Choosing the right web hosting plan is crucial for a successful website. Whether you are starting a new business or running an existing one, your web host should be reliable, efficient, and available at all times.
However, with over 330,000 website hosting providers, choosing the right one can be challenging. The wrong website hosts can be detrimental to your business as they contribute to slow website loading time, frequent downtime, and poor customer experience. Here are some common web hosting mistakes you should avoid.
Choosing a Free Web Hosting Account
A free web hosting service is impressive, especially when running a personal blog or a hobby website. However, these are generally a poor choice for a business website. Here are reasons why you should avoid free web hosting services
- Limited control over the placement of ads leading to poor customer experience
- Minimal customer support
- Slow loading speed
- Zero access to advanced features such as accessible databases
- Loss of data, especially when you exceed your bandwidth
- Frequent downtime
- Limitations on web pages
- Difficulty in scaling a free account with your business
- Zero compensation in case your account disappears
Failing to Read Customer Reviews
Reading a website hosting review is an excellent way to determine the quality of services. You can tell a hosting package with slow loading time, security issues, and poor customer support services through reviews and testimonials from past and existing customers. This helps narrow down your search.
It is worth noting that reviews can be fabricated, so be wary of companies with lots of fantastic testimonials. Opt for reviews from expert web builders or tech writers as they are more honest and blunt.
Choosing the Wrong Web Hosting Plan
There are different web hosting plans, including shared hosting, cloud hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. You should do due diligence before selecting a hosting package to ensure that you choose a suitable one for your business.
For instance, while a shared package is perfect for a small business as it is cheap, it may not be ideal when the company grows and accrues more traffic. However, a VPS hosting package offers exclusive resources such as bandwidth, storage space, and CPU; hence it is perfect for a small growing company.
To determine a suitable hosting plan, consider the pricing, domain privacy, SSL certificate, email support, and other incredible features, depending on the nature of your business.
Subscribing to a Hosting Plan with no Refund Guarantee
Selecting the right web hosting package can be challenging, especially when you are a new website owner. As such, you should always opt for a web hosting service provider who avails of a refund policy.
This gives you a sense of security as you test the different hosting packages without losing your money. You can also gauge the quality of a company’s services through a money-back guarantee. Companies that do not offer refunds and free trials are more likely to provide shabby services.
It is worth noting that different hosting companies offer money-back guarantees with distinct time frames. Some offer a 30 or 60-day guarantee, while others avail a generous 90 day period. Do your research before choosing a hosting provider to select a company with an ideal refund policy.
Basing Your Web Hosting Plan Choice Solely on Price
While considering the price when choosing a hosting package is crucial, it should not be the only determining factor. Some new website owners assume that all hosting packages are the same, so they opt for the cheapest available plan. Others think that the more costly a hosting plan is, the better the efficiency and reliability.
The cheapest hosting packages may be slow, inject unnecessary ads on your site, and lack customer support. On the other hand, an expensive hosting package may include additional features that may not apply to your business.
Apart from cost, determine where you need your business to be in the future. Next, subscribe to a hosting plan that aligns with your present and future needs.
Overlooking Customer Support Service
The best way to determine whether a web hosting provider is right for you is by testing their customer support service. You do not want to have issues with your hosting package and have no one to help you out.
If a company claims to have 24/7 customer support, you should prepare questions to test all their contact options, including live chats, phone calls, and emails to validate the claim. Note how quick the support team responds and how friendly, effective, and efficient they are while answering questions before signing up.
Overlooking Restrictions
When looking for an affordable web hosting plan, you can easily overlook some restrictions and limitations. While these restrictions may not affect your business at present, they may bring severe repercussions in the future.
For instance, limitations on bandwidth affect your website’s speed and efficiency as your business grows. Avoid choosing a plan that limits you. Instead, go for a web hosting package that easily scales with your business.
Failing to Make Regular Backups
What would happen if you wake up one day and find your web host has deleted your site or you have lost all your data? This can happen even with the biggest web hosts, which is why regular backups are important. This will allow you to get back online quickly in case of an issue.
Endnote
A reliable web hosting plan helps establish your online business presence and improve your customer’s experience. Familiarize yourself with these common mistakes, and learn how to avoid them for a successful internet business.
