Choosing a Web Host
A web host is a company that operates the server where your website operates. One of the most daunting decisions people face in standing up a website is choosing a web host.
Choosing a web host is a decision that scares people away from getting started. It need not be this way. With a little planning and some education, the decision can actually become quite straight forward. This article will help make the choice a little easier.
Free vs. Paid Web Hosting
The first choice is whether to go with a free hosting service or a paid hosing service.
Free Web Hosting
Avoid free hosting accounts. The adage “Nothing good is free” applies. Free hosting usually means a wonky address for your site e.g. “your_site_name.wonkywebservice.com”. Many of them also embed advertisements in your site, for which “they” get paid. You’ll also be faced with constant upsell solicitations via email, text/SMS, and phone calls. Finally, free hosting doesn’t offer live customer support. You are essentially on your own if something doesn’t work or if you need help figuring something out.
Paid Web Hosting
Paid hosting is worth the money. Paid hosting requires an annual fee. It’s common for web host’s to offer a discounted rate for 1-3 years when opening a new hosting account. With a paid account you get to use your own domain name, and there’s no default embedded advertising. You are in control! There’s also typically some level of live phone and/or chat support.
General Purpose vs. Specialty Hosts
There’s a plethora of web hosting companies out there, with a wide variance in pricing. I lump them into general purpose hosting and specialty (or managed) hosting categories. Like any industry, there’s also uplift associated with brand recognition. I have personally found little difference in quality or reliability between the well known brands and the lesser known brands, so I tend to go with the latter.
General Purpose Web Hosts
You get more for less from the general purpose (GP) hosts. They allow you to choose from a variety of web technologies. For example; you can run a hand coded site, a CMS site, a DIY builder, or even a web application.
Depending on the web host you choose, you may be able to run an unlimited number of sites/domains, with unlimited storage. You may also get unlimited email ID’s for each domain you own. The downside of the GP hosts is there’s more work required on your end.
Examples:
Specialty Hosts
The specialty hosts (SH) tend to focus on a specific web technology. For example; WordPress. There’s even specialty hosts who focus on a specific theme like Divi, on WordPress. The objective of the SH is to make your life easier by bundling in services to install and setup your website, and services like; backup/restore, virus scanning, software updates, etc.. Naturally, all of that comes for a price that’s higher than the GP host base plans. As stated earlier, most of those services can be had more economically elsewhere. If you are halfway computer savvy you can easily handle the GP tasks yourself. Otherwise, consider the SH route.
Examples:
Add Ons
Add on services are available from your web host for anything you can imagine, although I advise caution here. In my experience, you can solve all these needs for far less than the web hosts charge.
Examples:
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL)
- Backup/Restore
- Malware scanning and remediation
- SPAM Filtering
- Migration services
- Performance & bandwidth upgrades
- WordPress Administrative Services
- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
- Design and development
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Selecting a hosting plan
