A hosting service is inevitable in today’s business space; there is no business that has successfully eluded the services of one, especially in the 21st century.
However, the difference between a business with an awesome online presence and one with a poor - less than ideal web presence lies largely with the hosting. An awesome host can easily take your online business right through the roof in a few months; unfortunately, the converse also holds true for a poor hosting company that leaves a tonne of wishes/basics unfulfilled.
If you are thus shopping for a new hosting company (either as a complete newbie to the hosting environment or as one who already possess some hosting experience), the following 6 tips are pointers you should take serious - and hold close to your heart.
...if you relapse on any point, the failure of your site is already eminent. In no particular order, here are the points you should take very serious:
Support that is...well, support
Hosting companies are not created equal - and the very first manifestation of this is in the support offered by the various companies.
An awesome host offers 24/7 support (across channels - chat, phone and the ticketing option) to ensure that you are assisted anytime you have a challenge.
Aside making these options available, a great hosting company that has the interest of your company or website at heart will also ensure that the support staff hired to man the support channels are not only competent, they are also reliable and tasked appropriate to the client base.
Then, and only then, will you be assured that help will come to your end when you most need it.
To test the support of a hosting company, try contacting its support desk at 00:30, Friday, local time...you’ll be presented with the true state of things :)
Speedy servers
The conversion of your website is hugely dependent on it’s speed; a website’s speed (all other variables being equal), is largely dependent on the quality of the hosting - or in plain language, the speed of a host’s servers.
Look at it this way: if you are running a program (say Corel Draw 15) on a P2 PC with just 128MB of RAM, how well will you compete against a folk running on a machine equipped with an i7 processor and backed by 16GB of raw RAM?
My guess is as good as yours - you’ll lose out - badly, irrespective of your skills or other external factors.
This is the same scenario that plays over when it comes to hosting and speed: some hosting companies are simply ‘good’ at using old and outdated servers. Sadly, this means one thing for your business: snail pace speed and super awful conversions!
But, how do you spot a hosting company with awesome servers?
Simple: take a look at how fast (or slow) it’s own website(s) load...then, test run two or more sites they’re hosting. Then, and only then, will you have a fair idea of what to realistically expect when you finally sign up.
Affordable pricing
The essence of every business is profit; thus, it does not make sense running a business consistently on losses.
Using this time tested logic, it is expedient that a hosting company offers very affordable prices if it is to be taken serious and considered for the task of hosting your website.
As a guide thus, no shared hosting plan should exceed $10 a month; once any company offers any plan in excess of this, its services should be shunned and an alternative immediately sought.
Your company is in business to make money, so also are you, if you are a solopreneur. Why waste money on hosting when there are awesome alternatives for a lot less?
Free SSL certificates
Recently, Google announced that henceforth, it would start using the presence of a linked SSL certificate - or https for short as a ranking signal.
What this means is that, sites that have this feature installed will be slightly favored in the SERP results.
Aside this new (awesome) organic benefit, there is also the age-long benefit of increased security and relative peace from snoopers and hackers hell bent on compromising the security of your site.
The good news is that, SSL is now FREE via Let’s Encrypt - you don’t need to pay several tens of Dollars for a certificate per annum again. The bad news? Many hosting companies are still charging for this (now officially free) feature.
If you’re to enjoy your new site, boost your organic ranking and improve your site’s overall security, selecting a hosting company that offers this feature free of cost will ensure that you smile - and save avoidable cost.
Impressive uptime - not mere ‘guarantees’
Every hosting company today spots the much publicized and almost beaten to death 99.9% uptime guarantee badge.
The reality, however, says something else - entirely. Many of such companies (especially those that notoriously spot and preach the 99.9% uptime illusion) in reality offer a sad 70% or less uptime.
Unfortunately, with such a poor uptime as 70% (or less), you have no business running a website, blog or online business. This is because, when it’s night time in your hosting company’s time zone, your site will also take a break with it’s hosting masters :) When you take a vacation, your site will also vacate with you :)
And, when it’s time for that all important sale, your site will still enjoy a little, annoying snore and would prefer that your competitor get it instead :) This is not a healthy reality for business at all, especially, the online variant.
So, how do you get over this super tricky one?
Simple: monitor the sites your intended host is already serving for downtime and take a look at independent data inspired by actual tracking...the figures will shock you - as they do not lie. But, at the end, you’ll be led to an awesome - and profitable choice.
Seriously.
Availability of cpanel hosting
No matter how awesome a hosting company is today, it may lose its quality and awesomeness in the near future, especially when it gets sold out or when management changes.
When the awesomeness that drew you in is long gone, there is practically no reason why you should still hold unto the hosting company and this is where the issue of cpanel hosting - or lack thereof comes to play.
Transferring from a host that uses cPanel (to another cPanel based host) is usually a breeze - and a fair number of excellent hosting companies will offer this service for you, at no extra cost, when you migrate to their platform.
However, the problem (and challenge) comes with doing business with hosting companies that use their own in-house platforms or a custom built platform to run the sites entrusted to their care.
When this is the case, a switch is usually difficult - and sometimes, bothers on the impossible. At the best of instances, ‘migration charges’ would be charged by your new hosting provider (an extremely unpleasant reality) that is bound to make you bitterly regret the day you chose a non-cpanel enabled host for your site.
To avoid this challenge, ‘look well before you leap...’; no matter how awesome a hosting company is, no matter the mouth watering services it offers, if no cpanel hosting is listed, check the next stop.
It’s as simple and as straightforward as that.
So, if a host offers all these features/services, it’s awesome?
Certainly.
But, that does not in any way mean it will retain them - or continue in it’s awesomeness. Your job as a savvy webmaster is to monitor both it’s quality and your site frequently for changes that could inspire a change of heart.
...and, when you notice such changes, be smart to get them fixed by contacting your host’s support desk. If nothing is done (or unnecessary delays ensure), make the smart switch to another hosting company without much ado. Hosting is strictly business, not friendship, family or pleasure.
As you keep the quality watch over your new hosting company, you should also remember to keep a regular backup of both your site’s database and files for the rainy day, if it ever rains.
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Akaahan Terungwa is a freelance writer available for hire. You can hook up with him on Twitter via @IamAkaahan or check out his blog for more of such awesome content.