Things to Consider When Choosing Web Hosting for your WordPress Site

Elise Myers

6 years ago

Finding the right web hosting provider is one of the most difficult tasks for most people, whether it is for an online store, company website, or a blog. In all cases, you want a high-performing and steadfast hosting provider whom you can trust and completely rely on.

This can become more difficult for you if you are new to running an online business and don’t have any technical expertise. Hence, you decide to set up a website with WordPress as it doesn’t require programming skills and allows you to set up a website quickly and easily.

You are ready to invest your time and money for an optimized website that doesn’t face downtime, negative SEO ranking, etc. Simply said, you want to make sure that you don’t lose visitors and profit because of your choice of company for web hosting.

The vast availability of web hosts today offering similar services (unlimited offerings, 24/7 support) creates a dilemma for you. This article will help you choose the best possible host for your WordPress site.

Hosting Prices

Price is the first thing to consider when choosing web hosting. It doesn’t mean that you should go for the cheapest option available; neither should it impact your choice of web hosting provider. But the services that come with your website hosting plan for WordPress should justify the pricing.

Some hosting providers offer very inexpensive plans, but their services aren’t reliable and can cost you a lot of money in the long-term. Another mistake some people make is opting for free web hosting but that is a really huge mistake; there is no support, it comes with security risks, and you can’t control the ads.

On the other hand, there are expensive web hosting plans that don’t include the kind of offerings that justify the price. Check the list of features provided with the plan and find exactly what you need. For example, if you need to host one domain only, then you can ignore the plans with multiple domains hosting as this extra service costs you unnecessarily.

Further, if you are a beginner who wants to start his own blog, then it is better to compare the plans of leading hosting providers. It is important to pick an appropriate plan for your needs right from the start.

Scalability to Upgrade Hosting Plan

It is not always mentioned among the features of web hosting plans whether the hosting provider offers scalability and flexibility to upgrade your hosting plan. You might be choosing a Starter plan for your business today, but it will likely grow in the future and you might need to upgrade the hosting plan to a Standard or Professional one.

If your web host doesn’t offer scalability to grow, then you will need to change the hosting provider, which will cause a lot of hassles for your business related to migration and costs. Hence, include this in the list to consider when choosing web hosting for WordPress.

24/7 Technical Support

Technical support is something every website owner needs whether he is a beginner or a tech whiz himself. The issues related to running a website can arise at any time and you might need to talk or chat with a technical person from the hosting provider. For example, your website is facing downtime or the server is not responding. In such cases, customer support is a must.

Regardless of the time zone, a good web hosting provider should be available to support 24/7 as things can go wrong at any time. You should also check the response-rate of the support service by sending some relevant emails to the technical team, as well as evaluate their attitude towards customers.

Fast and Secure Server

Security is crucial for all types of web hosting services, not only for your website but also for your customers. The web host should have a secure server because all the data and information for your site and your customers are carried out on it. The data can include confidential information like contact details, bank details, etc. If any data is leaked, you will end up losing customers, money, and your reputation; it will negatively affect your business.

Some hosting providers offer a free SSL Certificate with hosting, but if you have decided on a particular host who fulfills all your other requirements but doesn’t provide SSL, then it will be better to buy an SSL Certificate separately.

For faster loading of the web pages on your site, it is important that your service provider is hosting your site on a speedy server. The speed of your website matters. Research shows that 40% of internet users leave a website if it doesn’t load within three seconds. Further, 70% of users who find your website too slow will not visit it again.

Storage Capacity

Storage and bandwidth are two such factors that will always remain very important for web hosting. You might need less space for your website as a beginner as you have a small setup. But when your business and website grow, you will need to improve and modify it as per the requirements. It will need more storage capacity to store more content, media files and more. So, look for scalability or high storage capacity.

Backups

To ensure that all the data on your site is safe even if something bad happens, you need to backup all the data. Scroll through the features list and check to see if the web host provides daily or weekly backups. This is necessary for you even if you are going to run a simple WordPress blog.

Website Downtime

If your website starts attracting a lot of traffic, it may face downtime. It can’t be predicted when will you gain the traffic, and hence, the downtime can occur at any time. Thus, make sure to check the probability of the downtime of the web host. Cheap or free hosting too often face excessive downtime.

Wrapping up:

Before you decide to purchase secure and reliable web hosting for your WordPress site, consider the factors mentioned above. You might not find the required web hosting for free or very cheap, but the services you pay for will be worth it.