Step 4 -Choose Your Web Hosting

Now that you’ve chosen and purchased your domain name, it’s time to shop for a host. Choosing the right web host is the next step in how to build a website. It is suggested that your host and domain registerer are with different service providers. I have had a better experience keeping them on different accounts with different providers.

People have a huge variety of opinions when it comes to web hosting. Bottom line though, you need to find a web host that suits your needs. Each website is different, and has different needs. It makes sense then that different web hosts will produce different results and will make different impressions on people. I’ll be completely transparent with how I impart information here on this page. I have had experience with two different web hosts. One of them is great, and one of them was not so great.

What Should You Look for in a Web Hosting Provider?

1. Great Customer Service and a Phone Number

There are several things that I think you should look for in a web host. Your first priority should be to find a web host that has great customer service. In the experience that I have had, customer service is extremely important. Your website will be your contact with the world and your website is dependent on your web host. Invariably, there will be times when you will need to communicate with your web hosting service. You will want to find a web host that will respond to your questions and concerns in a timely and polite manner. Sadly, I have dealt with a web host that had anything but good customer service. In fact, their customer service was just plain awful. This web hosting service did not and still does not have a phone number. So it was impossible to talk to a human being. Instead, when problems arose, I had to email them and wait sometimes up to 24 hours until I heard a response. In the meantime, my website and my customers had to wait. Talk about unprofessional. Conversely, I have a great experience with my current web host. When I decided to switch to them, I actually got to call them on the phone and talk to a very polite person. The customer service representative was professional, treated me like I was important and helped in the migration of my website to the new web host for free. Now that’s great customer service. So be sure that the web host you choose has a phone number.

2. Be Sure That Your Web Hosting Matches Your Needs

The second thing I would suggest when shopping for a web hosting service is to be sure that the hosting package that you purchase matches your website needs. Most web hosting services offer their packages in tiers. This is important – be sure that you understand what each package offers you. The less expensive plans logically will offer you less, but may suit the needs that you are looking for. If you are expecting loads of web traffic then you may want to consider one of the more expensive packages. Be sure that you read the details of each package. Find one that offers you an email address. Most hosting packages will feature several emails but just be sure to research it first. You don’t want to have a website without an email attached to that website. Having a contact page that links to your Gmail account is not professional. As you consider each package, keep bandwidth in mind. Bandwidth, or monthly data transfer, refers to the amount of data that is transferred to a computer from a server. Your web host will be providing your website data space on a server. Each time a visitor lands on your website, their computer calls on the server that houses your website data. The data is transferred to their computer. If you have a lot of visitors to your website, this data can really add up and eventually put a strain on the server. To offset this, some web hosts put a limit on bandwidth usage per month. The more expensive web hosting packages will offer more monthly bandwidth. Many of the good web hosts offer unlimited bandwidth.

Let me explain further why bandwidth is important. When I first started building websites, I started with a hosting package that limited my monthly bandwidth. My website was hosted with a “not so great” web host. My website featured instructional videos that were not embedded, but instead hosted within my website. Each time a visitor reached my website and watched one of my videos, my bandwidth was used up. It wasn’t a problem until my website began to become popular. I started getting lots of visitors, which was great. One day, however I checked my stats to see how many visitors I had had that morning. I was shocked to see that the number was low. I quickly checked my website. It was down with a message that read that my monthy bandwidth allowance had been reached. I was missing visitors and in my case, losing money. I had received no warning from my web hosting provider. They simply shut my website down. I quickly upgraded my hosting package which cost me more money. But in short time, I had outgrown this package as well. I was forced to switch to an unlimited bandwidth plan with a new web hosting provider The whole ordeal forced my website offline for a total of two weeks. If I had just done my homework in the beginning, I would have avoided all of the downtime. So be sure to understand your bandwidth and pick a web host that will provide enough for your website to function without a hitch.

3. Affordable and Reasonable Prices

There is a huge range of prices when it comes to web hosting.  Most of the prices reflect the “bells and whistles” that are including in the hosting package that you purchase.  However, it is really easy for the novice to be taken advantage of here.  There are a lot of new companies that are offering to give people looking to build a website everything that they need in one place.  These companies include the domain name, the web hosting, and even an interface to design, build and change your website.  Beware.  The pricing for many of these services is through the roof.  There are plenty of people that are throwing their money away because they are just not doing the research.  Building a website is not complicated.  You do not need to pay someone else a huge amount of money to do something that you can do easily for a fraction of what they are charging.  So, find a hosting package that will work for your needs that will not cost you an arm and a leg.  Once you find one, it’s time to buy your web hosting.

Once you’ve got your web hosting in place, it’s time to move on to the next step in how to build a website – deciding how your website will be coded.