Live ChatWhen you are about to decide on the right service provider of Web Hosting, Cloud Hosting, or SSD VPS Hosting, it is better to research first than repent further. The most daunting aspect of finding the best hosting provider is ruling out a plethora of wrong providers that are claiming to be the top hosts around.
This calls for a meticulous and methodical approach to avoid frustration of getting locked up with the mediocre service provider that can only assure downtime and nothing else.
Following tips will be useful as homework before you set out to select the right host
• Understand your specific hosting requirements and keep your access information away from host’s network
• Study and determine your target audience and geographical location of the same
• Prepare a questionnaire and try to get answers to every question without a single exception
• Understand data center tiering norms particularly for Tier III data centers and above
• Never attach undue significance to pricing because it can be misleading
• As for as possible avoid resellers and stick to hosts that own and operate top tiered data centers
Following are the vital attributes of hosting service provider that needs to be critically analyzed to make sure that your web presence is going to be managed by the right host.
Technical support
This is the most important factor to consider and hence deserves the number one position. Technical support is the single most important deciding factor because in the event of a downtime or any other technical issue, no other attribute of the hosting provider is going to be as important as this.
Look for the provider that has a proven track record for outstanding technical support. The support staff must be on the guard and easily accessible on round the clock basis. The access should be available via multiple means of communications including telephone, live chat, or email.
Overall reputation
It would be naïve to accept and believe in all claims made by hosting provider. No host would mention the negative features in the website or any of the advertisements.
If you need to assess the reputation of a particular host, then it would be a better idea to get in touch with owners of websites that are already being hosted by the service provider.
You need to find about the number of years the host is in the business and can also refer to reviews. Always make a habit of analyzing the negative reviews and see the dates of such reviews to ensure that there are no freshly posted negative reviews.
Technical specifications
It would be advisable to analyze details of technical specifications being offered by the host in terms of hosting plans. These could be RAM, bandwidth, and CPU.
You should have clear understanding of your hosting needs and then try to match these with service offerings. There are different tech specs needed for blogs, ecommerce, image galleries, gaming sites, and so forth.
Service Level Agreement is an important resource to make sure that your expectations in terms of uptime and other vital technical aspects of hosting are going to be respected. Never settle for uptime that is less than 99.99 per cent.
It is also important to examine the quality of networking equipment and other hardware components that are being used by the host. Use of branded and top of the line enterprise grade hardware speaks volumes about the quality of hosting.
Multi layered security
It is a fact of life that your hosting service provider is in charge of your business critical data and you must make sure that the host is able to act as guardian of the data by providing multi-layered security measures.
You need to ensure that the provider is able to deliver stringent levels of network and data security to keep DDoS attacks and malware threats at bay. Presence of biometric access control measures, mantraps, and continuous CCTV monitoring assure that the security of the facility is up to the mark.
Hosting services need to comply with different regulatory norms including PCI and should be in possession of legitimate software licenses of cPanel and Windows to name a few.
Clientele
It is a good idea to examine the client base of hosting provider to make sure that the host has required expertise to manage websites belonging to various industry verticals.
Ideally, the host must have a proven track record of servicing domain that is associated with your business. This factor is of great importance to ensure that your website will be managed by experienced host.
Unique features
Every SSD VPS hosting Service provider worth its salt is able to present certain features that are unique and worth considering. If you are going to use a VoIP application or are engaged in ecommerce business, then look for the host that offers guaranteed uptime and unlimited bandwidth with low latency.
You need to look for feature of an extensive network of data centers that is spread across global locations or efficient CDNs(Content Delivery Networks) to support your global operations.
On demand scalability
Change is the rule of life and growth is the oxygen of your business. Your hosting provider must be able to support your business growth and expansion plans with availability of seamlessly scalable resources. This requires proper analysis of hosting plans and affordability of upgrade prices.
