Many businesses, companies, groups, organizations, and individuals have websites, all designed with specific end-users in mind. For example, a company may have a business as well as an ecommerce site while a sports organization may want to post schedules, team information, and even player data.
Individuals often have blogging websites. They may also have small ecommerce sites selling just a few items or even acting as resellers or for use in funneling buyers to a central purchasing site.
Regardless of the type of website, it is important to consider what you need and what any web hosting provider can offer to meet those needs. More than ever, comparing different hosting companies on a regular basis will help you in cutting costs, improving the quality of service for your site and even adding features and functions for easier administrator use.
Uptime
Uptime is often very similar, between different hosting services. While in the past 99% uptime was considered the gold standard, today some of the top web hosting provider services can offer 100% uptime. This is possible through built in redundancies as well as proactive and continual monitoring of the systems.
Customer Support
There is nothing more irritating than having a problem with a website and finding out the tech support staff have all gone home for the weekend or the evening. Look for companies that offer 24/7 live tech support as well as options to create tickets and communicate via chat or email for less urgent issues.
Price
While price and plans with the top web hosting provider services will often be comparable, there are additional features that some services offer over others for the same cost. Look for features such as daily backups, free setup, SSL certifications and other features that your website may require.
Many of the best providers provide deeper discounts for prepaying for the service instead of paying on a monthly basis. This can offer considerable savings and is well worth considering for any website owner.