Before you start asking for hosting recommendations or researching online about web hosting reviews, first think about what you need from your host. If you don’t then you either end up with with the web hosting company that doesn’t meet your hosting needs or losing business which ultimately affects your business growth. Here are those 7 questions that you must ask yourself and your web hosting provider.
1. Do you need Email Hosting with your Hosting package?
Do you want to impress your customers and clients with your email address- [email protected]? If so, then you need to ask your hosting provider to provide you an email hosting solution. Having a business email gives a more professional look to your business.
2. Do you expect your business/site to grow fast?
If you do expect your business or website to grow fast, then you should keep a scope for the upgrade or increasing resources. The more the traffic you are expecting, the more CPU, hard disk space and data transfer you will need. You need a scalable web hosting package along with the add-ons you require. Keep a check that the upgrade should be within your preferred budget limits.
3. Do you need more storage space for your data files?
Your website might have some high-resolution products/company photos, infographics, uploading videos on the day to day basis, you will need a large storage solution along with any CDN (content delivery network). Your hosting provider should provide you an option to add additional HDD to your hosting company as most of the web host limits the storage usage by capping your inode usage.
4. What other additional services you need?
Everyone likes having the add-ons and tools that can help you work smoothly and efficiently. You might require root access, some additional IPs, Backups with the frequency of hourly/daily/weekly/monthly. Some security measures like hardware and software firewalls and many more. Just don’t hesitate to ask for all these additional services and add-ons.
5. What is the level of hosting support you require?
Having a sound hosting knowledge will let you opt for unmanaged support services. Also, you can choose 24/7 support services, that can help you with day to day managed services like- fixing the OS level issues and upgrade, installing firewalls and make sure that your server is up 24/7/365 with no hardware failures. Most of the web hosting company charge for managed hosting solutions. Make sure you keep a check on this before signing up with them.
6. Is the server location important?
Your server location is important to you if you are using a CDN (content delivery network) as you probably want a server that’s closest to your targeted audience, so your website loads faster for them.
7. Can you tweak and secure your website?
If you can’t tweak and secure your website, then you may require a developer to do it for you. Some hosting companies do provide website level assistance or their web development services. But probably they might charge you for helping with these. They might be charging you on an hourly basis or by the task. Securing a server is also important either you do it yourself or get help from your hosting provider.
Of course, you may not know what you need. You should probably ponder over these questions and find an answer before deciding your hosting provider.
