Finding the best website hosting service is vital to the growth of your business. The hosting provider needs to be affordable, scalable, secure, and have an accessible support channel.

“The right Web hosting plan is important when it comes to getting good traffic and lots of conversions,” Steve Olenski of Forbes explained. “You don’t want to end up with a provider that slows down your site, constantly drops out, and that doesn’t provide scalability as the website gains popularity.”

There are no shortage of website hosting services to choose from. However, knowing the top qualities to look for can ensure you get the best. Your business needs and goals should be at the forefront of your search.

The following is a guide to a finding and nurturing a long-lasting hosting service relationship. Let’s dive in!

Know Your Website Building Weaknesses

The search for a website hosting service begins with you. If this is your first website build and launch, it is important to have support. For instance, if you need assistance in a certain aspect of your website’s functionality, a hosting service with 24-hour site support is valuable.

As a busy business owner, you also need to be realistic in the time you can dedicate to site management. A hosting service with a full-suite of management features can keep you focused on growing your business, rather than developing and managing your business website.

Think About Traffic

Storage and bandwidth are another essential element to choosing a quality hosting service. Thinking about the traffic your website will get can help you define how much storage and bandwidth you’ll need.

For example, if you have a large product or service following pre-launch, you may need higher bandwidth to meet the needs of your traffic. If you don’t get enough bandwidth, your site may get slow and your site load time and user experience will pay the price.

The same is true for local businesses that may get more foot traffic than online traffic. This means any bandwidth will probably work well for your site. You can also evaluate storage and bandwidth needs by thinking about your potential target audience.

What Are Your Server Needs?

There are a few different types of servers you should know a bit more about before choosing a website hosting service. From shared servers to cloud servers, here is a breakdown of server types:

• Shared Servers. Shared servers are the most common server type. It is a single server that runs hundreds of websites. Though common, a shared server does have a few potential pitfalls. For instance, you may be limited to programs you can run on the server, as well as site speed due to the large number of websites on a sole server.

• Dedicated Servers. Having a dedicated server for your website is a way to overcome shared server obstacles. The dedicated server type is one server just for your business’ site. However, there’s system management skills needed to maintain optimal functionality on a dedicated server.

• Virtual Private Server (VPS). A VPS server is a single server running a simulated computer. This server type is another viable option to the shared server, but management and server maintenance skills are needed.

• Cloud Based Servers. Cloud servers are powerful for businesses, since they run on public cloud services like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, for example. This is a good server type if you want to fully customize based on your business’ needs. Cloud servers are also scalable with little effort.

Understand the Importance of Domain Ownership

Choosing the right website hosting service for your business means having ownership of your brand. If you need to switch hosting providers, owning your domain is critical.

For instance, if your business needs to scale and your hosting provider can’t meet your business needs anymore, you’ll need to move your site. If you own your domain, you can transfer it easily while keeping the SEO benefits you have worked hard to earn.

Nowadays, many providers are WordPress compatible, and any service without it could be troublesome down the road. Why is this important? WordPress hosting services often serve up domain ownership in their hosting packages.

Are Unlimited Hosting Packages Ideal?

While researching website hosting services, you will most likely run into unlimited hosting packages. This means the provider gives your site unlimited storage and bandwidth at a discounted rate. However, small print can make any unlimited package quite limited.

For instance, terms of service details on some hosting providers reveals that they reserve the right to decrease storage and bandwidth parameters after a certain usage point.

To ensure your website hosting service is flexible and scalable, don’t lock your business into any unlimited package. Technology is changing as well, and you definitely don’t want to limit your business capabilities by being locked into a provider.

Put Your Business First

There is a lot of hosting services, deals, packages, and limitations. It is vital to the growth and success of your business to partner with a hosting service that meets your short and long-term goals. What website hosting service qualities did we miss?