Are you a business owner or a professional looking to set-up a website to promote your services and reach your target demographic? Do know that having this platform is a virtual representation of more than just your services—it represents your brand, objectives, and your credibility. Given this, how do you get started on setting up a website?

Your website needs more than an A+ web design, you need to find a reputable and dependable web hosting server to build your visibility and keep your site up and running smoothly at all times. Look for someone that jives with your needs and that offers great features for a fairly decent price.

There are plenty of web hosts to choose from with different packages and prices offered. Looking for one online can be very overwhelming. To help you search and narrow down your choices quicker and easier, here are a few tips you should consider when looking for a web host:

Define your hosting needs

The amount of time you spent researching would equal to nothing if you have no definite idea of what you need: do you want your website to feature a specific software? Do you prefer a WordPress blog? Basically, what kind of website do you plan on building?

When you know what you need, it’ll be easier to look for who can service you those needs. This should help strip down your choices and look for particular web hosts that specialize in exactly what you’re looking for.

Find a reputable web hosting company

Look for web hosting companies that have established a good reputation in the industry and one that already has remarkable experience under their belt. In addition, do more than a basic Google search and look for reviews and ratings published online by their clients. If you found a web host company that is consistently praised online with high-ratings and recommended by the experts, put them on your list of choices.

Look for reviews and recommendations

As mentioned earlier, do more than just no-sweat “googling”. Collect and compare your choices, ask for recommendations, and look for reviews. And when you have narrowed down your list, do more research about them, this time focusing more of your time on each web hosts.

If you finally have a couple of choices, get in touch with the web host server and establish what you’re looking for and need in your inquiry.

Know the security features

One of the important factors when choosing a web host is how secure their security features in storing and delivering sensitive information—a critical consideration especially when you’re a brand/company dealing with customer’s credit card details.

One of the things to look for is if the web host offers SSL certificates. This certifies that the data collected over your site is secure and encrypted. Also, see if they have firewalls or malware detection up and running on their servers. If they monitor their servers consistently for any unusual activities, that’s a good sign. And most importantly, you want to opt for a host that provides regular site backups. In this day and age, we can never be sure that the online world is a secure place.

Good server reliability

Find a host that can offer you a reliable web server that operates in a high level at all times and one that ensures data security, fast access speed, backup server, and a whole lot more. To put it simply, find a web host that can take good care of your site, keeping it running smooth and secure 24/.

Find one that has good customer support

No matter how big the web host is and how many influencers and prominent personalities they work with to promote their services via paid partnership, if their customer service is nowhere as good, scratch them off your list.

Great customer support makes all the difference when it comes to choosing a web host. You want someone you can easily get in touch with ASAP in case of your site crashes down, a hacker is close to gaining through your server, or anything else that’s mini heart-attack-inducing.

Obviously, this takes time and thorough research so don’t just go with the very first web host result you see on Google. Have at least 3-4 web hosting companies for your to carefully compare and eventually decide on. Best of luck on your website!

About the author: When she’s not binge-watching shows on Netflix, Chie writes for Datacentreplus, a company that specialises in dedicated servers, cloud servers and colocation, perfectly positioned to provide fast and reliable hosting to businesses across the globe.