The first thing that you need to do if you would like to set up your own website is to find a hosting company. Yep—you should start researching your hosting company even before you look for a domain registrar. Here is how to make sure that you get the best deal for the money.
1. Package Deals
Look for a webhost that will allow you to put together a package for your website. For example, use a hosting company that will help you register a domain name, set up your email and host your site for an affordable price. For example, Siteground.com is currently offering free domain name setup and a few other perks for people who buy a hosting package with the company. One stop shopping like this saves you lots of time and hassle later on.
2. Site Building Tools
Do you know how to build a website by hand? Do you have the money to hire someone who does? It’s okay if the answer to both of these questions is “no.” You simply need to choose a hosting company that has tools in place for new website owners like you. For example, look for a web hosting company that has Fantastico installed—a one-click solution for people who want to install a variety of different types of websites onto their server space.
3. How Much Traffic Will the Company Accommodate?
When you look at different website hosting packages, you are going to see things like $X for “X” MB/GBs of space. What does that mean? This means that for X amount of dollars you will be allowed to build a website of a certain size and that sees a certain level of traffic. If you are putting together a simple blog that you expect to see modest traffic, the smallest package is more than likely sufficient. If you expect your site to be expansive and to see thousands if not millions of visitors a month or year, you’ll want more space.
4. Flexibility
Steer clear of a hosting company that want to lock you in to a certain amount of space, a certain price point and certain features. The best companies will allow you to step your hosting packages up and down as you need to do so. This way if you get more traffic than expected, you can simply switch to a new hosting plan.
5. Customer Service
Only do business with hosting companies that have real people who can help you when you need it. Bots can only accomplish so much. Even if you don’t want to have to call, look for a service that will offer you a live chat option for customer service needs or questions.
These are just five things to consider when you want to make a new website. As you work and build you’ll get a feel for what goes into the running of a site and be able to make any changes you need to make when you need to make them.