Are you in the process of creating a WordPress website, but stuck on web hosting? Well, we all have been there. Hosting is where your website’s files are stored, and it is as important as the other aspects of your website. There are thousands of web hosting providers out in the market who will help you start a website.
There are over 330,000 providers of web hosting all over the world.
But choosing the best hosting provider for your website that meets all your needs can be a challenging task. To help you with the process of choosing the best web host, we have compiled a list of factors you need to consider with your hosting provider. A set of must-have features that are essential in improving your website.
How to choose the best hosting provider
There are several factors you need to consider before deciding on the best hosting provider for your website. What we have compiled here is a list of must-haves you need to make sure with your web host.
What's in this guide?
Uptime
- One of the things that make websites attractive is the 24/7 availability. The period for which the website is available for users to access is called Uptime. Assume you are a business owner, and you have an eCommerce website. Don’t you want your website up and running even late at night?
- So, a 100% Uptime (24/7 availability) is what you need to aim for, and that’s what sets your website apart from the physical stores. But every web hosting company needs to maintain their servers and there may be some downtime in the process.
- So, your website can’t have 100% Uptime. Thus, It is always advisable to choose the best hosting provider who provides you with at least 99% Uptime. Only a hosting provider with a stable network connection and proper servers is capable of keeping your website open all day long.
Security
- Security is essential now more than ever to make sure that your website is not vulnerable to attacks on the Internet. So, it is wise to choose a hosting provider who provides you with the necessary security features for your website. To start, you should look for an SSL Certificate.
- An SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) Certificate is a protocol that ensures that the information passed through your website is encrypted and thus protected from hackers. One can ensure that a website is SSL certified by noticing the change in URL from HTTP to HTTPS.
84% of online shoppers would abandon a purchase if data was sent over an insecure connection.
- You also need to make sure that the hosting provider provides regular malware scans on their servers. Malware is malicious software that affects computers and servers. So, you need a hosting provider who provides weekly, if not monthly malware scans on the servers hosting your website.
Updates & Backups
- With WordPress websites, you need to ensure your core WordPress files are always up to date because WordPress rolls out regular updates that prevent your website from hacking and more such unfortunate events.
- So, you need the best web host who takes care of all the updates in the backend and provides you with the latest version of WordPress.
- It is also recommended you choose the best hosting provider who provides you with regular backups of your website, be it daily or weekly backup of your website’s files. It is crucial to have regular backups, to encounter some issues like crashing that may happen to your website.
Scalability
- It’s not like your website will be using the same amount of resources every month. So, as days progress, you may need more and more resources and your hosting provider needs to be flexible for that.
- You need to have a hosting provider who is capable of scaling up and allowing you to change the subscription plans whenever necessary. They should allow you to request an upgrade to a higher plan.
- Switching from one hosting provider to the other can be a daunting task, so it is always recommended you choose your initial hosting provider with scalability options.
Customer Support
- As a newbie to the website world, you may end up stuck on one thing or the other. That is when you will need some customer support to help you through the process. So, it is important to choose a hosting provider who provides you with 24/7 customer support.
86% of customers are willing to pay more for a better customer experience.
- Also, it is good practice to make sure that the hosting provider gives customer support in more than one channel of communication, like live chat, email, and telephone.
- The hosting provider also needs to have detailed documentation you can check on their website. It can be useful to check from time to time in case of any queries.
7 Best Hosting Providers for Your WordPress Website
So, we have told you all about the must-have features you need to cross-check with the different hosting providers. Now, to make it easier for you, here is a list of the best hosting providers for you to choose from, who are doing exceptionally well in the market.
All these recommended web hosting providers offer one-click WordPress installation for your website, with a couple of them even officially recommended by WordPress.
- BlueHost is one of the most popular and best hosting providers available in the market now. BlueHost is trustworthy as it is one of the official WordPress Web Hosting recommendations by wordpress.org.
BlueHost has been around for a long time now and has become more and more reliable over the years. They provide uptime of 99.98% which ensures that your site rarely goes down.
click here to learn how to create a blog/website with Bluehost
- They provide a Free SSL Certificate with almost all the packages, and also have 24/7 customer support via phone and live chat.
GoDaddy
- GoDaddy is the world’s most popular and largest web hosting provider operating in the market. And that is for a reason, as they provide an above-average Uptime of 99.96%.
Though Godaddy initially started out to be a Domain name registrar company, over the years they have become the household name in the web hosting market. Now they offer several plans ranging from basic to E-Commerce store packages
Download this free eBook on how to build a website with Godaddy
- They also provide you with one-click installations of more than 150 applications including WordPress, which makes the entire process of website creation much easier.
Hostinger
- Hostinger offers a variety of plans suitable for absolute beginners and large businesses as well. They also provide a 30-day money-back guarantee for all packages.
- They have become a popular name among the hosting community, partly due to the less expensive plans and packages they provide. This also makes Hostinger the ideal choice for small businesses and individuals.
Cloudways
- Cloudways is a cloud-based web hosting provider that allows its users to choose the services from different platforms like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud.
- And the one thing that stands out with Cloudways is that they provide hosting services at a monthly and even hourly rate. They also don’t put up lengthy contracts spanning several years which eases the feeling of being tied up.
- click here to learn how to create a blog/website with Cloudways
- Cloudways provide exceptional Uptime, and even in case of downtime, they let their users know about the issue, and how fast it’s going to be resolved. This way of proactive monitoring makes it easy for users and also helps build trust with the company.
DreamHost
- DreamHost is yet another official recommendation by wordpress.org. DreamHost has been providing services for more than two decades now, and powers over 1.5 million websites.
- DreamHost is highly reliable as they also provide an Uptime of almost 100%. And to make the decision easy, they provide you with a 97-day money-back guarantee.
HostGator HostGator is one of the oldest and biggest web hosting companies operating today. They are highly reliable as they provide you with an average Uptime of 99.98%.
- HostGator has been known for its customer support, which it provides via phone, email, and also a live chat. They also provide a 45-day money-back guarantee in case of any issues.
Kinsta
- Kinsta is a comparatively new hosting provider that has become increasingly popular over the years, now hosting clients from 128 countries around the world.
- What really stands out with Kinsta is the variety of hosting packages they offer. They got a plan for everyone, starting from absolute beginners to big enterprises.
- Kinsta also offers daily backups of your website, allowing you to not worry about any of the data on your website. They also provide 24/7 customer support via live chat.
Conclusion:
Hosting is the most important aspect of your website as it sets the foundation for everything you build on. And choosing the right hosting provider is more like an investment in your website journey. So, to help you with the decision, we have compiled a list of the best hosting providers that are available in the market now.
And you can choose the best hosting provider from the above list after considering all the plans and packages. Once settled on the hosting and domain, you can proceed to design and customize your WordPress website. But website creation and customization can be a challenging task to do on your own.
To make it easier, you can check our article on How to make a free website on WordPress, where we guide you through the entire process of website creation. But if you want to learn more about WordPress and create a beautiful and stunning website? Well, you can Check out our “Make a Pro Website” category that teaches everything about website creation using WordPress. With our course, you can create your own professional WordPress website in less than 7 days.
