Choosing a web hosting provider can be a challenging task, with a variety of plans and features, free SSL or not, various speed modules, etc. How to be sure that a provider is reliable? One way to acquire knowledge about the quality of services is to read reviews on platforms such as Howtohosting.guide.
Perhaps you have noticed that web hosting firms offer various plans with preconfigured web servers. In these plans, everything is handled for you, but is it good enough?
The must-have features
To answer this question, pay close attention to your plan’s aspects: price, speed, scalability, security, backup, and support. Depending on their quality, you will either have an excellent performance experience or a disappointing one.
A shared hosting plan is perfect for your project if you have a limited budget. Such a plan is good enough for you to start your web adventure. You may outgrow this plan at some point, and this is where your provider’s scalability comes into play. You should be able to upgrade it so that it fits the growing needs of your project.
The advantages of a good hosting provider
The speed factor is also associated with your hosting provider. Two specific features can affect your website speed and performance: the hard drive and the resources (bandwidth, RAM). Note that a solid-state drive usually guarantees a more reliable service in comparison with the standard one. It also improves the page load time, thus affecting the overall speed. More bandwidth and RAM will also ensure a better speed rating. These speed modules will be important to you once your site starts attracting over a thousand visitors daily. This is the moment when you should consider switching to a dedicated or VPS server.
The cache is another crucial factor when it comes to flawless performance. If WordPress is your CMS, you can choose a WP caching plugin to reduce your account’s resource usage and let your visitors enjoy a flawless browsing experience.
Note that a hosting provider may offer unlimited bandwidth options. However, unlimited bandwidth is something you most likely don’t need. If you can’t decide on your own, contact the provider of your choice, and ask them to calculate the bandwidth for you.
Good security hygiene requires an SSL certificate, a firewall, and a spam prevention tool. You should also consider using a solution against denial-of-service attacks, like CloudFlare. Backup also falls into this category. To be safe against any issues, you should have daily, automatic backups. This way, you can restore it if something goes wrong.
As for support, an excellent technical support team means that you can rely on real professionals when dealing with a problem. Such a team should be available at all times via channels such as email, live chat, and telephone.
All the factors listed in this article will help you choose the best web hosting plan.
