While building an interactive website has become easier in recent times, choosing the right hosting solution still remains a daunting task. Amongst all the different forms of hosting, Shared Hosting retains its most-preferred position due to the affordability and ease of use. Most small business owners, startups, bloggers, etc. opt for Shared Hosting plans to begin their online journey.
With the web hosting market being inundated with varied Shared Hosting plans, consumers are spoilt, nay confused, for choice! Therefore, it is imperative to assess the offerings of the multiple providers, match them with your requirements and choose the plan that ticks all the right boxes. In this blog, we will help you with 6 questions to ask your Shared Hosting provider so that you make the right choice for your website hosting. But before that, let us understand Shared Hosting.
What is Shared Hosting?
Shared Hosting is an infrastructure where multiple websites reside on the same physical server. The server space is shared between these websites depending upon their chosen plan. Apart from the space, the hosting resources, including RAM, disk space, bandwidth, etc. are also shared among the websites. Shared Hosting is considered to be the most economical form of website hosting. Nearly every website hosting service provider offers Shared Hosting services, with Linux Shared Hosting and Windows Shared Hosting being the two popular OS platforms.
Since the resources and space are shared, the cost per customer is dramatically reduced. Features provided by the Shared Hosting solution include:
- Sufficient disk space to host a small website. In general, the basic plan of Shared Hosting provides 10GB disk space. This is more than enough to host a new blog or a small website.
- Bandwidth to accommodate as much traffic as needed to keep the website flow consistent.
- 99.9% uptime with an SSL certificate promoting security.
- Customer support teams to cater to the issues of hosting.
6 Questions You Should Ask Before Buying a Shared Hosting Plan
Now that you are convinced of choosing Shared Hosting as your website hosting solution, the next task involves selecting a hosting service provider. There are many in the industry, and each would pledge to offer the best-in-class hosting services. However, not all offer the same kind of services.
In case, you are not sure about how to proceed forward, here we have six questions that you must ask your Shared Hosting service provider.
- What is the uptime period?
As a beginner, gathering users’ attention is of paramount importance. Imagine a situation where a customer visits your website only to find it unavailable. Hence, it is important to know the uptime period offered by the provider. Since Shared Hosting is a cheaper option for website hosting, the provided uptime is at times less. Nevertheless, ask about the uptime guarantee offered by the provider and do not settle for an uptime less than 99.9%. - Do you provide the flexibility to upgrade plans?
With time, the website might grow in size and traffic. Under such circumstances, the resources needed by the website might exceed the limit set by the existing plan. It is imperative that the service provider has an option of scaling, or at least, allows migration to higher plans as and when needed. - What kind of security do you offer?
Ask them about their security policies. How often do they conduct updates and malware scans? Also, confirm if they provide an SSL certificate along with the web hosting solution. Make sure you manually check their policies and always check the customer reviews and read the terms and agreement carefully. - Do you provide support for website migration?
At times, it might so happen that you already have a website hosted on a different server. It is now that you wish to migrate to a different service provider. Ask whether the service provider has the provision of website transfer and if yes, do they charge anything apart from the hosting plan. - What is your backup policy?
Seek whether they have any data backup policy. Data backup is important as, in Shared Hosting, a single server is shared between several sites. When overloaded with traffic, the server might crash losing all data. Also, confirm with the provider if they offer additional automated data backup solutions with their plans. - What is the response rate of your technical team?
Even though service providers advertise round the clock assistance and 24×7 uninterrupted services, it is best to ask them directly and seek confirmation for the same. Read the reviews on third-party sites and get a clear idea of the reliability of the provider.
Selecting the Best Shared Hosting Provider
The website hosting solution is nothing but purchasing a server space to host all your website information. Since you are to pay for the same, it is important that the chosen provider is worth the collaboration. Before you set out to buy a hosting solution for your website, make sure that you have done your part of the work well – extensive research on the popular service providers and a detailed comparison of the plans offered by each.
This helps attain a better view of the companies and carve out the best one. Once you have made a move and selected a partner for your website, be cautious about the services promoted on their website. Having straightforward communication is a better way to know the service provider and clear any lingering doubts, you have on your mind. Do share your experience if you are using Shared Hosting plans for your website in the comments section below.
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