Top 10 Mistakes To Avoid When Hosting A Website

The process of choosing web hosting services for your business is crucial to your success. Have you put much thought into the website hosting component of your web development process?

If not, you certainly should! That’s because there are many poor web host decisions that can impact the bottom line of your business.

If you want to avoid slow website loading speed, frequent downtime, and a negative customer experience, you need to avoid these top ten mistakes when you choose how to host your website.

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Why Is Hosting Important When You Build a Website?

There are many details that should be considered when you plan a website. Finding a reliable web hosting company is a major step in delivering the best user experience to your customers.

Once you come up with a website design and begin the process of development, your files need to be stored on a remote computer server.

This server is referred to as a host and it is the source of storage for all the information your website delivers when someone lands of your page.

The goal of almost every business is to maximize profits. Therefore, you want to avoid anything that can negatively impact your income. Because most businesses today are competing for the most effective and well-liked online presence, choosing the right hosting solution for your business is important.

When you don’t take the time to avoid common mistakes and research the right fit for your web hosting needs, you run the risk of losing revenue, negatively affecting your SEO ranking, and facing potential security issues and malware attacks.

Most Common Mistakes Businesses Face When Hosting a Website

Awareness is a huge part of setting your business on the path to success. Since the number of websites is constantly growing, owners of new websites are able to educate themselves before making the same mistakes some already have done.

Let’s take a look at the top ten mistakes to avoid when hosting a website.

1. Choosing Free Web Hosting

Free hosting certainly sounds like a great benefit to your business. Why pay for something when you can get it at no cost, right? Choosing a web host that offers free services is a major mistake.

While it saves you money upfront, it will most likely lead to many issues in the long-run. Common problems that come with free web hosting solutions are:

Unsolicited 3rd party advertisements on your website
Slow loading speeds
Inability to scale your website as your business grows
Limitations of running certain types of scripts
Negative impact on your ability to hit your SEO goals

WordPress hosting is a great example of a free hosting solution that can negatively impact your business. While it is a popular and strong blog-building platform used to host countless websites, their free solution limits your software options and gives WordPress the right to place ads on your site.

If you want to deliver the best user experience to your clients and customers, you need the utmost control of your site. That will not happen if you choose a free hosting solution.

2. Choosing Your Package Based Solely on Price

Speaking of pricing, another common mistake to avoid is basing your decision solely on the price of the packages offered. This mistake can go two ways.

Some businesses choose the cheapest package assuming all hosting options are the same and don’t make much of a difference. Other businesses choose the most expensive package assuming that the price reflects the quality of the product they will receive. Both options are generally wrong.

Do not sacrifice the quality of service by opting for the cheapest option. While the price will be tempting, the results you get from cheaper options will often lead you to regret your decision.

At the same time, don’t be fooled by tempting marketing jargon and expensive up-selling of packages.

3. Choosing a New Company

The rule of thumb when it comes to getting the best hosting is to choose a company that is reliable and has experience. Be sure you go with a come that is well-established.

New hosting companies offer all kinds of deals, perks, and extra incentives to build their customer base. But, as that base builds, they don’t have the experience to handle the influx of customers.

Servers crash, your website goes down, and you are left with a mess that might impact your business permanently.

Don’t be one of the customers who helps a new hosting company find their way at your expense. Find a company that is experienced and has a plan for success already set in place.

4. Making a Long-Term Commitment

Long-Term commitments mean one of two things. You are either locked into a contract you will have a difficult time getting out of if the hosting company doesn’t work well for your business or you aren’t satisfied.Or, you have to pay the hosting cost in advance and cannot get your money back if are not happy with the service.

Either way, you do not want to lock into a long-term contract unless you have been with a company for a long time and have established a trusted relationship. The best option for hosting service is to choose a plan that works on a monthly commitment.

5. Choosing the Wrong Package

There are many features offered with different hosting packages. Choosing the right package for your business means more than just picking a size and price.

Determine whether you need added features such as email support, an SSL certificate, domain privacy, or any of the other features offered.

Once you determined what are the most important requirements for your business, you can make an educated choice that will give you the best package for your success.

6. Failing to Research Restrictions

We are not saying that web hosting companies are trying to deceive you, but there are often some fine print details that may go unmentioned when you sign into a contract with your web hosting company.

Watch for unmentioned restrictions that pertain to unlimited bandwidth, installation of your own software, SSH, and multiple POP accounts. They often require you to do your research to find out the specifics.

7. Not Reading Terms of Service

Many of us ignore the lengthy Terms of Service Agreement when we sign a deal. This mistake can be fatal when it comes to your web hosting services.

Most website hosting companies have specific conditions for their Refund policies and Cancellation policies. Read the ToS agreement carefully before you sign, and ask for clarification if necessary. When you know exactly what to expect, you can protect the integrity of your website.

8. Not Understanding SEO Implications of Hosting

There are many components of web hosting that can negatively impact your ability to rank in search engine results. Slow site speed, database connection errors, shared hosting problems, prolonged runtime errors, internal server issues, and exceeded bandwidth limitations name a few. Even the most competent SEO team can’t succeed without a reliable host in place.

9. Not Reading Host Reviews

Web hosting reviews are a great resource for businesses, but many fail to use them. Technical writers share articles on the first-hand experience with hosting companies.

Watch for customer service complaints, site speed issues, and security complaints when reading through host reviews. Any of these is a red flag for a company you should definitely avoid!

10. Failing to Test Out Customer Service

Because your web host is so important to your online success, you will likely need to turn to customer service support at some point. Poor customer service departments can lead to major issues for web host clients.

Many companies offer 24/7 support without delivering on their commitment. Create a list of questions not answered on your potential web host company’s website, test each of their contact options, and see how they stand up to the test.

If you can get your answers easily with email, phone, and live chat, you will find quality customer service is a top priority.

Choosing your web host is an important decision for your business success. Making mistakes with this decision is common, but avoidable.

You can watch your business benefit from advance success when you choose a reliable, well-established web host company.

Do the necessary research to make sure you are choosing the right package, fully understanding the Terms of Service, and clear on all restrictions before you enter into an agreement.

Avoid signing long contracts that may be difficult to get out of and result in the demise of your website. Understand that although inexpensive, and even free, looks great, it can have a negative impact on your website, create issues with your SEO, and hurt your business.

Finally, use host reviews to evaluate your potential host and test out their customer service before you commit.

Avoiding these mistakes will set you on the path towards the perfect web host for your business website. And that will translate to positive results for years to come.