Picking a host for your small business website is like choosing a place to live - you want to find an ideal home without exceeding the budget. Although it sounds relatively simple, the task is actually challenging for many webmasters.

 

A report shows that slow-loading websites cost the US economy more than $500 million each year, a problem that mainly occurs due to the poor hosting selection. Page load speed is only one of the fundamental web hosting factors, but you have to pay attention to many other parameters as well.

 

Inexperienced website administrators can hardly choose the best host for their small businesses without a fair share of research, so we want to help you with that and explain the following:

 

-  Main types of web hosting

-  Tips to choose the right host

-   Popular web hosting providers

 

3 Basic Types of Web Hosting

Do you know that 1.6 billion websites are online at the same time? It seems like there’s a website for every eight persons living in the world today, which means it’s hard to find your place in the online sun if you don’t create a fully-functional small business site.

 

To do that, you need a proper host. Web hosting comes in different plans and formats, so you need to understand three basic types. Here they are:

 

• Shared hosting: The most common solution is shared hosting. Just like the name suggests, this option means you’ll need to share resources with many other clients, including bandwidth, disk space, and CPU. Shared hosting is by far the cheapest type of hosting you can find out there, which makes it so popular among beginner-level webmasters. However, shared hosting limits the operational abilities of your site and makes it impossible to handle traffic spikes.

 

• Virtual Private Servers (VPS): VPS is a great solution for small business websites with moderate traffic that don’t expect any major growth in the future. Jake Gardner, an IT expert at the top essay writing services UK, explains that VPS serves fewer clients than shared hosting and guarantees more freedom in terms of memory capacity: “It represents an in-between option for users who need more than shared hosting but don’t demand heavyweight functions of dedicated servers.”

 

• Dedicated servers: The third option is the best, but it also comes with a hefty price tag. In this case, the entire server is dedicated to your website only and you can count on maximal functionality 365 days a year. As such, dedicated servers make a desirable solution for high-traffic companies like the Australian assignment help or dissertation writing services. On the other hand, this type of web hosting is not suitable for minor companies with lower traffic and little to no video content.

 

Of course, the price of each hosting option can vary drastically. Shared hosting is the cheapest as you will need to pay up to $15 per month. VPS is less affordable since prices go between $30 and $120 per month. Finally, dedicated servers require substantial investments that can climb as high as $300 a month.

 

Practical Ways to Select the Right Hosting Provider

Now that you know the difference between hosting providers, you should learn how to start the search and identify the most appropriate service for your company. There are eight main rules to follow in this process:

 

1. Think about your content strategy

What kind of website are you trying to build? If you only plan to publish textual posts with no additional features, then you might as well go for the lighter hosting solution. But if you want to publish lots of videos, enable content uploads, and organize live streaming sessions, you will need a much stronger hosting platform.

 

2.  Think about scaling

Your assessment should not be based on short-term plans. On the contrary, the goal is to think about scaling and predict how your website is going to develop in the future. If you anticipate the growth, perhaps you should begin with a VPS or dedicated server immediately.

 

3.  Check security features

A malware attack takes place every 39 seconds, while 43% of hackers target small businesses. This means you must check security features and opt for a host that guarantees to fend off attackers.

 

4.  Set limits to the budget

When it comes to hosting selection, the price should never be your main concern because affordable platforms almost always come with too many downsides. Of course, you don’t want to exceed the budget, so make sure to set the limit and search for a host in a given price range.

 

5.  Read reviews

The Internet is a vast resource of information and you should use it to find hosting-related reviews. You can easily find high-quality reviews with comprehensive analyses of hosting features, so you better make use of it and check what experts say about the targeted platforms.

 

6.  Test customer support

Every webmaster will face at least a minor functionality bug sooner or later, which is where customer service agents should step in to give you a hand. We recommend you to test customer services of different providers to figure out which one offers the most professional support.

 

7.  Read terms of service

The vast majority of clients neglect terms of service, but it’s a data-rich document that can reveal the pros and cons of hosting providers. For instance, you might discover important refund-related details or service limitations in specific situations.

 

8.  Stick to trustworthy providers

The last tip on our list is to avoid suspicious web hosting companies and newbies. They tend to overpromise and under-deliver, which is a surefire way to jeopardize the operability of your small business website.

 

Popular Web Hosting Companies

Speaking of trustworthy web hosting providers, we need to mention a few companies that proved to be highly reliable in the last few years. Some of the best and most popular hosts are:

 

-    Bluehost: This is a frequent choice among small businesses because it is reliable and offers a free domain name, an SSL certificate, and a ridiculously low price starting at $3 per month.

-    HostGator: If you are looking for a platform with the finest basic package, then HostGator might as well be the perfect solution for your company.

-    InMotion: The platform functions flawlessly and comes with a 24/7 live chat support.

-    GoDaddy: This provider is reliable, speedy, and user-friendly, which makes it convenient for everyone from first-time users to experienced webmasters.

 

The Bottom Line

A website can make or break the hopes of small businesses to become successful and profitable in the long run. In such circumstances, choosing the right web hosting often makes all the difference between top-performing companies and their subpar competitors.

 

We showed you a number of tips on how to pick a host for your small business website, but you have to do the homework and filter through dozens of options in order to find the most suitable web hosting. Stay tuned as we will come back with new posts soon!