Web hosting providers are very many out there and it takes very good consideration to choose which one is the right fit for your business depending on your business needs and short term or long term goals.
It is very important for every business to have an online presence so that they can be able to build their brand and reach customers wherever they are.
The first step is having an online social media presence and the second step is having a business website. After having a web designer make a layout of what your business webpages will look like, it’s then time to look for the appropriate web hosting providers to host your website.
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Table of contents
Factors to consider when choosing a web host provider
1 Business factors
a. Size of the business
Small businesses with only few business needs can easily get started right away with relatively cheap hosting plans and types like managed word press or shared hosting. These may need a few webpages that show case their work and tell the public what they do and who they are.
Large businesses on the other hand have very many needs for example; online chat support, many webpages, blog posts, user accounts profiles, e commerce among other needs. Big businesses also get high amounts of user traffic daily and therefore need web hosting providers and plans that can support their business needs.
b. Type of the business
E commerce platforms usually require faster and efficient webhosting services compared to other business especially if they handle large orders on a daily basis. This is very important to generate faster customer user shopping experience so that people don’t neglect their carts.
Other business that offer customer support to a large number of people or those that have large user platforms also need powerful websites
In usual cases, it’s just getting web pages laid out, designed, optimized for SEO and AMP and you are good to go.
2. Hosting provider factors
a. Type of hosting needed
Different types of hosting exist; WordPress managed hosting, shared hosting, Virtual private server (VPS) hosting, dedicated hosting and cloud hosting.
Small business can use shared and managed word press hosting, but large businesses will need VPS , dedicated or cloud hosting that can manage their large needs and high traffic volume.
b. Speed
For any chosen web host provider, the website loading speed of your individual pages should be very optimal and not slow. People can get frustrated and leave your website if it takes long to load.
This can be very bad for business especially e commerce. It is therefore important to choose the right hosting provider and the right plan.
Other factors to consider are overwhelming your site with very large images, videos and numerous plugins that can slow your website. The website should be optimized for SEO and load well on mobile devices.
c. Uptime
No one will be able to access your site on the internet if your hosting is down. This however can happen for a few minutes in the rare cases because most hosting providers have really optimized their services. However it’s still very important that the provider offers 24/7 365 days a year uptime for your business website.
d. Cost
Depending on the needs of the business, the package chosen should be cost-friendly and not too overwhelming. It’s also important to note that you can’t get very outstanding services if you go very cheap. Consider this an investment for your business that is going to help you grow and make more money.
e. Ease of use
The website builder, c panel and back end of the hosting platform should be very easy to use and navigate for the average user and not requiring very technical code aspects or a very steep learning curve.
f. Security
The provider should be able to offer security to your business’ intellectual property against hackers, DDos attacks, spammers and any other kind of cybercrime that could threaten your website security.
An SSL certificate is provided but you can also integrate your website with other third party security providers like cloud flare or install security plugins like word fence on your WordPress website.
The top best web hosting providers for your business
1. Hostgator
Hostgator has very affordable plans that suit a very wide variety of consumer needs starting at 2.75$ per month for the hatchling plan. They have a 99% uptime, free domain, great 24/7 customer support, free site transfers, and different kinds of hosting plans and types that suit the needs of small businesses.
2. Greengeeks
Green geeks is the eco-friendly version of web hosting since the company uses renewable energy to power their hosting servers. The plans are very affordable starting at 2.95$ per month. Greengeeks offers great site speed, daily site backups, great uptime, and great site security so your data is always in safe hands.
They offer shared hosting, VPS hosting, woo commerce and reseller web hosting to their clients. Green geeks has data centers in data centers in Chicago, Phoenix, Toronto, Montreal and Amsterdam. Customer service support is also very good with fast replies and 24/7 chat support.
3. Hostinger
Site ground offers the best customer service, site security, and uptime compared to most companies. Their web hosting speeds are over the roof ultra-fast so your pages will load faster when you optimize them well. They are the best for people who sell online with e-commerce stores since your customers will have a faster great user experience while shopping on your website.
Their pricing is the most affordable on the market. They offer shared hosting, woo-commerce hosting, managed wordpress hosting, and cloud hosting packages to meet the customers’ various needs.
4. NAMECHEAP
Namecheap offers the most affordable domain registration plans starting at just 5.98$ Per year for .com. They have great customer service, high end privacy and security features as well as an easy to use interface.
It’s also easy to transfer your domain to namecheap. They also offer affordable website hosting plans: shared, WordPress, reseller, VPS hosting as well as dedicated servers starting at just 1.98$ per month for the first year.
Bottom line
Choosing the right hosting service and platform depends entirely on the business needs. It is very important to choose a platform that supports the short and long term goals of the business where you can grow your website alongside the plans of the chosen hosting provider. It can’t be that hard if you know what you really want but it is very important to choose the best fit.
