Picking the right host is easy if you know what your website needs from a host. To help with that, ask yourself the following questions.
What type of site am I building?
Different types of sites come with different technical requirements. For example, a WordPress site will have different technical requirements than a static HTML site. Think about how your site is going to be built first and foremost. You’ll then be more clued up on things like the coding languages and databases your host needs to work with.
Do I need email hosting?
We’ve discussed the benefits of setting up email addresses associated with the domain of your new site. It would be a shame to miss out on this by overlooking whether your host provides email hosting that fits your needs.
How much data will I be storing and serving?
The bandwidth you’ll require from your host is not just a matter of traffic. It also depends on the file size of the pages you’re showing to that traffic. If your site is packed with data-heavy pages, the more storage, and bandwidth you’ll need your host to have. On the other hand, a predominantly text-oriented site, such as a personal blog, will need a smaller amount of storage space and less bandwidth, while a photographic gallery with lots of high-quality images will need larger amounts.
How much traffic do I expect?
It’s most likely your traffic will start pretty low but, if you plan to build it up to high levels, you’ll need a flexible plan where you can increase your bandwidth capacity as time goes on.
What is my hosting budget?
Think up a ballpark idea of how much you can afford to spend on hosting. If your budget is limited, your service might not include all the bells and whistles. If your budget is a bit more flexible, you might get some extra perks, such as free SSL.
How technically proficient am I?
The beauty of the internet these days is that it’s possible for anyone, no matter their expertise, to set up a website. Certain types of site management tasks will require a bit more experience. If you don’t have the experience to administrate your server, leave it to the professionals and use a fully managed web hosting service where everything is done for you.
3. Choose a web hosting plan
Now that you’re up to speed on the features web hosting services offer, it’s time to choose a hosting plan to bring your website online. When you browse between various web host’s products you’ll see fivemain packages on offer: shared, dedicated, VPS, reseller, and managed WordPress. Let’s outline briefly what each of these hosting types is.
Shared website hosting
More or less considered the “entry-level” of hosting, Shared Hosting is when you and other customers are given access to one physical server so you’re essentially sharing or “renting” the same key resources (e.g. CPU, RAM, disk space, etc.). And, because you’re not paying for the full server costs – only the parts you’re using – the price is super affordable.
Advantages
• Cheapest hosting available (Stellar starts at $1.44/mo)
• Ideal for any first-time, low-traffic, or low-bandwidth website
• Requires minimal tech expertise
• Easy to set up (the Softaculous app instantly installs any CMS)
• Includes a free Website Builder with drag-and-drop interface
• 50 Positive SSL Certificates (free for the 1st year)
• Automatic backups
Disadvantages
• Has specific LVE limits (may be not enough for high-traffic websites)
• Limited amount of storage space
• Website performance can fluctuate, depending on other customers’ usage levels
Shared hosting is the most popular type of hosting because it’s cheap and easy to set up. It’s ideal for any brand new, low traffic and low bandwidth site.
WordPress hosting with EasyWP
Unlike the hosting options we’ve discussed thus far, EasyWP true managed WordPress hosting is ready to go within just a few minutes. With other types of hosting, there’s a learning curve when it comes to figuring out how to installing WordPress (or another CMS) and managing hosting. Not so with Easy WP – its 30-second, one-click installation takes care of everything for you. Appealing to tech novices and more experienced developers alike, EasyWP is easy to use, but also offers a huge range of themes and plugins to customize your site to your heart’s content.
Easy WP is powered by Namecheap’s cloud technology, which is the latest cloud technology optimized fully for WordPress. Fully containerized, the Namecheap cloud has 99.9% uptime and its speed is up to three times faster than a standard WordPress site on traditional shared hosting.
Advantages
• Easy setup – ready to use at just the click of a button
• Faster than WordPress sites on traditional shared hosting
• Manage all your WordPress sites from one dashboard with a single login
• Easy migration service
Disadvantages
• Less control over the technical side of site and server management and may not appeal to more advanced users
EasyWP managed WordPress hosting is the perfect option for those who don’t want to be so hands-on with the technical side of the day-to-day running of their website. With its single dashboard and easy-to-use interface, you can focus on learning how to use WordPress itself and producing quality content.
VPS hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) is somewhere between shared and dedicated hosting when it comes to price and performance. Consider it the next best thing to having your own dedicated server, since VPS is almost as good as having a private server. A VPS divides a single server into separate virtual servers. Similar to shared hosting, there are multiple customers (websites) running off the same servers, but with VPS, the number is far, far fewer and you have dedicated resources. Similar to dedicated hosting plans, you’ll have to take care of technical tasks related to your server yourself if you opt for VPS hosting.
Advantages
• Good and reliable performance
• Cheaper than dedicated hosting plans
• Customizable server setup
• Enough storage space and bandwidth to power data-heavy, busy websites
Disadvantages
• More expensive than shared hosting
• Requires technical knowledge if you go with a self-managed VPS package
VPS is common among site owners who need more storage and bandwidth than is offered through shared hosting plans. They might find dedicated hosting is above and beyond their needs regarding price and flexibility. Like with dedicated hosting, be sure to look for a fully managed option if you don’t have the skills or any help with the handling of server admin tasks.
Dedicated hosting
When you purchase dedicated hosting, you won’t be sharing a server or any resources with anyone, and you get an entire server to yourself. This style of hosting gives you more control. You can configure everything on the server because it’s typically self-managed – which doesn’t suit all webmasters.
Using this hosting means you have to take care of all the technical tasks that the hosting company would normally handle for you in a shared hosting service. There is the option of fully managed dedicated hosting. However, this is another price tier up and not within typical hosts standard packages, so you might have to go looking for it.
Advantages
• A dedicated server means you’re not sharing with other sites and won’t be affected by others.
• More storage space and bandwidth than shared hosting
Disadvantages
• Highest priced hosting
• Requires advanced technical knowledge
Dedicated hosting is the ideal choice for websites with very large bandwidth and storage requirements. If you don’t have the technical expertise or time to manage your own server and you don’t have anyone available to help, fully managed dedicated hosting is the right choice for you.
Reseller website hosting
Reseller hosting is another form of shared hosting. With this style of hosting you are permitted to sub-rent portions of your own allocated space to others. They typically come with a special dashboard where you can divvy up your space into sub-accounts, allocating storage space and bandwidth.
Advantages
• Cheaper than VPS
• Typically more storage and bandwidth than shared hosting
• Much less admin than VPS and dedicated hosting require
Disadvantages
• Performance could be affected if other accounts sharing the server use more than their share of the resources.
• Reseller hosting is popular choice when you want more resources than the limited ones of shared hosting plans, but there are still fewer resources than with VPS hosting.