3 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Choosing a Website Hosting Platform

Looking for the right website hosting platform to store your data on is a huge step.

Your choice will not only affect your ability to manage your website effectively, but it will also contribute to the end-user experience.

Do you want to be dealing with poor website uptime or a severe lack of customer support? Or perhaps more importantly, do you want your customers to experience the same issues?

To help you prevent this from happening, we’ve highlighted a few common mistakes that website owners make at this stage:

1. Not looking into what the web host is capable of doing

Not all website hosting services are equal. Some feature other additional services on top of the actual hosting, while others might not. Be sure to know what kind of systems you need from a web host so that you know your needs are met.

For instance, some website hosts don’t offer staging environments as part of their service. This means if you have any significant graphical or structural changes to make, you’ll have to make them either on a local downloaded copy of your website and re-upload it to the server, or in real time on the live site.

2. Going for the cheapest option

While a quality website hosting service doesn’t have to be expensive, you should be careful not to go for cheap providers that sacrifice important aspects such as website uptime and 24/7 support. These are critical components that could mean the difference between a high-performing website and one that isn’t.

Think of it this way: your website is your gateway to the public in the digital realm and it should be treated as an investment that deserves its share of resources. Additionally, opting for a cheap (or even free) service could mean that you won’t be allowed to monetise your website, which would defeat the purpose of it being an investment in the first place.

3. Forgetting about past customers’ reviews

Perhaps the most accessible and reliable source of information regarding a web host’s performance is other people. Take the time to look at reviews and testimonials about a service provider, as these will be a good indicator of what you can reasonably expect from them. These can usually be found on their website, but you should also look at third-party sources such as business directories and review sites.

Regardless of where they’re from, these reviews can go a long way towards helping you find one that you can work with for the long term. After all, you don’t want to be constantly switching from one web host to another simply because their services were not as you expected.

Conclusion

In summary, you should be careful with your chosen website hosting platform. You will rely on their services for a huge chunk of your online presence, so making a sound investment could very well be the key to greater business success in the future.

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