Finding a Host
When you first setup your website, you will select a domain name and then register it with a domain registrar. Secondly, if you are using a Content Management System (CMS) such WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal, you will want to select a hosting company. This post will go over the features to compare when selecting a web host.
Before you look at the features, be sure that you have some idea of how big your website will be and how much traffic you expect to receive. If you expect to have a small amount of traffic at first it is okay to start small and then pruchase a higher plan later.
1. Reliability and Uptime of the Host
Most hosts advertise and uptime of around 99%, but you want to make sure by looking at reviews of the host on Trustpilot, HostAdvice, PCMagazine, CNET, and others.
2. Availability of Website/Hosting Help
When you have a problem, you want to be able to connect to the host. Also the means by which the host can be contacted needs to be considered. These range from live chat, phone, support tickets, email, and text. Some hosts provide all of these methods or some of them. Is there 24/7 availability, as you do not want to have to wait to get your site back up and running.
3. The Reputation of the Host
Just because everybody else is using a host does not mean it is the best host or best for you. Before paying for a contract be sure to read a multitude of review sites, as some review sites can be more or less advertisements for the hosting providers. Sometimes it helps to look at the lesser viewed review sites in order to spot hidden gems. In addition, some of the smaller website hosts can provide more personalized service.
4. Security
While you may have security plugins with your CMS, a lot of the server security is handled through your host. Make sure that your hosting provider has a suite of security features on its servers. A lot of hosts provide daily backups in case anything does go wrong.
5. Scalability of Web Hosting Plans
A lot of people starting out get a shared hosting plan, which means your website shares space on a hard drive with many other sites. A shared plan can work for smaller websites, but depending on the other sites on the drive can result in congestion and slow the site. A step up is cloud hosting, in which your website is hosted on the cloud and not shared with other sites. Some hosts have virtual private networks (VPN), which provide dedicated space on a hard drive. Dedicated hosting is the highest plan available, which hosts your website on its own hard drive. Generally each level up results in more memory, speed, and space for your website.
When looking for your host make sure that there are plans that you can expand into.
6. Back-end Account Interface
Most hosting providers use cPanel as a backend interface for websites. Some providers have there own version of cPanel, such as Hostinger’s hPanel. Make sure it is something you can use or learn how to use.
7. Site Migration
For those who have an existing site, you may be looking at migrating the site from one host to another. A consideration here is the cost of migrating the site. Some hosts include free site migration as part of the services.
8. Are the Prices after the introductory price reasonable
When acquiring hosting a lot of people will look at the price advertised on the hosting providers website and not realize that the price to renew the service in 1 to 3 years is quite a bit more. Think ahead and make sure that you can afford the higher hosting price upon renewal of the plan.
9. Does the host provide a Free Domain Name?
Some hosts provide a free domain name either the first year or during the time of your hosting plan. However, this has some pros and cons. The pros include the ease in which you can begin your website and generally being able to skip the process of pointing your domain name to the hosting servers. The cons include the possibility of more expensive add-ons such as domain privacy and it being harder to switch hosts. Oftentimes it is easier in the long-run to get your domain name from another source and keep the hosting separate.
10. Speed of the Host servers
Last, but not least, is the speed of the hosting servers. Some of this information can be gained from comparison reviews of various hosting providers. Oftentimes, the speed of the server and of your site depends on whether the site uses a standard hard drive, SSD drives, and whether the server has litespeed available. Litespeed can greatly accelerate the speed of your site and along with Cloudflare can help your rank high in core web vitals.
Recommended Hosting Companies
TMD Hosting
This is the company that Silphium Design LLC uses for its own website. A little known company, we at Silphium Design have always been pleased with TMD (The Most Dedicated) and they utilize a lot of open source solutons as well. TMD is especially reasonable for cloud hosting plans and provides a lot of memory for the money. In addition, they have excellent 24/7 tech support.
Siteground
Siteground is recommended by WordPress.org and offers a lot for WordPress users. On some of their plans, you have to watch the number of users, especially for high traffic sites.
Kinsta
Kinsta probably offers the most features of any of the hosting companies and is a little more expensive than the companies above. However, if you are a beginner, and need more help or services they are probably a good choice.
Green Geeks
A hosting company known for its commitment to renewable energy and environmentally responsible web hosting.
