Looking for a cloud hosting provider is easier than ever. However, choosing the right hosting provider is harder than ever due to the sea of options.
Here are a few things to look out for when making that choice.
How Much Customer Service Do You Need?
No matter how tech-savvy you are, you will need customer support. Even software engineers sometimes need help with their websites and servers. So, get a web hosting provider that will give you 24/7 customer service.
How Much Traffic Do You Expect?
Hosting providers charge based on the bandwidth (transfer) and storage your website will use. Therefore, you need to be honest with yourself about the traffic you will get. Don’t overestimate your projected success and don’t cheap out either. Make an accurate estimation of the traffic you expect.
What Server Types Do You Use?
It is important to understand that not all servers are created equal. So, picking the right type of server is very important when choosing cloud hosting providers to meet your requirements.
Shared Servers
Shared servers provide the cheapest hosting available. Here, one box (i.e., server) runs hundreds of websites, and the performance of your website depends on how well the other sites are using resources on that server. They also may restrict the programs that you can run on the service.
Virtual Private Servers
This type of hosting allows multiple servers to run on one box using virtualization tools. The performance is much better than shared servers but is still affected by the performance of the other virtual servers on the same box. You also need to have some basic system management skills to run these servers.
Cloud Servers
These are a better choice and run on public clouds like AWS and Microsoft Azure. The configuration needed can be built according to the needs of the customer. The biggest advantage here is that you can scale seamlessly. These big tech companies have huge infrastructure at their disposal to do so.
Don’t Go For Unlimited Offers
Some providers offer unlimited hosting, but you need to read the fine print before you sign up. No company can provide unlimited resources without suffering significant losses.
They offer to give you unlimited storage and bandwidth for a few dollars a month. However, they will probably throttle your speed at certain times of the day. Or worse, they will put restrictions on your storage capacity. They may even shut down your bandwidth once you’ve reached your monthly limit.
Unlimited offers, wherever they may come from, are often scams.
Chose A Portable Content Management System
Cloud hosting providers have been known to change plans. This is natural with management changes, acquisitions, and technology shifts. You have to make sure that your site isn’t locked to one host. That way, you can shift to another platform and have a backup practice in place when needed.
Make sure to go with something that will run on just about anything like WordPress on top of PHP. This way, you will always have access to the site’s data and receive regular updates and site backups.
Domain Name Ownership
Make sure you choose a hosting provider that gives you your own domain name. This way, even if you change providers later on, you can take all the data with you as well as the name.
People recognize the name of a website, company, or organization more than anything else. Never forget Ray Kroc, who took the McDonald’s business and name from the original owners. If he never had the name, he wouldn’t have the customers. Who would’ve wanted to eat at Kroc’s?
