If you’ve been searching for ways to get your website up and running and are not exactly a seasoned pro when it comes to launching a website, you should be aware that there is a potential minefield of things that can go wrong. From choosing an appropriate domain name to finding the most suitable hosting provider, it’s important to be tech savvy when getting your website off the ground. In fact, while choosing the best website host for your website is potentially one of the more important decisions you’ll have to make, it can equally be one of the more difficult ones too. There are plenty of pitfalls to choosing a website host, some of which are more easily avoided than others. So, to give you a little heads up, check out these common website hosting mistakes and find out just how they can be avoided right here.
Failing to Research Your Options
A crucial first step that shouldn’t be overlooked is to research and understand the choices you have before you decide on your potential website host. Don’t make the mistake of not researching your website hosting options. You might already know that the elements of your website are stored in and hosted by a server that is controlled by a hosting company but, to go a step further, it’s important to understand that there are a number of servers and a range of website hosting options to choose from. From shared to dedicated hosting to virtual private server and cloud hosting, you need to understand the difference between these main types to determine which choice is the most appropriate. Taking into consideration factors such as the security level of your website or the number of visitors you’re likely to get, you can narrow down your options and decide which is the best hosting choice.
Opting For Free Hosting
The lure of anything free is often tempting, but there are many problems that come with choosing a free website host. In practically all of the free host cases, it is inevitable that you will eventually have to pay for the service in order to continue using it long term, or to customise your own website, because using free versions means that you can only access limited services. In addition to the unavoidable eventuality of having to pay for your ‘free’ website host, you might also find that your free domain name has already been taken. So, from issues such as smaller bandwidth to potential problems with transferring your website to a different host, the service offered by free website hosts is often laden with drawbacks. To avoid spending excessive amounts of money and time in the long run, choose not to go for free website hosting.
Being Complacent When it Comes to Security
If it’s your first website, you might not know that there are fundamental reasons why your website hosting provider should always provide security. It’s highly important not to overlook the importance of security when selecting your website host – without it, you run the risk of being hacked. With identity thefts taking place more and more frequently and cyber criminals seeking to gain as much of your information as possible, you need to be prepared for the possibility of your website being hacked.
This is exactly why you should ensure that your website host offers your website some protection. There are various levels of security, so making the right choice when it comes to selecting your website host is fundamental. If you have a growing business, for example, you might consider a different host and level of security to a personal website or a portfolio. Avoid being complacent with your website’s security.
Selecting an Unreliable Website Host
Alongside avoiding free website hosting, making the right decision in terms of the reliability of your website host is also highly important. You should look for a reliable uptime percentage which is a statistic that represents the length of time the company’s system has been running successfully. In other words, do your research into the uptime versus downtime percentage of your potential website host, because the moment the loading speed of your host goes down, or the second they experience downtime, your website will no longer be live. The reliability of your website host can also be tested by digging a little deeper when it comes to their backup policy. In the case of a website crash, for instance, you can avoid losing your website’s data by selecting a website host that has a reliable backup policy. Don’t make the mistake of choosing an unreliable website host.
Lacking Knowledge of SEO, Conversion and Hosting
When deciding on a website hosting service, it’s important to keep in mind the purpose of your website and how you’ll achieve your aims. The main focus of your website is to communicate information and attract visitors, and websites can achieve their goal of reaching their intended audience by driving traffic to their pages, and optimising their content, which is known as search engine optimisation. SEO is closely linked to your website service provider in various ways: the two are related in terms of the running speed of your websites, the potential errors when it comes to connecting to the database and your bandwidth limit. Choosing the wrong website host provider can lead to poorer quality, less reliability and can also contribute to less traffic being directed to your website. Don’t forget to research further into the importance of SEO, conversion and ensure that your chosen website host provides a good running speed.
In Summary
Launching a website might require many different steps depending on your purpose, message and goals, and it can present a few challenges along the way. Selecting your website hosting service can be one of these potential issues, but you can make your choice more easily by avoiding free website hosts, prioritising the security of your website and ensuring that you don’t select unreliable hosts.
