Purchasing a domain name and a web hosting package is one of the first things you have to do when you want to build a website.

With so many web hosting services, each offering a number of different types of hosting package, things can quickly get overwhelming for the inexperienced small business owner.

Our mission is to provide all the information you need to make an educated decision, and recommend the best web hosting providers we think really stand out from the crowd.

Which Type of Hosting is Best?

You might be tempted, at first sight, to go for a free hosting service. Many website builders, such as Wix, WordPress or SiteBuilder offer this alternative.

As appealing as this may seem, you should think twice before you actually start building your site using a free hosting service. Connection is usually slow, sites have a lot of downtime, your pages will display the provider’s ads, and you won’t be able to monetize them on your own. Moreover, you won’t be able to have your own unique domain (www.yourdomain.com).

Now that you’ve decided to purchase your own domain name and a web hosting package, you should know there are different types of paid hosting services. Depending on your website’s needs, you can choose between a shared hosting service, a dedicated server or VPS (Virtual Private Server).

Hosting your website in a shared environment means you will share a single server’s resources together with other sites. This is fine if you are not building a high traffic website, or one with advanced functionality. However, if your website needs a larger disk space, or you run scripts requiring a higher CPU consumption, you might consider a dedicated hosting package.

With a dedicated server your site will be hosted individually on a single physical server, and you don’t have to share resource with other users. The downside is that this type of hosting is much more costly and often requires that you have someone to manage it more or less full-time.

Budget and Price Considerations

It’s natural that budgetary considerations will play a part when selecting the best website hosting package, however, don’t let seemingly low prices fool you into committing to a plan that’s not suitable for your needs. For instance, you might be tempted to go for a cheap hosting package only to realize later that your website has a lot of downtime. Why does this happen? In order to cut down prices, some hosting providers cram lots of websites on the same server. This doesn’t mean you should avoid shared hosting, as we believe it’s the best option for most small business, but it’s always advisable to go with a recommended hosting company (that’s why we’re here!)

Server Resources

When picking the hosting provider for your website, considerations like disk space and bandwidth are of utmost importance.

Most providers say they offer unlimited storage space and bandwidth, but you should know that this refers solely to what they define as “normal” use of a website. In case you need greater than average storage space or bandwidth (for instance, if your website is using large visual files or running complicated scripts), you should lean towards a dedicated server or VPS hosting plan.

Another aspect to consider are your website’s future needs. Most likely, it is going to grow and require more resources, in which case you will want a hosting site offering the whole range of packages so that you can upgrade easily without having to switch to a new provider.

Data Centers and Servers

This is the kind of information you might have a bit of trouble finding, but you certainly want to know if your chosen hosting provider uses last generation machines and how many data centers they have. A hosting provider operating multiple data centers around the world is best because it offers better data security.

Moreover, if you are targeting a specific geographical area, you can ask for a server located closer to your customers for enhanced performance, higher speed and reduced downtime.

Support Reviews

The best thing to do before making your decision is check what each web hosting site is offering and compare their plans. Read the experts’ reviews, and get informed before you open your wallet.

Are there any freebies included in the package? Are they offering a free trial or a money-back guarantee? How difficult is it to migrate your website’s files to a different hosting provider in the event you’re not happy with their services? How efficient is their support department? How do they deal with server downtime? All these aspects are very important in making a useful web hosting comparison.

These are the main factors to consider when purchasing a hosting package. In the internet age your choice of server will have a real and direct impact on your bottom line, so it’s crucial that you make an informed decision and take into account both your current and future needs.

Top 5 Hosting Sites has a team of tech and web development experts who spend their days researching and testing the leading hosting providers to bring you in-depth reviews, top 5 rankings across a range of categories, and useful plain-English articles and guides. We love to hear your feedback and requests, so feel free to get in touch via the contact form at the bottom of the page, or the live chat feature.