The Best Website Hosting Solutions – What to consider when choosing a website hosting plan.

Website hosting is a key component in the success of your website performance. When you hire a web developer inquire about what web hosting providers they use for their client’s websites. Depending on the type of website you are building you should be a determining factor in what web hosting you choose.

When it comes to Web hosting, speed is king. How fast will your hosting companies servers return your content to a visitor? You can expect different speed results depending on what web hosting platform you choose.

Four types of website hosting solutions:

• • Shared hosting means that you share space with a bunch of other sites on the same server. The advantage is that it’s a lot cheaper. The downside is that other sites can impact the performance of your site. If someone else gets a huge traffic spike, it could impact everybody on that server before the web host throttles their traffic.
  • Virtual private servers (VPS) also have multiple sites on the same server But these sites have dedicated space that’s managed by software. You get many of the benefits of having a dedicated server (your own IP address, less volatility in uptime, etc) without needing an entire server for just yourself. But the performance isn’t quite as good as having your own server to yourself.
  • Cloud hosting is similar to VPS but instead of having space on once server, you get space across multiple servers. Like VPS, it’s resilient to traffic spikes from other sites. If a site on your same server takes that server down, your host simply moves your site to another server. That’s why they call it “cloud” hosting.
    It’s also extremely scalable for your own site. Adding more resources to your site is a breeze since your host only needs to increase the total server resources that you can consume at any given time. Because of these advantages, it does tend to be more expensive.
  • Dedicated hosting gives you a server just for you. No one else gets space on that server. You’ll also be in complete control and can configure that server however you want.

Pro Tip: Stay away from Web Hosting Solutions that offer free options, You get what you pay for!

In addition to considering the type of website hosting services you need. Consider the following:

1) SSL security certificates. Does your host offer SSL certificates as part of their package? Do they have an auto-install feature? What about SSL options? For websites expecting significant traffic – large e-commerce sites – you will need higher-level security options.

2) Shared Hosting versus dedicated hosting options. Shared hosting is the cheapest server for web hosting options. Cheap comes with slower performance and higher security risks because you are sharing server space with a multitude of other websites. Virtual or cloud-based hosting options offer more dedicated services and are typically appropriate web server for web hosting.

3) When shopping for web hosting for WordPress websites look for features like a CPANEL control panel that offers auto-install and software updates. You also should get virus protection and routine website optimizations.

Pro TIp: Research Website Hosting Companies “UP” time, ensure your website is going to be available when visitors want to view it.

4) Look for a website hosting solutions that provide 24/7 customer service with agents that are well trained and can help you solve your problems in your native language.

5) If you are moving from another web host look for a Web Hosting provider that will help you with free or affordably priced site transfer services.

6) Choose the right server for web hosting option. Do you need a Linux or Word hosting option? Linux servers typically provide more flexibility and have more options operating platforms.

Pro Tip: If you are purchasing Domain Names for your own use or clients, we suggest using a separate domain name service. We recommend Namecheap for quick, affordable Domain Name purchases. When moving hosting services it is much easier to close a hosting account.

7) Determine if your hosting company also provides email services. As a web developer offering email options to your clients can be a competitive advantage that can be an additional revenue opportunity. Be aware that email management requires a different set of skills.

8) The best web hosting solutions will have multiple server locations around the world, ensuring their clients with almost 100% uptime. The more redundancy a website hosting service offers the better.

9) Look for a website hosting service that offers easy access to a content delivery network such as Cloudflare or Amazon AWS. CDN’s can dramatically improve website performance by serving content from servers close to the website visitor.

Pro Tip: Be sure you know where your website hosting company is headquartered. At C@PSTONE we partner with suppliers based in the U.S. as often as we can. We host our websites with A2 Hosting (based in MI) they are a top-ranked website hosting service with a reputation for high-speed delivery and quality service.