Until you find the right web hosting service for your website, it remains invisible. The hosting company stores your site’s data on its servers and keeps them ready for Internet users who type in your website address and want to look through your pages. Although this process is pretty much universal to all hosting companies, they are not all created equal.
Costs and Benefits
Hosting plans vary by company. Most companies charge between $0.50 and $9 per month to host your personal or commercial website. What you get for this money is spelled out in your individual hosting plan. For example, some companies will throw in a free domain name and offer you unlimited traffic. Others restrict the amount of traffic to 1,000 GB. Available site storage, too, is subject to limitations. Some let you create websites with unlimited pages and agree to host them. Others limit you to 100 GB.
Tip: It is always a good idea to opt for unlimited traffic. Generous storage sizes are of secondary importance.
Look for Extras
Once you have narrowed down your search to a few hosting companies, see what additional benefits these companies offer you. It is not uncommon for businesses to offer you credits toward AdWords and Facebook advertising. Moreover, some will throw in blogging tools as well as site-building tools.
Tip: Think through your marketing plans and strategies for the website before choosing a host. When you find one with a generous traffic and storage plan as well as great additional benefits, you might have located the best contender.
Focus on Metrics
Credits toward marketing will not help you if you do not have a tracking and reporting system in place. If you are setting up an AdWords account with Google, you will most likely track your site’s performance with these tools. If you are not going this route, ensure that you have a host-run tracking system in place. This is a good idea even for AdWords users since it provides a reliable data backup.
Tip: The more detailed reporting options a hosting company offers to subscribers, the more useful the service is to the webmaster.
Customer Service
Pay close attention to the customer service that is open to you. Frequently, customer service is dependent on the service tier that you purchase. If you try to save money there, you may not get 24/7/365 live support. Instead, you may have to observe business hours, which will be of little help when your website is down on a Saturday night.
Tip: Sign up for the service level that will meet your needs when they arise. If you need a hosting company for a business website, you need an around-the-clock customer assistance option.
If you need assistance with your website, schedule a complimentary strategy session.
