Hosting is a basic requirement for any business or non-commercial website. Without it, the resource will be inaccessible to end users, for whom it is actually created. And if you are lucky with your hosting provider, your website will work quickly, rank higher in search results, and knowledgeable technical support specialists will resolve all technical issues 24/7.
In this article, we provide some friendly advice on how to choose the best hosting.
What does hosting affect?
Without hosting, my website will not be visible – okay, well. Is that everything, or does it also affect other things? In fact, hosting affects a whole range of quantitative and qualitative indicators of your website.
Reputation
Of all those who invest time and money in creating and developing their own website, there is hardly anyone who would calmly react to the fact that the website is down and users cannot access it. In today’s world, there is no room for patience, so if your website takes longer than 2-3 seconds to load or is completely unavailable for some time, your customer will go to a competitor.
The availability of your website is determined by uptime—the time during which the system operates without interruption. If there is uptime, there must also be the opposite indicator, which is downtime, or the time when the system is unavailable.
uptime + downtime = 100%
Please pay attention, it is uptime + downtime. Some hosting providers make loud claims about 100% uptime, but this is just a marketing ploy. In reality, it is desirable for the uptime indicator to remain within the range of 99.9% to 99.99%.
Let’s return to the concept of reputation. Frequent and prolonged downtime can damage not only customer recognition but also your reputation with search engines. With low uptime, search engines will not be able to access your resource and find the page they need to display. If such situations occur too often:
- your position in search results will drop;
- pages may drop out of search results;
- the site may stop being indexed altogether.
Position in search results
First – server response time. Your position in search results does not depend on a single SEO factor, but it is the website loading time that makes the difference, which in turn largely depends on the server response time (Time To First Byte) – the time it takes to receive the first response (byte) from any web page.
The acceptable TTFB value is up to 600 ms. The ideal value is up to 200 ms. But the lower this indicator is, the more chances you have to get recognized by search engines and reach the top of the search results.
You can check TTFB using the “Developer Tools” in browsers. Here is a list of hotkeys:
Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and other browsers on Windows – F12
Google Chrome on Mac – Cmd+Opt+J
Safari – Cmd+Opt+C (you need to enable the “Developer Menu” first)
Opera – Ctrl+Shift+i
In Google, you can view TTFB by going to the page you need and pressing F12, then “Network” → ‘Doc’ → “Waterfall” → Waiting (TTFB).
The second factor is server location. Data exchange delays between different continents can reach 150 ms. That is why it is so important that the servers hosting your website are located in the country where your target audience lives.
At Hostpro.com you can choose a data center in the Netherlands or the United States.
Third is website security. A hacked website, or one with vulnerabilities in its code, has no chance of reaching the top of search results. Of course, the host will not cover all security issues, but the necessary protection against DDoS attacks and antivirus can be provided in the tariff without additional payment. Another security guarantee can be daily backups. So before paying for the service, make sure that the host will provide you with periodic backups.
Free hosting – why not?
Well, let’s not be too categorical and start with the good news – free hosting does have a right to exist, but only if the project is still in its infancy or very small, and you just need a temporary solution for training purposes.
Let’s look at why free hosting might not be the best choice:
- Free hosting servers have too many clients, so you may simply lack resources or, if you’re lucky with your neighbors, resources and functionality will be severely limited.
- Your site will definitely have ads, possibly of dubious quality. What’s more, without your knowledge.
- There are no guarantees regarding uptime and data storage. The site may be down for hours, and technical support is usually unavailable on such hosting services — you will have to solve problems yourself or hire a technical specialist. Remember that your website can crash at any time of the day, and your developer is unlikely to answer the phone at three in the morning. What’s more, free hosting providers don’t usually back up websites. If something serious happens, you’ll have to start from scratch without any backups.
- Security issues. It is impossible to know how reputable your server neighbors will be. If they have security issues, contain malicious software or phishing links, you may not be able to avoid being blocked by email services and search engines.
In short, if you enjoy taking risks and can live with uncertainty about your site’s reliability, free hosting is the way to go.
Types of hosting – which one does my website need?
The difference between types of hosting lies in the amount of resources you are allocated, the level of protection, independence from other websites on the server, the level of control, and the technology itself. The main types are: virtual hosting, CMS hosting (specialized virtual), VPS (virtual private server), dedicated server, and reseller hosting. For more details about each type of Hostpro hosting, see the table below:
| Characteristics | Virtual hosting | CMS Hosting | VPS | Dedicated server | Reseller hosting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of resource ownership | *Resources are distributed among all sites on the server. | *Resources are distributed among all sites on the server. | Several virtual servers are hosted on one physical server. | You are the sole tenant of the server. Only your website or websites are hosted on it. | You rent technical infrastructure from a hosting company, which you then divide up and resell under your own name. |
| Price | Starting at $3.45/month | Starting at $4.55/month | Starting at $10/month | Starting at $30/month (promotional proposition) | Starting at $3.45/month |
| Complexity of administration | It’s easy. You can monitor the amount of resources used and close basic administrative tasks in the control panel. | It’s easy. You can monitor the amount of resources used and close basic administrative tasks in the control panel. | Administrative skills, a hired specialist, or technical support are required. | Administrative skills, a hired specialist, or technical support are required. | All technical questions from your customers are handled by the host’s technical support team. |
| Expandability | Yes, if you switch to a higher tariff plan. | Yes, if you switch to a higher tariff plan. | It is scalable. | It is difficult to change the amount of resources because they are distributed physically, not virtually. | It is scalable. |
| Safety | Protection against DDoS attacks, antivirus, and daily backups are included in the price. | Daily backups and protection against DDoS attacks are included in the price. | Overselling is impossible – the same resource cannot be sold twice, which guarantees security. | Due to isolation from other sites, the highest level of security is provided, and you can install your own software for additional protection. | Secure LiteSpeed web server + ImunifyAV security system. |
| Who is it suitable for? | A resource with low traffic: an informational website, blog, business card website, small online store. | Websites on CMS (WordPress, Drupal, OpenCart, Magento, October, Joomla, PrestaShop, MODx). | Web studio, website where non-standard or additional software is planned to be installed, online store with consistently high traffic.If you need to store file archives or work with resource-intensive software. | A large-scale project with consistently high traffic (≈ 500,000/month); applications; websites offering banking, government, or postal services that require the highest level of security. | You are a layout designer, web designer, SEO specialist, or owner of a web studio and plan to resell hosting without significant initial investments. |
Comparison of hosting types
How to choose hosting for your website?
Step 1. Expensive/cheap
Nowadays, it is normal to focus on price when buying anything. Of course, this also applies to hosting, but you need to look at the bigger picture.
We will not consider free hosting right away. We have already explained why above.
Now let’s clarify what’s going on with budget hosting. A low price does seem more attractive, but often it’s just a number on a website, and then comes the onslaught of add-ons — additional services that are necessary for full use of the hosting, but are not provided for free.
And a high price, of course, does not guarantee good hosting quality, but the chances of it being so are still higher. Firstly, productive hardware: servers and the latest NVMe drives cost money. Secondly, the price will most likely include many services that cheaper hosts offer as extras: daily backups, control panel, email, and 24/7 technical support.
Step 2. Check All Options
And you know, you’ll be absolutely right. In order to choose someone, you need to have at least a minimum selection. How to create it, besides Googling?
Go through the hosting ratings. We won’t claim that all the expert analyses there are honest, but at least there are reviews, some of which can really help with your choice.
Focusing on good reviews is a good thing, but we recommend looking at the negative ones as well, and most importantly, at the company’s response — if you are satisfied with how and how quickly they solved the problem with the client, feel free to take the next step.
Step 3. A trial period is a must
No review will give you such a clear understanding of whether a host is right for you as working with them directly. So the next step is to take a trial service. Usually, virtual, CMS, reseller hosting, and VPS plans offer a certain number of days of free use.
At the same time, ask if you will be given the same power and capabilities as users who have already paid their bills. This is the only way to make sure that this host is really the best place to host your website and, secondly, to help you choose a plan based on resources. Hostpro.com offers a free trial period:
- 5 days for all virtual hosting plans;
- 7 days for Turbo, Linux, and NVMe VPS plans.
- Here is a checklist of what you need to check during the trial period:
Uptime
The uptime of a website can be measured using the following services:
Site24 × 7 – The trial version checks 1 domain every hour. On a paid basis, up to 10 resources can be monitored every minute.
SiteUptime – During the free trial period, 1 website is checked every half hour. If you place an affiliate link on your website, you will be able to monitor 2 websites during the trial.
Server response time
You can also check the server response time using the free services PageSpeed Insights, WebPageTest and Pingdom .
The ability to order a dedicated IP address
Usually, virtual hosting users who are hosted on the same server share the pain, joy, and one IP address. A dedicated IP address means that only you will use it and, in essence, you will become independent of the reputation of your server neighbors: the chances of getting into the spam database of mail services are reduced, and you can be more confident about protection from hacker attacks. In addition, search engines display unique addresses higher in the search results.
Step 4. Adjust the tariff to your resources
The tariff should be chosen according to your resources and the amount of traffic to the site — the greater it is, the more substantial the plan you need.
It is not worth choosing too much because projects usually do not grow as quickly as one would like. But it is also worth considering that there may be traffic spikes, for example, during advertising campaigns, so you need to have some reserve. Talking to technical support will help you find the golden mean.
At the same time, you will find out whether the host has the ability to switch from one tariff plan to another, and whether there will be any downtime during the transfer. If this procedure goes smoothly, both when switching from a lower tariff to a higher one and vice versa, then everything is fine with the host and we can move on.
Pay attention to security issues — protection against DDoS, daily backups, and antivirus software are no longer considered just as a bonus.
Step 5. Select a location
As mentioned earlier, it is preferable to select a provider with data centers in the country where the majority of your target audience is located. This will help avoid delays in data exchange, and your website will load much faster for potential and existing customers.
Step 6. Place an order
Let’s share some insider tips on how to save money when buying hosting.
1. Order your domain and hosting from the same provider. First, it’s convenient.
Second, when a visitor goes to your site, the request first goes to the DNS (domain name system) and then to the server where the site is hosted. If everything is in one place, the server response time will be much shorter.
2. Keep an eye on promotions — if you are not in a hurry to order/renew, you can wait for an event: New Year, Company Birthday, Black Friday, Admin Day, for which special offers are usually created. We also recommend subscribing to the newsletter — this way you can always be aware of current promotions.
3. Order for a longer period. If you pay once a year or every three years instead of monthly, you can kill two birds with one stone – avoid the hassle of periodic payments and save money (the savings can be as much as $80).
Conclusion
Your website creates the first impression of your project, and if it takes too long to load, that impression will be ruined. To prevent this from happening, you need fast and reliable hosting. When choosing a hosting provider, be sure to pay attention to the following key points:
- Hosting provider ratings and reviews. Are you used to paying more attention to negative reviews? You’re doing the right thing. A complete absence of such comments should raise red flags. But if there are reviews and the company responds to them, it’s a good opportunity to find out whether the hosting provider is working on its weaknesses.
- Price. If the host is suspiciously cheap, don’t be lazy to click and go through a few steps of the order process. Perhaps the resources are too limited, or the price does not include backups, a control panel, email, or technical support.
- Hardware. The more productive the server and the faster the disks, the better. If your resource experiences traffic spikes and download speed is at the top of your list of requirements for a host, choose plans with the most modern NVMe disks.
- Security. Previously, antivirus and DDoS protection were a nice bonus and a competitive advantage, but today they are a trivial but extremely important necessity. The same applies to daily backups of your website.
- Technical support. Frankly speaking, this is one of the most important points, and it could even be moved up a little higher. But the true value of qualified technical support is usually only understood after the fact, when the site goes down. Even short downtimes are nothing to fear if you are confident that the problem will be solved as quickly and efficiently as possible.
- The availability of a trial period. During this period, you need to find out what the uptime and server response time were, as well as communicate with technical support.
- Location. The closer the company’s servers are to your target audience, the faster your resource will load for them. If your target is an audience from the USA, choose a host with data centers in the US; if you plan to expand into Western territories, choose from options in Europe or the US, respectively.
And finally, with a good host, both you and your website will feel at home. Hostpro.com will be happy to become that place for you — we will quickly and carefully transfer your website from another provider and give you a month of free hosting as a housewarming gift. To do this, simply fill out the application for free migration.