A website is the backbone of a business, so it needs to be well-designed and perfect in terms of functionality. While design depends on the creativity and skills of the web developer, reliability, in large part, depends on where the website is hosted. That calls for being careful when choosing the hosting provider.
Choosing a good web hosting company is vital for the online success of a business. Poor web hosts impact the website negatively by causing regular downtime and reducing the loading speed of the website.
From my experience, I have come up with a list of mistakes you need to avoid when hosting your first website. Let’s run down the list.
Using a Free Host
Choosing a free host may sound great, especially for startups, but I would recommend that you stay away from it. It will cause some issues in the long run. For example, your host may place third-party ads on your site, which is not great for credibility. It also implies that you don’t trust your business or site since you’re not willing to invest in it. Not only that, but the loading speed will also be lower, and you’ll not be able to upgrade the website as your business grows, and when the time to migrate comes, you’ll have additional hoops to jump through.
Additionally, your ability to run some scripts will be limited, and this will affect your SEO. The fact of the matter is, using a free host will limit your control over your website, so you better go for paid hosts.
Not Choosing The Right Hosting Package
You can choose a good web hosting company but still end up picking a bad hosting package. Hosting companies offer different packages, so you need to take your time to pick the one that suits your needs. The cheapest plans can work only if your business is still young.
If you have an established business and you expect your traffic to grow faster, you can choose the premium packages. It’s not only about the size of your business, but you also need to consider the features offered in each package. For instance, next-generation hosting providers as Hostinger offering domain privacy, an SSL certificate, email hosting, and many other features that can ease the growth of your business. These features are not found in the cheaper packages.
On the other hand, you need not choose a package with so many features that you wouldn’t need. That will make you pay for what you are not using. So, the bottom line is to choose an affordable package that offers the features relevant to your business.
Failing To Read Hosting Reviews
There are many hosting companies in the world, and they offer different packages. It isn’t wise to pick the first one you come across without doing some research. The best place to start is to read online reviews about the hosting company. The reviews will give you a true picture of the company you want to deal with. Look out for:
- Complaints concerning security
- Complaints about slow loading and downtime
- Customer service issues
- Any other negative issues raised by the reviewers
After reading the reviews, you can decide whether or not it is worthy to sign up. You can also read articles written by technical writers about the hosting company.
Failing To Test The Customer Service
Some companies pay reviewers to post positive reviews about them. For this reason, it good to test the services by yourself. This has helped me a great deal. Talking to a customer service representative from a company can help you gauge their level of responsiveness. Luckily, most providers offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can test the quality without having to lose money.
You can test all their contact options, including live chat, phone, email, social media, etc. You can also reach out to some of their current clients and ask them about their feelings towards the company.
Choosing a Hosting Company That Doesn’t Offer Refunds
A reliable and trustworthy web hosting company usually has a money-back guarantee. Such a guarantee shows the company stands behind its services and can go to any length to ensure customer satisfaction.
Choosing a company that offers refunds means that if you change your mind or if you find their service to be unsatisfactory, you’ll not lose your hard-earned money. A refund policy gives you a sense of security, as you’ll be assured that your money is safe. Even having a pro-rated refund is better than having nothing at all.
Not Knowing Your Restrictions
Hosting companies use a marketing language that can make their packages sound to be superb, but in the real sense, they could be lying. For example, a host can talk about offering unlimited bandwidth. That sounds great. However, if you dig deeper, you may realize there are some restrictions on the bandwidth.
For instance, the moment you approach the limit of the bandwidth, you’ll notice that the loading speed of your website will become slower.
Other restrictions familiar with hosts include:
- No multiple Post Office Protocol (POP) accounts
- No Secure Socket Shell (SSH)
- No installation of personal software
These restrictions are usually hidden, so you may need to research thoroughly or ask their customer service representative directly.
Final Words
When you are new to web hosting, I would recommend that you deal with an expert who can help you through this journey. Nothing beats an expert’s opinion. Don’t be in a hurry. Take your time to choose the best web hosting company for your site.
Nina Smith 
Nicola Holder