When you’re looking for a new web hosting solution for a brand new website or even for an existing one, what do you look for in determining if it’s the right solution for you? Whilst the immediate cost of the product may leap out at you and the basic features tick all the boxes, are you making the right decision short, medium and even long term?
Considerations to be made
Platform Features
This is the most immediately important component of any web hosting solution, do the included features line up with the specification sheet for your website scripting platform? Most start-up personal and small business websites will typically opt for an out of the box Content Management System (CMS) platform such as WordPress, Joomla or Drupal. In those cases, a web host who provides a Linux platform with the latest PHP and MySQL releases will be top of your pile. But what if you’re running something custom or perhaps different from those aforementioned CMS’s? Do they require Windows with ASP, do they require Linux with a custom Apache module?
The best thing to do is check with your developer or the developers of the script you’re using (see their website) to see what server specifications/features are required. Information is power, and with those details, you can provide the specifics to each prospective host so they can confirm suitability.
Reliability
You want your new website to take off, and to do that. It needs to be always online. When selecting your new web host, make sure you’re looking at an appropriate pricing point that provides the level of service you demand your website. A $1 per month web hosting plan may suit the budget nicely, but if you’re expecting to make $1,000 a day in revenue through your website, is it appropriate to spend just 0.003% of that on your primary earner? Spending just a little bit more on your web hosting service will typically see you placed on better hardware, platforms with greater optimisation, better client<>server contention ratios, improved support and the presence of service level agreements.
Secondly, make sure you choose a provider who has been in the industry for some time and is backed by a team with experience; this will ensure they have the experience to solve the problems encountered and place appropriate investment into continuously improving the quality of service.
Scalability
Your website may only need to support a small number of visitors and products today, but what about 6-12 months down the line? Moving services between providers as you grow may not be ideal, so choosing a provider with a range of products may be your best option. Providers who offer a range of shared web hosting solutions to suit small start-ups all the way to small-medium businesses and then Virtual Private Server (VPS) solutions to provide growth opportunities allow for flexibility and scalability as you grow. It would be best if you aimed to have a long term relationship with your web host to save long term headaches, so choosing a provider who can meet your needs of today and tomorrow is critical. Ask your prospective provider what opportunities exist before you commit.
Final Remarks
With this knowledge now bestowed upon you, making the right decision for your online future make be a more time-consuming task to reach, but it will deliver the results your business demands. After all, you wouldn’t want to make the mistake of launching a new website, only to have it crash on the first day because You did not select the right solution.
The VentraIP Group was formed in 2009 and is proud to be fully Australian owned and operated, providing services to over one hundred thousand Australian individuals and businesses. VentraIP is a name Australian’s can trust for reliable online solutions for web hosting, domain name registrations, virtual private servers and SSL certificates. With VentraIP, you can build your online presence today with a product for tomorrow.
Starting from just $2.50 per month, our custom web hosting plans provide an excellent starting point for personal and start-up websites. For those who require increased reliability and speed, our Business web hosting plans start from just $5.00 per month, featuring our latest and greatest SSD DELL Cloud Hardware solution, LiteSpeed web-server for speedy page loads and 99.9% up-time guarantee providing a solid platform for you to thrive in the online world. VentraIP chooses cPanel for each of its shared web hosting products to provide reliability and ease of use to all clients, allowing you to spend less time managing your website and more time growing your business.
Finally, we can assist you in scaling up with our VPS range starting from just $49.95 per month, affording you the flexibility, stability and reliability that an ever-growing business demands. If you are interested in any product or service offered by VentraIP Australia, please get in touch with us on (03) 9013 8464 or see our Contact Us page.
