Are you searching for a web host for your WordPress site?
But the question is: How do you choose the best one that is specifically tailored to your needs and that of your website?
Well, in web hosting, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Every scenario is different. That’s why, in this post, we will give you a few tips on how to choose the right WordPress host.
Know Your Needs
Before you ultimately decide which host to pick, it is important to ask yourself what you need first. Here are a few questions that you may ask yourself:
- How is your current site traffic doing? Do you expect it to grow within the next couple of months?
- Do you want a web hosting provider that is scalable?
- Do you need your web hosting service to be developer-friendly?
- How much support do you need?
- How much is your current allocated budget?
These are the questions that you need to answer first before you pick the right web hosting provider for your WordPress site.
Performance
Your site’s performance is crucial. The speed of your site can significantly affect your SEO as well as the traffic you are getting.
There are several tools that you can utilize to test your web host’s performance. For instance, it is possible to set up a simple site and then utilize free tools like GTmetrix and Pingdom to measure how long will it take for your website to load.
Security
Your site’s security is important. It is common for giant sites to get breached, and would leak thousands of private data from various individuals.
Luckily, several web hosting providers understand that a lot of their clients need robust security measures. That’s why these hosts came up with server-level protection to keep your site secure.
To know whether or not a web hosting company can be considered secure, keep an eye out for the following:
- Do they offer clients a firewall or a Distributed Denial of Service system?
- Will they help you set up your SSL certificate?
- Do they provide automatic backup solutions for your website?
- Did compromise customer data in the past?
It is crucial to take a good look at your host’s feature list for every plan, and it is always best to do the googling on your own.
If one or two of the companies on your list had a history of being careless with their security before, then it is already a sign for you that you should look elsewhere.
Cost
For most people, the cost of WordPress hosting is one of the most important factors that they are considering when choosing a web host. Some of them would go on to find where the cheapest offer is, but it is often a wrong move on their part to make.
As the old maxim always goes, you get what you pay for ‒ and they would. Just like any business, service providers will turn it into profit when they say they have “unlimited everything.”
So, while it is alright if you want to save a few bucks here and there, you still have to take a closer look at the specific features each web host offers, rather than jumping to the first cheapest offer that would come your way.
The price of the web hosting that you choose mostly depends on several factors, like the quality of your web support, as well as the overall health of your server.
In fact, you would be fooling yourself if you are expecting the best WordPress hosting provider out there would offer their services for $1 per month.
Support
The quality of a company’s support will tell you a lot about their services. Whenever you encounter a technical issue along the way, who can you contact for support and ask for help?
Can their support team fix the problem quickly? Or will it take them a long time to resolve the smallest issues?
Ensure that the WordPress hosting provider that you work with offers excellent support. See if you can get in touch with them in a number of ways such as live chat, email, and via phone.
Ideally, they should have someone on their support team who will assist you 24/7 and should have excellent reviews all throughout the internet.
Uptime
Last but not least, you should choose a WordPress hosting company with excellent uptimes.
While it is almost impossible to come across a hosting provider that offers 100 percent uptime, there are quality hosting companies out there that offer customers with 99.5 percent uptime or higher.
Although it might not matter much, even a 0.01 percent uptime has a significant effect on your site’s income.
Reputation
Any web hosting company that is long enough in the business has already built a reputation, whether good or bad. This is good news for you because any option that you consider has already left a trail of customer reviews behind.
You can learn a lot from particular customer service, as well as the different plans that they offer from the feedback of previous clients based on their own experiences. That will help you decide whether or not they are offering quality web hosting services or not.
Scalability
When it all comes down to flexibility, one important aspect that you need to look at is whether or not the host offers flexible plans that accommodate all kinds of websites.
The best way for you to know whether or not the specific host fits your standards is to search for a variety of the hosting packages they offer. On their descriptions, see if they specifically mentioned “WordPress.”
To help you choose the right plan, also know if they offer free consultations.
Top 5 hosting companies to get you started
Still, the truth is, when you go to Google, and type “best hosting”, you will have a bunch of commercials coming out. So, here are five hosting companies to get you started on your search, and that you have a benchmark to make the comparison.
1. Bluehost
Probably the most famous one out there, Bluehost stems its popularity from the fact that it allows one-click WordPress installation which is perfect for people looking to start their website on WordPress without any coding knowledge. It also has numerous tools for its users to skyrocket their initial marketing efforts.
2. Kinsta
Kinsta is another great choice for WordPress websites, as it utilizes the power of the Google Cloud Platform and its data centers. On the other hand, many Kinsta reviews emphasize the exceptional quality of the support and the incredible uptime, too.
3. Hostens
For those who are on a tight budget, going with Hostens as their web host of choice is probably a good idea. With Hostens, hosting for small and medium websites performs exceptionally, for quite a nice deal. It also has a transparency policy, which means there are no hidden costs with them.
4. 000Webhost
The best host you could get for free is surely 000Webhost, who’s been holding that title for a long time and for good reason. They promise exceptional uptime, support for all the latest technologies, and their own website builder for you to create your own website. Worth checking out, especially if you have no budget available.
5. WPMU DEV Hosting
WPMU DEV is another hosting to look at, especially if you need something more developer-friendly than other options. With unique features and excellent support, WPMU DEV also provides its users with built-in solutions such as Defender and Automate to help them stay safe and secure.
Hopefully, these would give you the basic information you need to pay attention to when checking out your next potential web host. Who knows, with each of these being amazing in what they do, this list might be the end of your worries.
Final Thoughts
So you finally had your business plan figured out. All you need to find is a good home for your WordPress site. Choosing an excellent web hosting plan is one step closer to reaching your goals and achieving success online in the long run.
Published on October 3, 2019 under hosting, WordPress website. Modified on January 24, 2020.
