A web hosting provider’s primary function is to host and store your website on a physical server. Essentially, they have a bunch of computers in which your website is hosted. Depending on the needs and size of your business, sometimes you may have a whole computer for yourself or you may share it with others. Sharing it with other people is known as shared hosting, and having your own server is known as a dedicated server. When it comes to choosing a web hosting provider there are multiple things to consider. This blog post will walk you through some important things to note when deciding on a web hosting provider.

Customer Support

Regardless of how technical you are, we highly suggest hosting with a company that offers 24/7 customer support. New companies, or those without much technical knowledge, will benefit greatly from good customer service as they will be able to access support whenever they run into an issue. On the contrary, if you understand how to use servers and cPanel, you may not need to contact customer service often, if ever. However, we still recommend 24/7 customer support in case you find yourself with an issue at 3am in the morning. The Canadian Web Hosting customer support team is available 24/7 and is known to be extremely responsive.

Extra Charges & Cheap Plans

The next thing to consider is pricing and extra charges. In some cases, you may find yourself using the maximum bandwidth and going over your allocated amount. A common overage fee can be applied to bandwidth; this typically happens when you see an increase in traffic. If you find yourself going over often, that should be a sign to upgrade your plan.

Some plans may seem too good to be true and normally they are. For example, some companies will try to reel in customers using a $1 per year plan, but the price will spike up after the year. To avoid this, understand what your site requires and choose a plan that best suits what you can afford.

Peering at your specs

Take a look at the specs of the plan being scouted. Ensure that the bandwidth, additional storage, backups and storage types all fit your goals and needs. For example, if your website has large graphics, images, videos and other content, along with a large number of users, you will need more bandwidth. However, a simple blog post with minimal traffic will perform completely fine with smaller bandwidth. We suggest potential customers to sit down with their IT team to determine which plans will work best for them. Moreover, a good web hosting company can also tailor a plan to fit your needs. In such case, you can reach out to us and we can provide a customizable solution for you.

Reputation

Reputation goes hand in hand with customer support, but it is best to take a look at the reputation of the company you plan to host with. Ensure that somewhere in your decision-making process, you check out the company’s reputation by reading their Google reviews and browsing social media. Looking in the comments of social profiles is a good way to gauge their service, and a quick Twitter search of the hosting company will also let you know what users think of their service.

Location

Location is another aspect to keep in mind when dealing with any hosting. It may be one of the most important aspects, if not the most. When you host your website with a company be sure to check where their servers are located and to ensure it is where you want it to be. For some Canadian companies, they may require that their data stays on Canadian soil. At Canadian Web Hosting, all of our hosting is done in Canada. Therefore, you can have confidence that your data is being protected and regulated by Canadian privacy laws.

Location also plays a factor in website speed. If your business has lots of Canadian customers then then your hosting servers should be located in Canada. Close proximity to the servers improves the loading speed of websites. Canadian Web Hosting has servers in both Vancouver and Toronto providing Canadian websites with incredible speed from coast to coast.

What are your Needs and Goals?

Finally, another important thing to consider when choosing a hosting provider is to look internally. Web hosting is just one piece of the puzzle to fulfill your online goals and needs. The key to choosing the right provider is to match your goals with the services that allow you to meet those goals. Confirming your specs that you require will allow you to deliver fast service for your current customers with room for growth.

Conclusion

We understand that there are a lot of things to consider when choosing a hosting provider. Following these recommendations and ensuring all aspects are considered in your decision-making process will allow you to focus on your online goals in the long term. Although web hosting may be complicated, choosing the right provider shouldn’t be. These recommendations should allow for smooth sailing of your online adventures.

At Canadian Web Hosting, we want you to succeed which is why we offer flexible plans with 24/7 support. If you are interested in any of our hosting services feel free to leave us a comment on this post or contact us.