How to choose a hosting?
An instruction you should take notice of
While making a project that will be available to everyone on the internet, you’ll need to choose a hosting provider for your website. Perhaps you are making a new blog, a personal webpage, a business card website, a company presentation, an online shop, a forum, or a web portal with more than 3000 user traffic. You could go on and on… But absolutely certainly any of those projects will require an appropriate amount of resources to be launched on a server.
Maybe you've used a hosting service before, and in time you may feel that your latest provider is not doing its job as well as before, or perhaps you feel that you overpay, or are afraid to transfer to a different provider, fearing the loss of acquired resources.
And so it’s important to choose your hosting provider that can match your project’s requirements. And MyHostExperts takes the job of neatly shortlisting the best ones, you only need to read the instructions and follow the advice listed below.
Step 1. Hosting types
- Shared Hosting
Means a physical server, shared between smaller accounts, you get access to that type of account, usually with an already installed control panel CMS (Content management system) and with access to a simplified site creating tool. It is the most popular hosting type for newcomers because it does not require extensive technical skills. One of the major pros is the relatively cheap price, but it comes at the cost of limited resources. You should know that you are only using a part of the server given to you, and if the other users on it use the server's resources extensively, your own website could suffer in performance. But, for a small project with little traffic of 1000 to 3000 users, it’s the ideal choice.
- VPS/VDS-Virtual private server
The virtual private server has its own CPU, Memory, operating, or several other systems. This type of hosting will require some technical skills and knowledge to operate. In case you don't have that type of knowledge or you don't have a suitably skilled person in your team, then you should contact a hosting provider that offers a service of managing the server. VPS/VDS is a cheaper variant than a physical server, and its resources are expected to be utilized in larger projects.You’d still have other users sharing the server, but on the bright side, you’d have fewer of them. And the server resources are allocated more efficiently. The resources of this type of server can handle traffic of 10000 daily visits.
- Cloud hosting
This type of hosting is somewhat akin to a VPS and is known for its secure way of saving data. There will be a dedicated amount of disk space for your data, but also it will be copied over to other servers in different server storage facilities. The cost of such a service will mostly depend on how much power your server will consume. The price will definitely be higher than VPS/VDS. Large projects are most suitable for this type of hosting as regular backups are just not good enough in comparison to cloud
- Dedicated server
Has almost limitless resources at its disposal, and obviously costs higher, and requires even higher technical skills. If your project outgrew daily user traffic of 10000, you probably already have everything you’d need for effective control of your server. Hosting companies take care of connecting the server to their data center, therefore, ensuring stable, uninterrupted uptime, data safety, and constant maintenance. You and your team have to manage the server yourself. This type of hosting service is most effective for large-scale online shops, or, even videogame servers.
Step 2. Technical requirements
The main criteria by which the efficiency of your project is determined. If the server is being created for you, corresponding to the previously set goal, you will be informed of system requirements you should rely on while choosing a hosting provider.
Before picking your hosting company from the top ones you should make a requirements list for the provider. Let's handpick the main ones.
- An estimated amount of disk space required for your project;
- Traffic - An approximate number of daily users. Obviously, it’s hard to judge this right away, but you shouldn't start with a plan that offers high or unlimited bandwidth. And what you should look for is a company that offers easy scalability;
- Up-time. Providers who are sure of the quality of their services usually promise 99% uptime. But on the other side, those who promise an uptime of 100% - are lying to you, because any server has to be rebooted eventually, and then it will be unavailable;
- Take into account any technical nuances and requirements that will be needed to run your project. The best option is to work with hosting companies that include the most used and popular software in their plans. This can be cPanel, MultiAdmin, ISPmanager, VMmanager, etc;
- Safety and data protection. Most of the providers include DDoS protection, but things like SSL certificates are mostly reserved as an included feature in shared hosting plans. If your project is an eCommerce website, where customers are expected to pay online you are obliged to take care of the user's data safety. So you should choose a hosting provider, that offers certified safety;
- The location of data centers. It’s vital to know from what country or region the major part of your traffic will come from so that you could dedicate the server’s resources appropriately. But, for example, should you run into legal nuances, it’ll be a lot easier to deal with them if you’re a citizen of the same country as your hosting company is.
Step 3. Additional services
Most hosting companies offer you an extensive selection of extra services and features in addition to basic hosting. These extra services can be free of charge as well as paid. But they are not that important as they are more or less created for the purpose of making the user experience more convenient, at the same time simplifying some technical aspects.
- Technical support and knowledge base. Tech support should maintain a quick pace of solving any of the problems that may occur whilst using the company's services, and most importantly to provide compelling answers. As a rule of thumb If a company truly cares about its customers, it emphasizes that care in the quality of tech support;
- Server management is an important service for those not having the necessary skills, or a suitable person in their team to manage the server. That service could be included in VPS or dedicated server service packages, otherwise, it could come as a paid extra feature;
- Site transfer and changing a service package. These are two easily overlooked but nonetheless major functions. When you are transferring from one provider to the other it’s a crucial moment to do so without a hitch. And when your project excessed all of your expectations and now lacks the much-needed resources to operate efficiently, you’d want a hassle-free scaling or changing the plan of your server. But take notice, not every company offers free or/and managed migration, or only offers it under some conditions;
- Website builder is a useful tool for starting out your first project, as your site can be created and designed in a few clicks;
- Free trial period - is a common practice shared between hosting companies. It will surely help you better familiarize yourself with the provided services, picking a choice in favor of continuing working (or not) with the company;
- Utilizing widespread CMS. CMS - Content Management System. The main advantage of these platforms is a wide selection of pre-made website templates, that are easily tuned to fit your requirements.
Step 4. Cost
Don't rush to hosting companies, whose services are claimed to be “the cheapest '', even if they somewhat match the technical requirements of your project. You should be aware that the cost(just don't confuse that with promotional discounts) always corresponds to the quality of the service. If generally, the prices are low, it is expected that most of the features are not included in plans and you’d need to buy them separately. On the contrary, the pricing can be as easily artificially exaggerated.Here’s the market average monthly cost of hosting services.
- Virtual hosting- 0.03$ - 17.34$;
- VPS/VDS - 0.2$ - 27.42$;
- Cloud hosting - 0.39$ - 23.39$;
- Dedicated server - 1.12$ - 270.0$.
This matter should be thoughtfully concerned. Make sure to take into account all of the project technical requirements, additional features, both included and those that are bought separately.
Summary
When making a project from scratch, fretting about every aspect, when looking for a trustworthy company that will keep your website working efficiently, or when you have specific requirements that only a competent company can provide, and not overpay for the service. MyHostExpert is created for these purposes, so you, a customer, could have the ability to find and compare your hosting candidates using only one platform. You should consider the company’s rating before entrusting them with your project, so you could better understand are their claims true.
