When looking for a web hosting service provider to host a website I usually check the following criteria of which provider to choose:
- Performance and Features
- Value for Money
- Availability of Payment Options
Yes, you’ve read it right. So why do you think I only set 3 criteria to consider?
Performance
Obviously, when choosing a hosting provider anyone would want to get the best performance of the services they opted from the hosting company. Anyone should carefully read reviews for each provider and compare the features that each plan includes, such as:
- What is the average server Up-time?
- How many websites I can add? 1 website or Unlimited?
- Does it include Free Domain upon signup?
- Does it have a Bandwidth or Traffic limit?
- Does it include the CMS platform you want like WordPress?
- Does it support cPanel?
- What is the type of Storage? Is it HDD, SSD or Cloud?
- Does it come with Free SSL certificate?
- Unlimited Emails?
Those are the few basic things that I consider when choosing a hosting provider based on the performance and features.
Value for Money
I have to be honest here as I may be of tight budget so I could not afford for a hosting service that is over a hundred bucks. So I also check if the hosting company offers vouchers or discounts for an annual or 3-year subscription to their service.
Some offered more than 50% less on the first year. Well, for me that’s another good thing to consider after you’ve done checking the features that the plan you may have chosen includes. You could have spend the savings you get in the first year somewhere else.
Availability of Payment Options
Few years back, most of the hosting providers only accept payments through credit cards. That’s one of the drawbacks that big hosting companies have. I am not living the life like those in the upper class, so having a credit card for me is not a must.
What I did was to look for other hosting providers that offers more payment options. Luckily, I found one hosting provider locally which also have customers who have big names in various industry.
I was able to have my first hosting service by making a payment through bank deposit. I literally went on to a bank and make a deposit on the counter to the hosting provider’s bank account.
So for people like me who doesn’t like to have a credit card in their wallets. Access to other payment options like bank deposits, fund transfer, Paypal or even GCash is an advantage.
I think those are the basic things for me to consider when you are planning to buy a hosting service to host your WordPress site or any sites in your own domain name.
