If you have just decided to set up your website, there are certain web hosting mistakes that you are bound to make. So how do you minimize these mistakes?
Choosing a Web Hosting service is a task, no doubt. No matter if you are a beginner or a professional; there is a lot to look into when you are just starting with your business.
There are many hosting service providers in today’s world. So, how to choose the one that works for you and gives you the best experience instead of an added headache and anxiety.
You must be aware of certain hosting mistakes and traps that you might run into while you are setting up your business.
Web Hosting Mistakes to Avoid While Choosing Host
Web Hosting is a broad topic. You might think that what’s so difficult while choosing a web hosting company. They should just provide good resources and it’s done. That’s all you need to start a website, right?
WRONG!!!
There’s a lot to look into when choosing the best-suited hosting service and much that needs to be avoided too. Here’s a list of a few hosting mistakes that you need to avoid:
- Choosing a Free Hosting
- Not Reading Hosting Review While Choosing Hosting
- Not Researching Restriction
- Not Testing out Customer Service
- Choosing a Web Hosting with No Refund
- Choosing Wrong Web Hosting package
- Choosing EIG acquired Hosting
- Backup Services
- Falling for unlimited Hosting Trick
- Ignoring Security
- Being unaware of SEO Mistakes
- Choosing Cheap Hosting
- Not Reading Terms & Conditions
Let’s take a brief look into these so that you can understand them better.
Choosing a Free HostingÂ
Everyone likes free products. And this makes free hosting service a sweet deal. It makes you want to build a website. Even if you were not sure before, this will make up your mind.
Free hosting means limited resources like space, bandwidth, speed, etc. So if you are someone who expects a lot of traffic on your website or if the data on your website is heavy, then it will be a mistake on your end to register for free hosting.
Most hosting companies also reserve the right to place ad banners on your website for providing free hosting. This will decrease the traffic on your website and your customers will also start to lose interest in your content even if it is informative and entertaining.
Find out what comes with the free hosting service beforehand.
Not Reading Hosting Review While Choosing HostingÂ
What suits your friend does not mean it will suit your purpose too. Don’t just trust the word of one person. Whenever you are purchasing a product online, the first thing you do is read reviews. So, why not in this case?
It’s just like any other online purchase. It’s not expected of you to be knowledgeable about every aspect of web hosting but if you make an educated decision you will be able to avoid web hosting mistakes and prevent yourself from dealing with unwanted hassles.
This is what you need to look into:
- Find out what the technical experts are saying about a particular web hosting company.
- Are there any negative comments? If yes, then are these comments relevant for you?
- If a review says there is a security concern with the hosting, then look further into it.
- Find out what people are saying about the customer support provided by the company.
- Read the reviews!!! Make sure to do in-depth researches before you buy hosting.
Not Researching RestrictionÂ
Like we mentioned above, do thorough research before you buy hosting. Try to read between the lines. You have to unearth everything a hosting plan entails like storage, bandwidth, speed, security, add-ons, accounts, and most important of all, restrictions.
Every plan has certain restrictions. It’s better to find out about them beforehand so that you can decide whether you can work with these restrictions or if they are throttling your progress.
Certain hosting companies also restrict you from upgrading your server if you have the need and so you would be required to migrate to another hosting company, which is quite a hassle. Find out everything you can about how to host a website and what all you will require to do so. This will help you create a checklist for research purposes enabling you to make an informed decision.
Not Testing out Customer ServiceÂ
After-sales service plays a vital role in any industry. No matter what great benefits you are getting but if they don’t have good customer service then it’s not worth it.
It’s normal to face issues with the hosting service that you have bought, you may be unable to understand certain aspects and are unable to find much about it on Google and various other forums.
You must look into the reviews about the company. People talk about customer service a lot. This also tells you how important this human interaction is and how much it is needed.
Choosing a Web Hosting with No RefundÂ
This is one mistake that some of us make. The reason is quite simple. We are confident of the research that we have conducted. But here’s the thing, no research is ever complete no matter how deep you dig.
There will always be something that you might have missed out on. So if you happen to change your mind after making the purchase, you should have the option to do so and get a refund.
Make sure you read about their refund policy and find out as much as can regarding the same.
- Find out if there is a timeline attached with their refund policy.
- Do they offer a complete refund or just some proportion?
- Some hosting companies only offer refunds in certain conditions, so find out about these conditions.
Choosing Wrong Web Hosting packageÂ
By now you must have chosen the hosting company that you would like to start your journey with. But have you chosen the right plan for yourself?
Analyze what you are going to do with your website. If you are starting small and don’t expect a lot of traffic on your website or you just want to write a blog then you might want to invest in a shared plan.
But if your business has already garnered some following and you expect more than normal traffic on your website, you might want to invest in VPS. Learn about the various types of hosting- shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting, find out which serves your purpose.
This is an important step and you might want to avoid this web hosting mistake. Every plan offers different features and different limitations. Some plans don’t offer SSL and some don’t offer multiple email accounts.
Choosing EIG acquired HostingÂ
EIGÂ is a big name in hosting company with it being listed on NASDAQ. Founded in 1996, EIG has acquired around 80 web hosting companies.
It should be taken into account that M&A comes with many risks. Some subsidiaries can thrive while others lose their standing. It’s the same with EIG acquired hosting.
So, don’t just go with the brand name of the parent company. Make sure you look into the subsidiary hosting company as well. Since EIG has many companies under it, there might be some things that might go unnoticed by them. So read the reviews before you invest.
Backup ServicesÂ
Website backup is important because your whole work depends on it. So, before you register for hosting service, ask a few questions regarding their backup policy:
- How frequently do they back up the site data? It’s best if your data is backed up every 24 hours.
- Can you restore the data yourself or would you require expert help for that?
- Can you install the software yourself to create an auto-backup or manually do the backup and review, if you can use a backup plug-in?
- Is your backup secure?
- How long does it take to restore the data and for how long your site will remain down?
Once, this is done, make sure to test the backups that have been created. This is for your benefit only so make sure that you can make use of it before any accidents occur. Also, it’s better if you are in control of your backup.
Falling for unlimited Hosting Trick
Never fall for this trick. We’re not saying that there are no truly unlimited plans; we’re saying that usually when a company offers unlimited resources or plans, there is some capping involved.
So, dig deeper before you make this hosting mistake. There’s a chance that there are some terms and conditions applicable in this scenario.
Let’s take an example here. When you buy an internet plan, it’s advertised that they are offering unlimited data usage at a certain high speed, say 5MBPS. When you look further into this, you will see that they are offering a certain amount of usage at the stated high speed, and after that, the speed will be reduced, say 25kbps.
This speed is so reduced that it would seem like the internet is not even working.
This is usually how unlimited plans work.
Ignoring SecurityÂ
This is a no-brainer. The ‘S’ in HTTPS denotes Secure. This occurs when a website has SSL certification. If your website has SSL certification, it means your website is secure enough to make payments and enter personal details like name, address, contact, etc.
The data will be encrypted as well as authentication will take place which means the client is connecting with the correct server domain.
Being unaware of SEO Mistakes
There are certain aspects of SEO that we are unaware of or assume are not important. But these SEO mistakes may prove fatal for your site.
Believing that SEO is only concerned with traffic is one of the greatest misassumptions of all time. SEO also means that you are using the meta-tags carefully. Make sure you are not making these mistakes:
- No using do-follow and no-follow commands on your website
- Not using relevant keywords and stuffing keywords.
- Not using internal links.
- Not using SEO tools like Google Analytics.
Make sure you are completely aware of what SEO and Cheapest Hosting Per Year is and how to optimize your content accordingly.
Choosing Cheap HostingÂ
It’s understandable to look for a cheap hosting service. However, this can be a grave mistake you are making. Like we mentioned above free means limitations, the same applies to cheap.
If you are buying a cheap product, you might get cheap services. This in no way means that you should splurge in hosting.
Make sure that you are purchasing quality hosting and not just cheap hosting.
Not Reading Terms & ConditionsÂ
This is a common mistake that everyone makes. The list of terms and conditions is so long and the wording is usually so technical that we tend to skip past this page.
And this is where we get played. There can be a clause that can be detrimental to your website’s health. Read the terms and conditions carefully to avoid an unnecessary hassle in the future.
ConclusionÂ
Now that we have gone through all the hosting mistakes that we might make while registering for hosting, we’ll repeat what we have been trying to say from the very beginning.
The only way to avoid web hosting mistakes is to do thorough research. Dig as much as you can, read the reviews and talk to other clients before you decide on a hosting company and hosting plans.
