How To Compare and Contrast Different Small Business Hosting Providers?

It is easier nowadays to find a small business web hosting service. There are practically hundreds of hosting providers today that offer packages for small to medium sized businesses. The bigger challenge is finding the right hosting provider that offers reliable service.

Choosing the right hosting service is a bit tricky. You need to learn how to compare and contrast different packages so you can get the best hosting solution for your business. There are several factors that you need to consider before you sign up with any web host.

Experience Counts a Lot

In any type of hosting business including dedicated servers, VPS and cloud hosting, experience is a big factor that you need to consider. As much as possible, you have to choose a small business hosting service that has several years of experience in the industry.

If you can find a small business website hosting provider that has more than five years experience in providing services to businesses, then you can expect that this hosting company is competent enough to take care of your business web site.

It does not mean that start-up hosting services are no good. However, you need to proceed with caution if you are dealing with new web hosts. Remember, these web hosting services are still starting and they may not have enough resources and infrastructure to give you reliable hosting solutions.

Compare the Platforms Used by the Service

There are two main platforms used by hosting services: Windows and UNIX. When choosing a hosting service, it is important to select a provider with a platform that you are already familiar with.

So if you are comfortable with a Windows operating system, then you need to look for a small business hosting that runs its server on Windows. The same rule applies if you are comfortable with a UNIX platform.

You have to take note that a hosting service using UNIX platform could offer cheaper rates. That is because UNIX is open source so the hosting provider does not pay licensing fees.

Reliability and Uptime

Reliability of the service is one of the biggest factors that you need to consider. Almost all small business web hosting providers will tell you that they can provide 99.9 percent uptime. You have to try the service to determine if the host can really provide such uptime. If you notice that the hosting service is constantly suffering from downtimes, then you have to opt out immediately because your business will be at risk.VPS and Cloud hosting are quite reliable, but you should be careful with the choice of service provider. For very large bandwidth needs you should also consider dedicated server hosting as an option.

Cost Consideration

Because you are running a small business, you have to look for a host that can offer reasonable rates. However, it is very important not to be swayed by cost consideration. In the hosting business, the dictum 'you get what you pay for' is always true. Cheaper hosting may offer few services while a premium web hosting provider could have excellent solutions for your business.

So the next time you look for a business hosting provider, make sure to compare these essential factors. You have to choose wisely because your online presence relies heavily on your web host.