Top Web Hosting Solution Providers
If you’re launching a new business or moving an existing business online, one of the first things you’ll need to do is find a web host. This is the company that will provide server space for your website and bandwidth for traffic. There are a number of different web hosting providers out there, but they aren’t all equal. Some offer better or different services than others. If you’re on a strict budget, you’ll also want to pay close attention to the initial costs, monthly fees, and additional fees you may incur if your site has a large amount of traffic. Here are some of the things to consider when selecting a web host and a few of the top web hosting providers.
What are your Needs?
Do you know what your web hosting needs are? If you don’t, it’s difficult to make an informed decision regarding hosting. Here are a few questions you should answer before shopping for hosting:
• How large will your website be?
• Will you have a lot of images, video, or other media on the site?
• Do you need anything special – databases, shopping carts, PHP, etc.?
• Will you need to run any special software?
• How much traffic do you expect monthly?
• Do you need a dedicated IP address?
Look at the Host’s Stability:
One of the most important things a web host brings to the table is stability. You need your website to be available every day, all day, all year round. If your host is going down or is down for long periods of time, you’re losing customers. Any web host that isn’t online 99 percent of the time should be avoided. There are number of up time monitoring tools that you can download to keep an eye on website up time, plus you can do a search to see if anyone has had issues with a particular host’s servers.
Features:
This is where your list of needs comes into play. Every web host is going to have a fairly long list of features that you get with your hosting account, but you may not need some or even most of them. For example, a host may offer 15 email accounts, but you may need only 5. Another might provide you with a shopping cart system, but if you’re not launching an eCommerce site, you may not need it. Ignore anything you don’t need or believe you’ll need in the future. Don’t base your web hosting selection on how long the features list is; instead, base it on how well those features match your needs. Maybe the host that’s perfect for you actually offers the least number of features.
Overage Policy:
What happens if your website uses too much bandwidth? Some web hosts will automatically charge you for the extra bandwidth if you exceed your monthly limit, but others will cut off access to your website until the next cycle rolls around. Even though it may mean paying much more than you budgeted, it’s always better to find a host that auto-charges for extra bandwidth than one that completely blocks access to your site.
Some Hosting Options:
Here are a few of the top web hosting options and reasons why they may be a good fit for your website.
Hostgator:
• Great web host for the beginners
• Offer over 4,500 website templates
• There’s no need to understand coding, website design, or how to install scripts
• Hosting starts at $5.56 a month
• Has more than 200,000 active domains
• 45 day money back guarantee
Big Rock:
• Offers unlimited domains, disk space, and emails
• Good for those who want a small personal website without a lot of extras
• Plans priced at less than $5 a month
• 30 day money back guarantee
• Manages 100,000 domains in India alone
GlowHost:
• Offers premium hosting for businesses, backup cloud servers, dedicated hosts, and media hosting
• Good for sharing files for work or for fun
• Semi-dedicated and fully dedicated server options
• Plans start at $4.95 a month
• 91 day money back guarantee
• Free domain registration
Homestead:
• Good for small businesses
• Starter host option provides everything needed starts at $5.99/month
• 30 day free trial
• Two business plans available
• Solid options and add-ons are great for those just getting started
• More than 12 million users worldwide
Liquid Web:
• Works well for both web hosting and as an online backup service
• Offers dedicated servers
• Hosting plans start at less than $2 a day
• Different hosting packages can be customized as needed
• Only 20,000 active users
• One of the fastest growing private US companies for 9 years in a row
• Known for its outstanding customer support