Web hosting is a service that allows you to publish your website online and make it accessible to visitors. Think of it as renting a virtual hosting space to keep your business up and running.
Between numerous hosting plans and necessary security features, choosing the right web hosting provider can be challenging. Knowing what to ask beforehand can save you from stress and financial losses.
Here are nine questions that can simplify choosing a web hosting provider:
What are the Types of Hosting Plans Offered?
There are various web hosting plans with varying features and prices. Most hosting providers offer the following plans:
Shared Hosting
It is the most affordable and widely popular hosting plan. Your website will share the same server as other websites. This means sharing resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage devices. For small businesses and personal blogs with moderate traffic, shared hosting is the best option.
VPS Hosting
Looking for more control and resources than shared hosting? Choose Virtual Private Servers (VPS) hosting. It breaks the shared server down into virtually-partitioned spaces. As a result, you can have a dedicated server within your shared hosting server.
Small and medium-sized businesses that have scaled up often choose VPS hosting.
Dedicated Hosting
As the name indicated, dedicated hosting gives you control over the whole server. You have access to large amounts of resources and are not prone to damage due to another website’s failure. Since you’re getting additional perks, you’ll have to pay more.
Enterprise and industrial websites with more than 100,000 monthly visitors often choose dedicated hosting.
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting allows you to run your website on virtual servers in the cloud. It enables you to scale computing power up and down based on your needs. Many businesses prefer cloud hosting over VPS hosting due to the former’s pay-as-you-go policy.
If you’re a medium to large-sized business catering to visitors all over the world, cloud hosting is an excellent option.
Choose a web hosting provider that offers diverse hosting plans so you can easily scale up in the future. A dedicated hosting provider will assess your website’s needs and expected traffic and recommend a suitable hosting plan.
What are Your Server Reliability Scores?
Server reliability score refers to the percentage of time a web hosting provider’s servers are active and operational. The higher the rate, the greater the reliability.
The ideal server reliability score is 99.9%, and anything below 99% is unacceptable. These percentages might seem inconsequential, but even a 99.9% score means your website can be down for 8 hours, 45 minutes, and 52 seconds altogether in a year.
You can either use server monitoring tools to track your web hosting provider’s reliability score or ask them directly. Either way, finding the server reliability score of your hosting provider is of utmost importance.
What is Your Downtime Protocol?
Having a 24/7 operating web host is close to impossible. Most web hosting providers have a set of guidelines and procedures they follow to manage periods of server unavailability. Here are some examples:
- Informing users in advance regarding scheduled maintenance periods with estimated duration.
- Sending automated alerts via SMS or Email to users and administrators.
- Setting a dedicated web page where users can check the availability of servers and any ongoing issues.
- Providing clear incident reports to explain the cause, duration, and steps taken to mitigate unexpected outages.
Having a clear understanding of what’s going on behind the scenes will ensure peace of mind and a hassle-free experience.
What is the Visitor Capacity for Each Server?
The number of users on a shared server can impact the speed and functionality of your website. CPU, RAM, and bandwidth will quickly fill up due to server overloading. While a web hosting plan doesn’t have a fixed number of customers listed, you can assess their traffic or visitor capacity.
A standard shared web hosting plan can handle 300 to 800 visitors per day and 9,000 to 30,000 visitors per month. Every hosting provider has a different range, so remember to discuss it beforehand.
What are the Security Features?
Scrutinizing the security features of your web hosting provider can make all the difference in securing your business. Look for the following security features:
- Transport Layer Security (TLS)
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
- Firewall protection
- DDoS mitigation
- Malware detection and protection
- Strong authentication
- File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
These security features will prevent unauthorized access to your servers and protect the personal information of your site visitors. This is especially important for e-commerce sites, where payment gateways are installed and regularly utilized.
What Kind of Customer Support Do You Offer?
When it comes to operating a website, running into a technical issue can feel like your world is falling apart. Years of effort spent on optimizing your website and earning customer support could go down the drain. Therefore, make sure your web hosting provider has robust customer support plans.
Pay attention to their customer support modes, such as Email, live chat, or phone. Make sure they’re available to answer queries and troubleshoot issues 365/24/7. Many web hosting providers have dedicated blogs and support forums to help you deal with minor issues quickly.
Lastly, ask about their average response time and cross-check it by reading client reviews.
Do You Allow Add-on Domains?
If you own more than one domain, ask your hosting provider if they can be incorporated under the same plan. Since your add-on domains have distinct websites, you’ll need additional email addresses and storage spaces.
For added convenience, most hosting providers allow you to control multiple domains under one control panel.
Can I Migrate My Website?
If you’re unsatisfied with your current hosting provider, migrating your domain name to a new hosting service can be an effective solution. Many hosting providers offer free same-day migration and speed boosts.
Before migrating your website, remember to back up your files and transfer them from one server to another using a file transfer protocol (FTP)er.
What is Your Backup Schedule?
Server failures, accidental deletion, and security breaches can strike at any time and set off a disastrous chain reaction. Backups are critical for restoring data and minimizing downtime.
Many hosting providers perform backups once or twice a day for highly dynamic sites. For less active sites, weekly backups might suffice. Ask your hosting provider about their policy. In addition to data and files, back up your database to prevent revenue loss and similar situations.
