Once you decide to take your business online, one of the most important decisions you’ll be making is which web hosting service to choose for your website. Your web host will determine how easy it is for you to maintain your site, how well it will work, and how easy it is to fix problems that arise.
This can get pretty expensive, but there are some ways to get Cheap Web Hosting that doesn’t sacrifice the core features you’ll need to make an effective site. Let’s go over the main components you’ll want to look at before you buy hosting cheap.
1: Traffic Accommodation
Some websites will need to accommodate a lot of visitors at once, and some are likely to get just a few a day. The type of traffic you expect has a big impact on which host will work for you.
For low traffic, go with a host that offers shared hosting. This puts your site on the same server as other low-traffic sites, and it reduces costs dramatically. For higher traffic site ideas, you’ll need a dedicated server. This means that your site will be the only site hosted on a particular server. It’s a little more expensive, but it’s the only way to ensure your site works effectively.
Preferably, the best host will offer both of these options, and they might even offer cloud servers for a bonus.
2: Uptime
Your site won’t be of much use if it’s down every time customers try to visit it. For this reason, you want a service that guarantees the highest level of uptime without charging an arm and a leg.
Most services now offer 99.9% uptime guarantees, and this is more than enough for most smaller sites, but you may be able to negotiate a 99.9% guarantee for a higher fee. 100% is ideal, but due to unforeseen issues that might pop up, it’s impossible to get.
3: Customer Support
Unless you have a dedicated IT team that can handle server issues, you need a service that provides exemplary customer support. If something goes wrong with your site design, the server keeps going down, or the site just isn’t working properly, you’ll be grateful to have the assistance of a high-quality support team on call.
Do not sacrifice customer support for a lower price tag.
4: Scalability
Finally, scalability is something you should consider. Your site might start small and be able to function with a shared server, but what happens if your business takes off? Basic features, shared server space, and other limited functions will hinder your growth unless the company allows you to scale your web hosting to match your needs.
Without internal scalability, you’ll be forced to take your site offline, move to a new hosting service, and start from scratch. Sometimes, you may even need a new domain name. This can cripple an online business.
Get Hosting Cheap Without Sacrificing Essentials
The four core concepts we described are not things you want to sacrifice. There are other features you’ll want to have, but you can usually get away with sacrificing those.
If you’re looking for a cheap web hosting service that offers all of our recommendations and more, try Hostgator; it’s cheap, feature-packed, and most importantly, reliable for everyone from beginner bloggers to successful eCommerce businesses.