Important Questions To Ask Before Launching A Website
When you're starting a new website you need to get it hosted to launch it, so it can be seen by the rest of the world. If your budget is low, you want to search for a promo code before you buy. But you also want to look out for a few other things besides the price:
1 - Reliability and Uptime
Read some reviews to get a general feel for the reliability, and you can find specialist sites which measure the "uptime" of web hosting providers. Make sure it's 99% as an absolute minimum - ideally more than 95% is what you want to find.
2 - Backups
See if there are other features you need, especially backups. And with backups, you will probably encounter customer service. How quick are they - do they work 24/7, and are they on the phone?
There are many web hosting providers to choose from, but here are a few to consider:
Bluehost has a good reputation and has been going for many years - since 1996 in fact. They currently offer web hosting from $2.95 per month and a 30-day guarantee.
GoDaddy is another well-known hosting service who are also one of the top sellers of domain names.
It's worth looking out for some special offers no matter which company you decide to use. For instance, you could search for GoDaddy promo code to find some off-go the best hosting deals available. Even without a promo code, GoDaddy is pretty cheap, as they usually have sale offers on their prices. You can probably find their Economy package for just $1 per month. This gets you hosting for one website with 100GB storage and unlimited bandwidth.
InMotion hosting has had very good reviews and starts off their prices at $3.49 for basic shared hosting. They include features such as a free domain and free website builder.
Arvixe is another hosting company with good-value starting offers and a great reputation. They are $4 per month, offering unlimited disk space, data allowance, and email accounts.
Hostgator has had plenty of good reviews and awards over the years, and currently price their basic hosting at $3.45 per month. They include credits towards Google and Bing advertising, as well as lots of free website templates, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
3 - Add-on domains and other hosting features
Extra domains are useful for several things, including protecting a brand name. You should be able to add plenty of domains to any hosting account.
4 - Hosting control panel
Taking control of your hosting should not be difficult. Most companies offer a standard interface such as cPanel, but they may have an alternative if you want to use something different.
5 - Terms of service
Check the ToS - you don't want to be taken off-line for trying to do something outside the ToS. Some hosts may take your site down without warning; others will give you the chance to fix the problem first.
6 - Supporting features
If you're running something more than a small blog, then you might need more facilities later on. Make sure it is easy to expand the hosting system to meet your needs.
