The key thing to consider is whether or not you want to pay extra for certain features. For example, some hosts offer unlimited email accounts, whereas others charge per account. If you don’t mind paying for these extras, then they might be worth considering.
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is the process of saving all the files that make your website on a server — like your digital office. Think of it as your virtual office. You might want one because you need a place to store everything about your online presence. Your domain name, email address, social media accounts, photos, videos, and anything else associated with your brand are stored there.
Like you need a physical space to store things like furniture and computer equipment, you need a virtual space to store all the information that makes up your website. Just like you wouldn’t put all of your stuff into your living room, you shouldn’t put all of your website stuff into just one location. Instead, you’ll use a variety of different locations to house your data.
A web host rents out that virtual space on servers for your site. They’re like your website’s landlord. And just like landlords offer many services, including rent payments, you can choose what services you’d like to receive from your web host.
You can use web hosts for free if you don’t need much space. But most people opt for paid plans. These come in three varieties: shared, VPS, and dedicated. Shared plans give you access to resources such as bandwidth, disk space, and CPU power. With a VPS plan, you get your own operating system, RAM, and hard drives. Dedicated plans let you run your entire website on a single machine.
Essential Web Hosting Features to Consider
1. Disk Space
Disk space is one of the two basic services offered by web hosting providers. If you are looking for a cheap web host, look for a provider that offers unlimited disk space. A good web host should provide enough disk space for all the files needed for your site, including media assets like photos, music, and video.
2. Bandwidth
Bandwidth is another important aspect of web hosting. This refers to how much information your site can send out over a given period of time. In other words, bandwidth determines how many visitors your website receives during a certain timeframe. You can calculate your monthly bandwidth needs based on the number of unique visits per month.
To determine the amount of bandwidth needed, multiply the average number of daily visits by 30 days (to account for weekends). Then divide this figure by the total number of hours in a day. Multiply this value by the size of your website in megabytes (MB), and use this as the basis for calculating your monthly bandwidth requirements.
3. Security
According to Fundera, cybercrime costs small businesses $4 billion annually. Small businesses are often targeted because they are easy targets. They typically don’t have the budget to hire cybersecurity experts, and many lack the technical expertise to secure themselves. In addition, small businesses tend to store sensitive information like credit card numbers in unencrypted files.
If your website collects personal or sensitive financial data, consider signing up for a web hosting account that includes security features such as:
• An SSL certificate—an SSL certificate encrypts data sent via your website so only the recipient gets access to it.
• A firewall—a firewall protects your computer network from hackers.
• Anti-virus software—anti-virus software scans incoming emails to detect viruses.
• Backups—backups keep copies of important data stored online.
4. Uptime
One of the top web hosting feature that small businesses and new site owners fail to consider is the availability of your website. This is known as “uptime.” Uptime measures the percent of time your website is available to visitors. If you’re getting less than 90%, it’s likely you’ll lose customers.
The best web hosting solutions offer high uptimes by providing backup servers and having them located in multiple locations. For example, if a natural disaster occurs, one of the backups could be located in another state or even another continent.
5. Website Speed
Today’s internet users expect websites to display quickly. A study conducted by Google found that nearly half of mobile users abandon a site because it takes too long to load. In addition, slow loading times negatively affect a site’s SEO performance.
Besides impacting user experience, website speed can also affect search engine optimization (SEM). When a user searches for something online, he or she expects to see relevant results within three seconds. If you don’t provide those results fast enough, the user might move on to another site.
Choose the Best Web Hosting Provider to Get All the Features You Need
There are no questions about it. If you need quality website hosting, especially if you are a business based in California, your best option is Blitz Marketing Group. We make sure our clients get all the website hosting features they need at an affordable price. Our team will help you choose the right plan for your needs. Contact us today!