In today’s world, websites are crucial for any digital business whose goal is to succeed in a world increasingly guided by technology. Creating a website requires you to find a host for your website in India.
Well, web hosting companies in India offer that service. But how do you know which web hosting company best fits your website, especially in India?
With so many web host providers in India, it can be hard to choose, especially if you are a beginner. You will need to evaluate the differences between several hosts and choose one that offers what you are looking for, depending on your objective.
This article will share some factors you need to consider when choosing a web hosting company for you in India.
#1. Uptime and Reliability
If your website goes down for just 30 minutes, it can cost you a lot of money, especially if you are an online entrepreneur. Uptime determines how reliable you can expect a hosting service to be.
Uptime is the percentage of time a website is online and available to internet users without experiencing any issues. You would want your site to stay live as much as possible.
Being online throughout is very important for your website, and to make that possible, you need to ensure that the website host provider you are hiring offers the best availability.
Measuring the uptime of a website hosting service can be done using a server monitoring tool, or you can just look at their uptime scores to determine whether a web host is stable or not.
The closer to 100% the score is, the better the service availability guarantees. When choosing your website hosting provider, prioritize the service providers that offer uptime above 99%.
The best options would have 99.95% uptime, and of course, the premium accounts will offer better server stability, with some managing 99.99% uptime or more.
Get to know how the host handles any downtime in case it happens.
#2. Server Responsiveness
Google is now considering mobile page loading speed for their rankings. Having a fast-loading page is important for your website and business.
Go for a hosting provider that can offer you a stable and fast server speed to ensure your website is fast and smooth. This will help your users have a better experience and even help your SEO rankings as well.
Check a web host’s server responsiveness by testing their Time To First Byte (TTFB) using tools like Bitcatcha and Webpage Test.
#3. Research on Host Signup and Renewal Prices.
When choosing a web hosting company, you need to know the web host signup and renewal price. In most cases, the signup price is normally different from what you pay during renewal. The renewal price might be higher depending on how many offers/discounts you were given during signup.
Most hosting companies tend to hike up their renewal pricing. To avoid being trapped or changing your web host every 2 to 3 years, go for a reasonable web hosting provider with price increments.
For instance, if your signup cost was $5 per month, it should not go above $10 per month when you renew. Check the TOS of a web host on their policy for renewal rates. Their ToS should be on the homepage.
Get to know the terms before you agree to a plan. If you are a non-profit organization, some hosts offer discounts tailored to your needs.
#4. Your Website needs
This is one of the very first things you need to do before you start looking for a website hosting company. Take time to think about your website and make a list of your website needs. This will help you easily prioritize them as you compare your list to what each potential host is offering.
If your website has a niche, then you need to consider that. For a photography website, you have to prioritize speed and storage features. An Ecommerce website will want to focus on bandwidth and security. Some web hosting companies offer plans specific to e-commerce.
#5. Customer Support
Sometimes you will be faced with server issues you can’t solve on your own. At this point, a reliable customer support team will be needed.
Customer support is a key factor for many users. A web hosting provider’s ability to help you as quickly as possible can be the difference between a crisis resolved quickly and a website offline for several hours.
It is vital to review the technical support options each hosting provider offers. You will want to settle with a hosting provider who offers you great and responsive support. That way, you can resolve an issue as first as possible to avoid losses, especially if you have a business website.
Look into their reviews of the support team on social media platforms or forums to get a better understanding of the quality of their support team.
However, if you have in-house programmers and tech staff, you might not need this level of service.
#6. Content Management System
Go for a hosting service with its own intuitive content management system or easy installation of an open-source system such as WordPress.
WordPress claims over 60% of the CMS market; therefore, many web hosting companies offer services specifically tailored to WordPress.
You need to consider this, especially if you frequently upload content.
#7. The Host Refund Policy/ Free Trial
Web hosting can be costly, especially starting out and on a budget. Therefore, you must thoroughly review your potential web host’s refund policy.
In case you do not feel satisfied with their service or change your mind about the site, it is important to have options.
Go for a website hosting company that allows you to cancel your plan and get a refund. Understand what the provider guarantees and what it does not take responsibility for.
You can safely test out the hosting plan with free trials and opt-out if you dislike the service. Choosing a hosting provider with good refund policies will ensure you don’t lose too much money.
Some web hosting companies charge a cancellation fee when you cancel your account during their trial periods.
We would advise you to avoid such providers. Go for web host providers who offer money-back guarantees with prorated refunds after a trial period is over.
#8. The Host Website Backup Options
When creating a WordPress website, there are a few options for creating backups to keep your website safe. Backups are very important to your website.
Even with the best security measures, your website will sometimes face some kind of crash, failure, virus, or hack that will take your website down.
This is the reason why a good backup policy is crucial. You can use backups to revert back to a working website in case of such accidents.
Choose a web host provider who can restore your full site with minimal downtime to avoid significant losses.
#9. Confirm All Essential Features
Some web host providers offer very general services, while others may provide specific features which can make it even easier for you. Choose a provider focused on the features that meet your primary needs.
You can also read reviews that discuss the features provided by the host. Customers are normally very honest in online reviews.
Check if the web host provider offers essential features such as a one-click installer, file manager, and DNS management.
#10. Confirm Whether Email Hosting is Included with Your Account
Most of the time, email is an afterthought regarding your business and website since you already have your personal email handled efficiently through Google.
However, in some cases where you want your email to match your business branding and website name, you will need a host for that service. An email address is sometimes included in your hosting plan with limited usage.
You must explore your email hosting options if you want to use email marketing to reach your potential consumers. Combining an email host and a web host has its pros and cons.
If your web host crashes, your email will be gone too. However, keeping both services in the same place can make things simple. A good web hosting company in India should be able to avoid the cons.
#11. The Available Storage
The purpose of your website dictates the storage space you will need for your website. Choose a web host provider in India who best suits your needs. However, if you are just starting up, we recommend you just focus on other things, not storage space.
If you need a lot of storage space, you can choose a service that offers unlimited disk space or choose a website hosting company that offers the amount you need to keep from running out of memory.
#12. The Upgrade Options Provided.
Before you sign up for a hosting plan, make sure you won’t be penalized for upgrading it later.
Your blog might go viral, requiring you to upgrade quickly to provide your site with better resources and space. Therefore, make sure the host you choose can move up with you instead of holding you back.
When starting up, you’ll usually end up with a shared hosting plan. You will need a provider who will allow you to upgrade your server later. This is because even if you have a really good shared hosting plan, there is still a limit to the resources available.
Shared hosting will not be enough to accommodate all that bandwidth when your website has grown and attracted larger traffic.
Get yourself a web host provider in India that allows you to upgrade your plan rather than having to shift to a new host and migrate your entire website.
#13. Understand Any Account Limitations
If you are trying to build a brand, it is important to know what level of traffic you’ll encounter.
Research whether the web host provider in India might place any limits on your account. You need a basic understanding of bandwidth.
Bandwidth refers to the rate at which data is allowed to flow between your server and your visitors. If you have a lot of videos housed on your server, you might use up a lot of bandwidth as multiple visitors watch them at once.
A host offering unlimited traffic is not an exception. You should also research their policy. Some unlimited plans still have some restrictions you must be aware of.
#14. Discover Extra Benefits
Due to how competitive the market is, with so many companies providing a website hosting service, to stand out, some providers offer some extra advantages to get ahead of the competition.
Who doesn’t want to have the best? Read about everything you are entitled to in each plan and identify unique benefits that may end up matching your needs.
You might want to add new features later; therefore, it is important to know what a host offers as extras. If you decide to start small and work your way up as your site grows, you will need to be sure you can bring in new functionality without any issues.
#15. The Cost
The cost of a service shouldn’t determine which web host provider in India perfectly suits you. However, it can help to make the decision easier.
A cheap service does not mean it’s bad; the same applies to higher-priced services. An expensive host does not guarantee a high-quality service.
Understand your website needs and look for a plan that balances your needs with your pocket. But do not forget that with time you will need to expand, so do not focus on your current needs only. Find a provider who offers quality and, at the same time, provides services that are worth your money.
Conclusion
The above tips will help you gain more confidence when choosing the best web hosting company in a country like India. The most important point is you need to understand your website needs before hiring a web host plan.
Choosing a web hosting package in India is not a decision you can easily come up with. However, the providers are also aware of the needs of different clients, so they offer packages targeted to different segments.
Remember that research is everything, do not believe what a provider states. Dig deep, and get to know their service more. That way, you will save yourself a lot of trouble in the future.
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