How To Choose An Affordable Web Hosting Plan

Introduction

Web hosting is a service through which individuals or organisations can make their own website on the World Wide Web. Web hosts provide space on servers (bought or leased by customers). Web hosts provide everything from small web pages (data transfer over FTP) to entire websites.

The types of web hosting include free web hosting, shared web hosting, reseller web hosting, virtual dedicated servers, dedicated hosting services, and many more.

Inquiry points

Choosing an affordable web hosting plan involves the consideration of many factors, the most important of which are:

• Price
• Technical Support
• Customer reviews
• Hardware
• User interface
• Room for growth
• Area of focus

The price, obviously, is a negotiable factor when it comes to companies/individuals who want to create a comprehensive, excellently designed website. There are many web hosting services available, but while choosing them the above factors should be considered. The service provider’s reputation should be gauged by reading customer reviews of the company or its services. The things to look out for are customer reviews, and not editorial reviews. These usually mention the quality of service provided (for example, the stability of the web page), and feedback on how user-friendly the host is.

The user interface should be simple, yet not too simple. The customer should be able to design his/her webpage exactly as required. Preferably, an electronic guide book should be provided with the hosting platform, in case of any doubts in the process.

Technical Specifications

For customers who are tech-savvy and are familiar with web design, additional factors to be considered are:

• The amount of web space your webpage requires
• The bandwidth of your plan
• Availability of E-Mail services (in case of businesses looking to launch an online platform)
• Whether you want to buy in bulk (referred to as block buying; customers can buy extra bandwidth)

Technical support is definitely a major deciding factor, and buyers should check for the existence of a 24/7 helpline as well as a local contact.

If you require monetary transactions for any purpose, make sure that the web host provides you with a secure server (HTTPS). This is important as only the buyer has access tothe transaction webpage, hence preventing security leaks.

Each web hosting service has a particular area in which they excel, i.e. they are the masters of that domain. This is usually the area in which your website will be impeccable. Survey each service in question and find out their area of focus/expertise.

Note

As a precaution, try and verify a few customer reviews, in case the service is a falsity or some sort of financial scam. Considering all these factors, it is possible .find a web hosting service which best suits your specific needs, and is within your specified budget.