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How to choose the first web hosting for your online business startup

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When it comes to being a successful entrepreneur, creating a personal brand through a website is critical. Everyone, including your friends, family, and colleagues, use the internet to know about the trending brands.

The big brands enjoy the advantage of a strong reputation coupled with a crew of expert designers behind their websites. As such, if you are going to match the competition, you have to not only build a strong reputation but also a strong web presence with the help of a first website hosting company that will keep you online 24/7. But coming up with a commendable website isn’t that easy. There are myriad places to pick up from. Some are cheap, some are expensive and most aren’t even worth your precious time. Click here to find out more about hosting.

For developers, small business owners, bloggers among others, knowing how to choose a web host is equal to searching for Mr. Right. Picking the best web hosting provider boils down to 3S’s— security, speed, and support. In equal measure, the scale may be another 4th S to ponder.

When done in the right manner, you can have a lifetime of happiness with a high-performing and reliable host who is always available through chat, phone, or email to answer all your late-night questions. But rushing into a hosting relationship without doing adequate home-work, could easily lead to feeling trapped, extorted, or misled. This will most often end with headaches, and expensive, messy divorce.

A good provider must guarantee reliability, speed, and excellent performance. There’s simply no room for compromise when you’re looking to establish your first website.

We have outlined for you the most sought ideas on how to choose the first web hosting for your online business startup. Keep reading for insightful ideas on how to secure the best host you will love down the road.

Know the Type of Hosting You Need

Before embarking on finding your first web hosting mate, take a moment to comprehend what you are looking for in the relationship. Just like the light sleepers avoid dating people who snore, your needs will certainly affect your compatibility with some hosting providers.

Different web hosting patterns will appeal to various users based on their traffic and the size of their website. For instance, a high-volume online store shouldn’t cut corners with shared hosting plans.

Shared Hosting is Great for Start-Ups

With shared hosting, several websites, as well as customers, share the same server and its resources. This is a classic first choice material for startups—it is simple and uncomplicated. For most startups it is advisable to turn to shared web hosting packages when entering the web hosting world, then you can decide when it’s time to upgrade to either VPS or dedicated plans as your need dictates.

The main downside to this is that the server is split among many other sites, you will notice poor performance if a neighboring website is having a high traffic surge. If you are really prepared to boost traffic for your startup, you won’t possibly want to settle down with a shared plan.

If you settle for the shared package though, price, storage support, and performance are the features to look for. Other differentiating factors include free domain names, eCommerce offerings, and perks like advertising credits, upgraded hardware, and website builders.

VPS Hosting Comes with More Flexibility for Rapidly Growing Sites

VPS is a short form for virtual private server. It is a happy middle ground between the shared hosting and the dedicated hosting. This server is divided into distinct virtual machines through virtualization that act as independent servers. The customers in VPS also share a server. However, in a VPS each of the customers has greater control and larger portions than those with a shared hosting plan. The key difference is that you get allocated resources – no matter what is happening on neighboring sites, yours will function just fine.

As you can remove or add additional computing resources according to your needs, a VPS hosting plan is a great option for serious startup owners. You will have a more serious relationship with the server and someone on standby to help you out whenever you experience an itch that needs scratching.

The most popular VPS hosts will usually include storage with high speed, solid-state drives, and managed services for software patches and updates. Depending on your technical comfort levels, you might want to consider hiring a developer. VPS hosting requires some Command Line Interface knowledge. If you’ll be running a Linux-based VPS (which is the most popular option) you’ll need to get familiar with some console commands for the system. While the learning curve is fairly steep initially, it gets easier once you learn the basic logic behind it.

What Type of Business Site Are You Creating?

Just as the amount of traffic or the server load affects the type of hosting plan you choose, your startup type will also dictate the must-have features. For instance, some hosting providers concentrate on promoting eCommerce functionality while others highly focus on search engine optimization and blogging.

WordPress is Great for Blogs

If your online startup resonates around content management, then WordPress is an easy pick for you. Powering more than a quarter of all the internet websites and recently crossing the 28% mark of the CMS market share, WordPress is the deal for a writer looking to share their thoughts online. Seeming, you will find every host offering one-click WordPress installations, but the best providers will include unlimited storage and bandwidth, upgraded hardware, pre-installed programs, real-time support, and dedicated WordPress expertise.

eCommerce Hosting is Perfect for Online Stores

For startup owners, be advised that an online store is a must-have. An analytics firm ComScore recently pointed out that consumers buy more goods and services online than in physical stores. More than half of the US citizens buy their goods and services online, so you should find a website host with resilient eCommerce options.

A top-performing web host will take care of high-security requirements that’s geared at protecting the customers’ payment information. Also, you always want a beautifully designed template providing access to shopping cart software and integration with email marketing tools and PayPal services.

More importantly, even if you are not planning to use your website to sell products, you always count on online presence to increase your brand recognition. If you get a good web hosting provider for your startup business, then expect to grow from 10 to 20%.

Remember that an effective hosting relationship is a lifelong commitment. Switching a hosting provider is painful, not to mention all the hassles and headaches that come with transferring all the files and domains. So, instead of switching from one provider to the other, start your first hosting service with a web host that is in for a long haul. Look for a web hosting provider offering strong shared hosting plans and top-rate VPS features. This means that the company will always stand by you as you move from grass to grace.

In a Nutshell

Never feel intimidated or lonely on your quest to find Mr. Right. Skip the blind dates and get your first web hosting with a reliable web hosting provider that will stick by your side no matter what is in the store. Go with the provider that will accommodate you as your online startup grows from grass to grace.

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.

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