Growth-minded companies are constantly trying to optimize their digital presence, in order to influence customer attitudes and drive growth. But even the most well-thought-out, easy to use, and technically buttoned-up website will only succeed to the extent that it is presented by a reliable hosting service. A well-researched web hosting guide can help big time in this major quest.

Selecting a web hosting service is thus one of the most important decisions clients have to make. An experienced Information Technology Services Company can present quality Support & Consulting solutions covering web hosting and related tasks.

How to choose the right Web Hosting
How to choose the right Web Hosting

Popular Types of Web Hosting Services

The following are the different mechanisms of the most used web hosting services available in the market.

  • Shared Hosting
  • Virtual Private Server Hosting
  • Dedicated Hosting
  • Cloud Hosting
  • Collocated Hosting

The foremost decision to consider is what kind of web hosting arrangement best suits your business needs.

Shared Hosting

Under a Shared Hosting arrangement, several clients share space on a single server. Shared hosting may be suitable for smaller companies and smaller budgets. The host maintains the server, which can be a time-consuming task beyond the resources of a client’s IT department.

But with shared hosting, clients run a number of risks. Problems affecting one website housed on the server have the potential to affect the others. Similarly, heavy traffic anywhere on a shared server can affect the speed of the server overall.

Virtual Private Server Hosting

An alternative is Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting that gives clients their own protected corner of a shared server. VPS hosting mitigates some of the risks of shared hosting by giving each client its own operating system, disc space, and bandwidth.

It affords the client the freedom to choose the type of software they run and to amend the server’s framework should they have the expertise. VPS-hosted sites are easy to scale up when a client’s needs increase.

Dedicated Hosting

A possible option is Dedicated Hosting, which provides clients with their own discrete servers. Unlike VPS hosting, which is like renting an apartment, dedicated hosting is like buying a house.

Under dedicated hosting, a client controls all of the “utilities” on the site. Speed, uptime, and flexibility are enhanced under dedicated hosting—but those benefits, of course, do come at a price.

Dedicated Hosting - A popular Web Hosting type
Dedicated Hosting – A popular Web Hosting type

Cloud Hosting

Another course of action can be Cloud Hosting, which uses a cluster of machines to run an individual site. Multiple copies of a site are housed on different parts of the cloud. If one part of the cluster experiences problems, the other parts of the cluster are available as back up.

Collocated Hosting

The last recourse is Collocated Hosting, which also provides clients with their own dedicated servers, but these servers are located on the clients’ premises. Collocated hosting is considered the Cadillac of solutions and comes with a price tag to match. Clients are responsible for both purchasing and maintaining the hardware and software they are using.

Considerations for Web Hosting

Once a client selects the type of web hosting best suited to its needs, the search for the best provider should focus next on the host’s technical performance. What does the host guarantee in terms of speed and uptime? Does the host offer an uptime guarantee? How often does the host perform automated updates? Clients should consider the KPIs they have set for their own sites or apps, and then evaluate how the host helps or hinders them from meeting their goals.

These are also important factors that play a role in the selection of a web hosting provider.

  • Security
  • Customer Service
  • Pricing
Considerations for Web Hosting selection
Considerations for Web Hosting selection

Let us explore these factors in detail, which have high regard when it comes to the selection of the right Web Hosting arrangement for your website and business requirements.

Security

One of the utmost concerns when choosing a web host is security. Reliable hosts follow best practices around access protection, encryption, firewall construction, mal-ware detection and more. Any web host worth considering will, of course, keep off-site backups of clients’ sites to hedge against technical and even natural disasters.

Customer Service

Depending on the level of support a client expects to need, guarantees around customer service also become critically important. Does the host provide live 2/7 support? If not, what is the guaranteed response time once a support request is initiated?

Pricing

Web hosting services’ pricing can vary widely depending on the hosting model, bandwidth used, and level of maintenance responsibility assumed by the client. A low price doesn’t necessarily signal a great deal. Many hosts offer low rates for an introductory period, but charge steep renewal prices at a contract’s end. Others lock you into an annual plan, but a monthly plan affords clients the opportunity to evaluate a host’s performance in real-time before committing to a long service period.

Final Thoughts

Some hosts include free services with their plan, which clients may or may not need. Clients should conduct a careful review of any Service Level Agreements they sign to be sure they’re getting the services they need at a price they can afford.