As you’ve decided to build a website and have settled on WordPress as the best software to use for it. You must choose where your site will be hosted before you can even begin to think about what your content will be, how your website will look, or when you’ll be ready to launch it.
There are numerous things to take into consideration while hosting a WordPress website. First of all, you must realize that not all hosting providers or services are built the same way, and the best option will differ for every WordPress content creator. Furthermore, inadequate web hosting can harm your SEO strategy, which can result in poor site loading times, site crashes, security vulnerabilities, and other long-term negative repercussions that will cost you money, time, and resources.
It can be difficult to choose a web hosting provider. You could become overwhelmed and wonder what to look for when every business out there promises endless resources or round-the-clock support.
Given a large number of web hosting companies available, it may be useful to focus just on the most crucial factors when you are refining your search. With that in mind, let’s look at five important things to take into consideration when selecting a web hosting provider that will position your company for online success.
Five factors to take into consideration when choosing a WordPress web host
1. Customer Support Options
Before choosing your web host, you must consider several important factors, including customer support. You must select a WordPress hosting provider that prioritizes customer support, making itself accessible 24/7, and providing prompt resolutions to problems. Working with a host that provides this level of customer service will allow you to relax knowing that whenever you run into a problem that you are unable to fix on your own, assistance will always be available.
While many businesses promise to offer 24/7, high-quality service, it may take them hours or even days to respond to you. Searching for any online customer evaluations or testimonials is a fantastic technique to identify web providers who are likely to keep their promises. You can use this information to assess whether or not a service provider is reliable by looking at the kinds of interactions that actual clients have had with them.
Additionally, it’s preferable to choose a service provider that offers a diverse range of support options, like email, chat, landlines, etc., so you can utilize whichever one is most practical for you at a particular time.
2. Price Ranges and Hosting Plans
When picking a web host, the majority of individuals put the price as their priority. But remember that choosing a cheap solution isn’t always the wisest move, especially not in the long run. A lot of variables, including the quality of service affect the price of web hosting.
While you shouldn’t search for incredibly cheap solutions, you should ensure that you are not overpaying as well. This can be done by comparing several hosting providers’ levels of service against one another’s prices. It’s also essential to see if a host offers room to expand and scale your hosting plan. Your needs change as your company expands, so it’s a smart idea to plan and see if you have the option of upgrading your hosting package.
Additionally, as WordPress is our main focus, you should look for a hosting company that offers WordPress-specific hosting. These hosts will have WordPress running at its best and offer you necessary features like one-click installation, automatic updates, quicker loading times, etc.
3. Security and Additional Features
Did you know that 30,000 new websites are hacked every day?
Hackers are continually coming up with new ways to use websites to install malware codes to steal their data. Therefore, when selecting a hosting service, security strength is unquestionably something you should consider. Protecting your website from cyber threats is the responsibility of your WordPress hosting provider.
Your WordPress hosting providers must take all appropriate precautions to safeguard your data from unauthorized access, data destruction, or data tampering. The web host provider must use the most advanced cybersecurity measures, such as:
- Daily automated backups
- Free SSL Certificate
- DDoS Protection
- Daily system-wide malware scans
- Free malware removal from the site
- Option to deploy two-factor authentication
- DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) protection
4. Prioritize Speed and Reliability
You might lose tens of thousands of dollars in sales with just one downtime incident. Therefore, network uptime and stability are too crucial to overlook. Furthermore, a crucial aspect of your user experience is how quickly a website loads. Your pages need to load incredibly quickly, ideally in just a few seconds. A lot of visitors will depart if the wait time is longer. According to statistics, 40% of users will leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. Thus, long loading times result in lost opportunities and lost money.
Therefore, the servers of your web hosting provider must be as reliable as possible, regardless of the level of efficiency, security, and customer support they can deliver.
A reliable hosting provider’s servers should be guaranteed to be up at least 99.9% of the time and should not require unforeseen maintenance. The top hosting providers will also have backup network connectivity, hardware, and software to avoid any unanticipated disruptions. Additionally, you must ensure that your host utilizes a CDN with servers located in the nations that are crucial to your company’s success. Your website will load more quickly for users around the world if the provider has more server locations.
5. Compatibility With Common Plugins and Themes
Plugins are an essential component of every WordPress site since they provide additional features to WordPress. Many companies employ a select few WordPress plugins and themes to provide a distinctive user experience and to offer them an advantage over their rivals. However, your host must be highly compatible with the plug-ins and themes you already use or intend to employ on your website.
When researching potential WordPress hosting providers, ask if they are compatible with specific plugins and themes that your website employs. Each host’s sales or customer support representatives will be upfront and truthful about all plugin-related restrictions or incompatibilities. Keep in mind that this can be especially important if your website utilizes unique plugins or themes. As a result, be sure your hosting provider enables you to install and test as many plugins as you like on your website without any restrictions.
Looking for the ideal host for your WordPress website?
The process of selecting a WordPress web hosting provider may appear difficult. Fortunately, you may locate a WordPress hosting provider that precisely satisfies the needs of your company by using the aforementioned criteria to help you narrow down your options.
Feeling stuck?
Get in touch with the skilled professionals at Hyperlinks Media and schedule a free consultation right away. Our team will make sure you have everything you need to build outstanding WordPress sites that are extremely responsive and reliable.
