Before you purchase your website hosting read these top 5 most important things to look for when comparing website hosting plans and packages:
1. Bandwidth & storage:
Compare each package’s bandwidth and storage. Bandwidth, in web hosting, is how much data can be transferred at a time. This is usually sold per Gigabyte (GB). Although some hosting companies claim to offer unlimited. When deciding how much bandwidth your website will need, keep in mind the more visitors you have on your site the more bandwidth you will need.
Storage is how much space you have to save your files. Keep in mind your images and videos take up space. All web hosting companies will offer various packages each with a different amount of storage and bandwidth.
2. Company Reputation:
When searching for a hosting company for your website try to stick to companies who are known for their reliability, great support and good performance track record. You want your website to be up and running all the time, no down time. So keep an eye out for 99.9% uptime. Additionally, social proof will help guide you through the decision process.
3. 24/7 Customer Support:
This is a big one! You might not think you will need support but I can almost guarantee at some point you will need it. Try to aim for a company who offers 24/7 support via various options. My main choice is the chat box. 90% of my queries are satisfied via the chat, saving me time on the phone and waiting for tech support to respond via email.
Additionally, knowing you have access to 24/7 support gives peace of mind. If your website crashes you know you can get support any time of the day.
4. Ability to upgrade:
As your business grows so do your web hosting needs and requirements. It is important to have the flexibility in your hosting account should changes arise. Being able to upgrade (and downgrade) is a huge advantage, especially if your business goes viral and you exceed your current package limits. You never know!
5. Backup service:
Another essential part of hosting is a backup service. Not only does this give you peace of mind but it also gives you freedom to make changes and edit your site without fear of losing information. Automatic backups are great. Also, keep in mind ‘one click’ backup and restore options are also a huge advantage.
Other things to consider when comparing website hosting plans:
Budget
Like anything, pricing can vary drastically. With the above mentioned elements in mind, make sure you are getting what YOU need for the best price. In order to get the best price you will need to do like for like comparisons. Another thing to keep in mind is your own budget.
Type of hosting
Again, in all industries there are variations in the different options available. Website hosting is no different. Don’t even bother with the free options. You know the saying ‘there is no such thing as a free lunch!’. Shared hosting is generally well priced and caters to a large number of small business owners. Essentially it is sharing a server with a number of other sites. So, this can also become a negative depending on WHICH company you use as there are some who tend to overload the servers.
Another option is VPS which is also a shared server but with fewer sites. Alternatively you could go with a dedicated hosting plan. These types of plans are totally flexible and are not shared with any other site. But, they come at a price.
Summary
In summary, there are plenty of different things to compare when purchasing your website hosting. Whilst it can be a little daunting, if you focus on the above factors you should come out of the decision making process pretty happy.
We love a few different types of hosting companies, namely SiteGround and VentraIp. VentraIp is located in Melbourne which gives us a little more reason to love them!
Still unsure about comparing website hosting plans? Feel free to contact us to ask any questions you may have on web hosting.
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