What would you need if you wanted to use a website to sell your own products and services? Your next priority would be to establish shopping cart functionality on the site. Not every web host supports this feature; however. many do, but if you’ve chosen a hosting provider who doesn’t have the capability to add a shopping cart, you won’t be able to do so. Continue reading to learn more about the things you should consider when choosing a hosting company.
While it’s common for web hosts to offer add-ons with their packages, the actual features and packages vary widely between hosts. Make sure you are comparing apples to apples by selecting plans which are similar. For instance, you may find that the lowest-priced provider no longer holds a cost advantage and you must choose a higher-priced package for the feature that you need.
Be sure that you register your domain’s name using a different company than your web host in case there’s some kind of disagreement between the two of you. This way you can still have the domain name, and can put the site on a different server. This leaves you with no domain control, only your host will have it.
A lot of hosts require you to create a backup of your website. This is an extremely important function of website ownership, not only because you must comply, but mainly for keeping your data safe and secure. In case your website or host goes awry, you have all of your data secure and poised for quick relaunch.
Your web host should play a key role in your site management, by offering you tools that allow you to track and analyze site statistics like traffic. Independently add a traffic counter somewhere on your website, then compare its results to those that are provided by your host. You should make good use of this information to measure the performance of your website.
Does the company offer a portion of your money back if you want to end your contract early? If you find the hosting service isn’t right for you within the first 30 days after ordering it, you should be able to cancel it and get a full refund. This is because although a web host may advertise certain things, the things they advertise may not be true.
Try to talk to other users of the host to see what they think on forums. Having the ability to post questions that take up your concerns, will benefit you because you can eliminate this company if they do not meet your standards. These discussions will also make you more confident that you have chosen the proper host once you finally settle on one. Customers who currently use the hosting service will usually give you the best information.
When in doubt, go over these tips and tricks to see if your web hosting provider has the features that your business website needs or any of your websites need. Do not pay for the features that you are not going to need, or miss out on features that you do need to save money.