Web hosting is an integral part of your presence online as it dictates a lot how available you are on the World Wide Web and how easy people can be able to reach you online.
With a plethora of web hosting service providers available to choose from, picking a web hosting package that is right for you can be a daunting task.
You have to make sure that the web hosting package and web hosting company you pick are right for you not just for now – but even as you grow. After all, web hosting affects your website in many ways, from your site’s performance, reliability, scalability and security; all depend on the service you opt for.
Different hosting providers provide different web hosting features — disk space, bandwidth, security, and more. It’s essential to understand what you need and what you can go without.
So, how are you going to do it?
Follow this simplified guide on picking the best web hosting service in Kenya to make an informed decision:
Available Storage/ Disk Space
Storage/ Disk space sometimes referred to as web space is the amount of space you are assigned to you on web host’s server. All web hosting accounts offer a certain amount of disk space that you can use to store your web files. It is recommended that you have some sort of estimates on what you need for various tasks. How much space will you need for your emails, web files, databases, etc. By breaking down your usage, you can better estimate how much space you should go for.
Know what your web hosting Bandwidth limit is
Storage and bandwidth go hand in hand. Bandwidth also “data transfer” is the cumulative amount of data your web hosting provider lets you and you customers download and upload monthly.
Think of it as the amount of traffic allowed to access and leave your website at a given time. The lower bandwidth that is allocated the slower your website can get regardless of the speed of your connection.
Just like storage, some hosts offer “unlimited” bandwidth; again, if you think you’ll be in a grey area, find out the limits or choose a host that sets the bar where all can see it.
Guaranteed Uptime and availability
This is one of the most important features of a reliable web hosting provider. Guaranteed uptime means a website is guaranteed to be up at least 99.9 percent of the time and available to visitors. This guarantee should include network uptime, server uptime, web server and service uptime as well as 24/7 support.
Security
Protecting your users’ personal and financial data is of great concern and your web hosting gives an extra line of defense against cyberattacks. Some of the security tools that a web host may include are SSL secure servers, SSL certificates, software that can prevent other websites from accessing other websites’ databases and files, antivirus protection, firewall protection, strong passwords, reliable authentication, secure payment processing, email encryption and strict privacy policies.
Be sure to pick a web hosting package that offers extra layer of security or your website, for your online safety and that of your users.
Regular Backups
Regular backups is another one of the key features that any web hosting provider should provide. Imagine what would happen of you lost your website and all of its content, emails, customer data, sales and financial details? For some this is a complete loss of business.
You should be sure to pick a web hosting service that provides regular backup services in order to protect yourself from such a disaster. Most web hosts provide autobackup for you website files and databases. If they don’t offer backup, figure out how you’ll be able to do it yourself.
Data backup is essential for you to be able to easily restore your Web site without spending the time and money to recreate it if you accidentally delete or corrupt important files.
Pre-installed Apps
Server operations can be complex if you do not have the technical know how behind their working. To make it easy to use and get things done there are pre-installed apps control panel (cPanel) being one of them. Others include one-click app installer for WordPress, Joomla, and other CMS, A file transfer protocol (FTP) that lets you manage files on a server securely among others.
Website Builder
A lot of web hosting providers include site builders as a built-in web hosting feature. This is a drag-and-drop website creation tool offering 300+ pre-made templates to make website design easy. Its built-in Smart AI guides users to create responsive designs that fit every screen.
Technical Support
A reliable web hosting provider should have technical support available 24/7. Technical support representatives can help you resolve issues you encounter when trying to get your Web site launched and running. Web hosts may offer telephone or email support, some a wiki or library of help articles / tutorials. Others include 24/7/365 live telephone and email technical support in their plans at no extra cost.
Conclusion
Web hosting and domain registration go hand in hand, so most probably your web host will be your domain registrar. Hopefully, this post will have given you a detailed insight into the hosting features that many businesses will need. Remember, when choosing a host or package, not just to think of your present requirements but also what you’ll need in the future.
