Choosing the proper web host is one of the most important parts of starting your website. Web hosts love to bombard us with lots of different useless facts or statistics stating why they have an advantage over their competitors. But is most of the things they say really that important? It’s hard to tell for someone who has yet to purchase their first web hosting plan.
The fact of the matter is that there is really only a few factors that determine a good web host, and the rest of ‘fluff’ web hosts like to add on will be useless to more people.
So what exactly should you look for when choosing a new web hosting provider? Really, it only comes down to a few things.
1. Bandwidth
The amount of bandwidth your server has will determine how much information the server is able to process and deliver to your visitors at one time. For example, a server with very low bandwidth may be only able to support up to 100 website visitors at once, while a server with higher bandwidth will be able to serve thousands at one time without a drop in performance, or errors. I like to think of the connection between a visitor and your web server like a pipe that carries water. The bigger the pipe, the more water that can travel through it at one time. It’s the same thing with bandwidth.
2. Storage Space
A lot of bandwidth is useless if you don’t have enough space to store all your website’s files in! The amount of space you need will vary drastically depending on what kind of site you plan on creating. Forums, or websites with lots of media (pictures, video, audio etc.) will need significantly more server space to store all that extra data in.
3. Backups
Let me state something right now: accidents do happen, and often times they’re not even your fault. Throughout my 7 years working online, I’ve done everything in the book to screw up my website. I’ve configured files wrong, and made my website completely unreachable. I’ve accidentally deleted all my website’s contents. I’ve had numerous websites hacked.
However, none of this affected me too badly because I’ve always been sure to have scheduled backups done. That way, even if something does happen to my website, it doesn’t affect me all that much.
4. Support
Again, you will run into technical problems throughout the course of your webmaster life. Maybe it’s right when you’re getting started. Maybe your website will get hacked long after you’ve stopped working on it. Maybe you’ll accidentally delete your website, like I once did. But you will run into problems. It’s seriously inevitable. That’s why it’s so important to have a hosting company that offers high quality, responsive support that’s quick to reach and easy to work with. This is why so many people who purchase through web host resellers end up cancelling their plan – resellers do not have the knowledge and resources to offer the support that the bigger web hosting companies do.
So, What Web Host Do I Recommend?
I always have, and always will stick by Hostgator. Not only do they offer virtually unlimited storage space and bandwidth, they also have support which is matched by no other web host. In fact, their amazing support is what made me choose to purchase a plan with Hostgator in the first place, and is the reason I’ve stuck by them throughout the years. They have 24/7 phone or instant messaging web support, with friendly staff members that are able to communicate with you easily and fix your problem quickly.
Hostgator runs cPanel on all of its shared web servers, so you get the benefits that comes with it. This includes stuff like having email accounts with your domain in it, something other services such as Godaddy charge an extra monthly fee for. The majority of Hostgator’s plans also allow you to run multiple websites under one plan, which saves a lot of money. Could you believe I’m running 10 different websites on one server right now?
Click here to visit Hostgator’s website.
And if you ever have any questions about Hostgator or web hosts in general, feel free to leave a comment below or even send me an email. I’d love to help. Additionally, use the coupon code ‘HelpStartMySite’ for 25% off your order at checkout!