So you have come up with a new idea for a website that is going to change the world, or maybe you just thought you needed another place to upload cat videos, but there are some issues you should know about before you go shopping around for a hosting plan. Avoid these common mistakes by doing your own research and not falling for marketing gimmicks.
Going for the Cheapest Plan You Can Find
You can’t be blamed for wanting to save money, but you need to be realistic about what you can save money on and what you need to get done right. The amount of money you could save from provider to provider is very minimal, so it will pay off in the long run to steer clear of anything that looks too cheap and too good to be true.
You don’t have to pay a lot to get quality hosting though. For example, click here for more information from a UK-based provider of web hosting that doesn’t compromise on the cost vs quality factor.
Unmanaged Plan with No Support
You will probably come across some very appealing hosting plans that are marked as “unmanaged”, usually a VPS or dedicated server, but be warned that these are not good for everyone. Although they are generally much cheaper, they come with no support and you will be required to perform all of the initial setup and ongoing maintenance by yourself.
The money you saved by getting an unmanaged plan could soon be eaten up by the amount of time and effort you have to spend learning how to manage it yourself, or by paying someone else to do it for you. If you take shortcuts in this process, and fail to set it up with the proper security, you leave yourself open to attack and possibly even data theft.
Buying Hosting From Your Domain Registrar
Your domain registrar is the company that you registered your domain name with. You may like that company, and you may have had a great experience with them, but you probably shouldn’t buy a hosting plan from them.
Many people who are new to owning and operating their own websites will choose the simple option of signing up for a hosting plan at the registrar where they just bought a domain name, but this is almost always a bad idea. You will generally pay more for hosting this way, and the support teams usually just aren’t as good or as fast to respond as those from a company that is more focused on hosting.
Planning Too Far Ahead
It is important to be realistic about how much bandwidth and server resources, such as memory and hard disk space, that you will need in the first few months or years that your website is online. Unless you have a truly unique and amazing idea for a new product or service, you will probably get off to a slow start before building an audience and bringing in enough money to make a large hosting plan worthwhile.
It is fairly easy to upgrade and move your website around once it is established, so it is safe to start on a cheap hosting plan and then either scale up or change to a different hosting provider at a later time. Don’t worry too much about what you will need in the future and instead focus on how you can make your new website profitable in its current form.
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