the SSL is provided by the server or not?
3. Does the server avail server side scripting (e.g. PHP, ASP)?
4. What type of host to choose Free or paid?
5. What is the upload limit and file limit?
6. Support provided to the Customer.
Now we are going to take the above factors one by one:-
1– Uptime of the web server.
While hosting one’s website he/she wants that his/her server should always be up, as if website faces downtime it will result in the loss of traffic as well as of goodwill. The customer will never visit a website which remains down most of the hours so it is very important to choose host which provides maximum uptime.
Search engines will never give position to the website that always faces the downtime.
These kinds of websites should not expect the traffic from the search engines.
One can get a web server that is usually up, by the help of the reviews of the different persons who have already used the web host.
2. Does the SSL provided by the server or not?
If one created his/her own website just for the personnel use, not for doing any transactions on his/her website then SSL protection is not required.
If one who is not doing any transactions right now, but planning to do it in the future then he /she should opt for a web host that will provide SSL protection as and when required.
SSL is an encryption method which helps to encrypt any sensitive information like credit card info, names, etc
If a customer is going for a web host who is not offering SSL protection, in that case, installation of SSL will be very expensive as if afterwards he/she is trying to get it installed then the provider can charge what ever he/she wants for the SSL protection for transactions.
3. The third factor to look at it is does the server avail for server side scripting?
There are many web host providers who provides for server side scripting but still it’s important for customers to make sure that they do or don’t.
Server side scripting permits the webmaster to create pages which changes in real time.
For example, if one is running a business, and has all of his/her products stored in a database, and then a server side script will be helpful as it generates the pages that the customer sees according to the category/product he/she chooses.
If any of the web host provider is not providing the service of server side scripting, then it means that it will be a very silly decision to choose that web hosting.
4. What type of host to choose free or paid?
Now here comes the most important factor i.e. money factor which molds the customer’s decision. It’s hard for customers to decide that what to choose –free or paid host.
In case of free host, it has one and only one advantage that it is free, rest it has only and only complications in it.
The one who is not going to do any transitions by his/her site or created his/her website only as a hobby, then any of the free host will be ok for him. On the other hand for a professional customer, it will be good for him/her to not to look at for free hosting rather choosing for a paid host. Choosing free hosting will be of no use as it will never facilitate it’s customer due to lack of facilities in it.
Free web hosting has many disadvantages such as the hosters usually run ads on one’s home page.
The paid web host usually offers better customer support that is absent in free web hosting.
5. What is the upload/bandwidth limit and file limit?
If any customer is going for hosting large image files or if he/she wants to provide downloads to his/her users then upload/ bandwidth and file limit is very important.
But if anyone is making a hobby or business website then space is not a big deal for him/her and he/she can opt the host providing less space.
6. Customer Support
Now let’s talk about the Customer support which is very important. If any customer is suffering from any problem and he/she is not getting any support from his/her host then he/she will get irritate and leave the host. If any of the hosting company don’t want to loose his customers then it is important for the company to provide proper customer support and of course when ever needed.
Some web host providers even provide forums where customers like they can log in and post questions to other customers and web host staff.