The world of web hosting services can be intriguing, but thankfully, the possibilities are as boundless as the stars in the cosmos.
Imagine this – you’re about to embark on a thrilling journey to establish your online presence, either for the sheer joy of creating or to breathe life into your burgeoning business. But wait! Choosing the right web hosting provider can make all the difference between soaring success and a stumble in the digital labyrinth.
As you stand at the crossroads of countless hosting options, a few top features can be a deciding factor when moving your business or your hobby online.
But uncertainties and shadows lurk in the dark, so you’ll most likely need a helping hand or simply a second opinion!
Thankfully that’s why we’re here. This post summarizes the must-have hosting features that your web hosting provider needs to have a smooth sailing experience with your brand-new website. Achieving those skills/features is only part of the equation; the ultimate goal is to master each one.
Let’s get started.
- 1. Your Website Always Online – Reliability and Uptime Guarantee
- 2. Performance, Speed, and Bandwidth
- 3. Plenty of Hosting Solutions – For Scalability
- 4. A User-Friendly Dashboard and Control Panel
- 5. Security – SSL, Firewalls, and Data Centres
- 6. 24/7 Support – For Any Emergencies That May Arise
- 7. Additional Support, Services, and Payment Options
1. Your Website Always Online – Reliability and Uptime Guarantee
Imagine you’re running an online store, and your website is the gateway to your online business itself.
Every minute of downtime means potential lost sales and disappointed customers who leave your eCommerce site for a competitor.
Multiple websites state that people will look elsewhere if your website fails to load fast enough. More specifically, there’s a 45% chance shoppers will seek a product on another website if yours takes ages to load.
The same goes for referrals.
Customers who’ve experienced slowdowns during their purchase from your website won’t refer you to their friends, potentially limiting your customer base.
As user attention spans continue to shrink and websites load faster than ever, having a reliable web hosting company by your side is crucial. This can help establish your site as a strong contender among competitors.
A reliable web hosting provider is like a steadfast guardian, ensuring your website remains accessible to visitors without frequent interruptions. Look for hosting companies boasting an impressive uptime guarantee of 99.9% or higher.
It’s no secret that HostPapa’s reliability is among the best in the industry. This means your virtual doors stay open, day and night, allowing customers to shop, explore, and engage with your offerings without interruption. And that’s a very crucial aspect to look for in web hosts.
2. Performance, Speed, and Bandwidth
Now, there’s another significant feature your web host must be good at. It’s not only about being reliable and having exceptional uptime and uptime guarantee.
A web host equipped with modern hardware, lightning-fast SSD storage, and strategically located data centers across the globe acts as your trusty steed, carrying your website swiftly across the vast expanse of the internet.
HostPapa’s support for CDN networks and the use of data centres in Australia make it a great choice for everyone worldwide and in the land down under!
With faster website loading times, your readers won’t be left tapping their feet impatiently, ensuring an excellent user experience and a higher chance of ranking favourably in search engines.
On top of that, having web hosting plans with great bandwidth will keep users with the same web host for a longer period. In addition to being dependable and always-on, siding with a web host that’s good at these three distinct characteristics is going to set your website apart from the others.
3. Plenty of Hosting Solutions – For Scalability
Choosing a web hosting provider that can grow your business is important. As your website goes from strength to strength, its hosting needs will also change.
Moving web hosting providers is a tiresome process. While a few hosts offer free migration on the house, setting up your database and email accounts might take a while on others.
But, if you’re still using the same plan you had when starting out, it’ll quickly become inadequate and unable to support the additional load without suffering slowdowns or crashing altogether.
The good news is most web hosts offer a wide range of plans and solutions to help your website grow with you.
You can start with a shared hosting plan when you launch your business and move to a VPS later on.
Even the Start hosting plan comes with 100GB of SSD disk space and free domain name registration, which is more than enough for new websites.
You can then easily jump into VPS hosting and enjoy the additional benefits of having a virtual private server all for your business.
That’s the scalability you’re after.
4. A User-Friendly Dashboard and Control Panel
Whether you’re a website novice or an experienced web developer, having access to a user-friendly control panel is indispensable.
Differences Between Dashboard and Web Hosting Control Panel
The dashboard is the web hosts’ UI through which you can access all aspects of your hosting account, such as your billing information, submit tickets to customer support and buy more products.
Your web hosting control panel, on the other hand, helps you manage more technical settings, like creating databases, email accounts and DNS records or FTP accounts.
All of these fall under a separate interface, and sometimes it’s different from one web host to another. The industry standard cPanel, for example, is the driving force on HostPapa’s platform. Its ease of use, performance and features is the main reason why most web hosts trust it.
A user-friendly dashboard, on the other hand, is essential for easy and worry-free management of your account’s features, payments, support tickets and buying new services.
HostPapa’s cPanel makes it simple to handle all these tasks without fuss while eliminating them.
5. Security – SSL, Firewalls, and Data Centres
When you navigate the online space, security is paramount when it comes to choosing your web host.
Whether creating an online store or running a simple blog, your website is the gateway to your business and hobby. Nobody wants their data to land in the wrong hands, not even for a second.
Look for web hosting companies that provide robust firewalls and complimentary SSL certificates out of the box. If you need an additional SSL certificate, make sure that the web host offers everything in the first place.
What really matters is the security of the data centers of the web host. A reliable provider will protect its infrastructure and servers with advanced security measures, such as multi-level authentication, resource access control, and DDoS protection.
6. 24/7 Support – For Any Emergencies That May Arise
It’s no secret that customer support is vital to any successful service.
Having access to round-the-clock support gives you the opportunity to solve potential technical issues a lot quicker and without having to wait for hours or even days if something goes wrong.
When searching for the right web host, make sure they provide excellent customer service with dependable response times.
Information can come from other sources. For example, an in-depth knowledge base can have tons of information about platform-related topics. Plus, helpful tutorials will spare you time and energy in understanding the different tools at your disposal.
A blog like ours is also a place to find good information and plenty of informative topics or ideas. An example would be our tutorial for mastering WordPress, where we share everything you need to know about before starting with that CMS. Of course, other great ideas on the HostPapa Blog are ready to be explored!
Read Reviews
At this point, you know how to spot a good web host, but when it’s time to make your pick be sure to read reviews and look for ratings online.
It’s not unusual for a web host to sound great in theory, but it may not deliver when put to the test.
Reading what other people have experienced with a specific web host is an invaluable tool to help you make the right decision. Trustpilot is a great place to start your search.
7. Additional Support, Services, and Payment Options
While all the above are the basic things you should look for in good web hosts, there are additional features that can make a difference and come in handy.
For instance, if you’re running a business website, try to find out whether any extra services or packages are available for it.
Whether it’s help setting up Google Analytics or getting your site on top of SERPs, having access to professional help can be a real lifesaver.
Additional services could include access to a website builder, a feature that most that know the whereabouts of a web hosting plan don’t need. If you want quick results, using this tool can prove to be extremely helpful. Its functionality is based on templates making it very user-friendly.
A website builder is a must-have, so it’s offered with even the most affordable hosting solution over at HostPapa.
More SSL Certificates
Most shared web hosting solutions come with standard SSL certificates, but if you want to protect more than one subdomain, you have to invest in a Wildcard SSL certificate.
A Wildcard SSL certificate covers unlimited subdomains, and its cost is generally small but not as low as HostPapa.
Added Security and Automations
Beyond basic security fundamentals like SSL and firewalls, you should seek web hosting providers that offer more comprehensive security solutions.
For instance, HostPapa’s Protection Power is a robust security tool that provides automated malware detection and removal, ongoing security monitoring, and enhanced website protection.
Add Enhanced Security to Your Website
Protection Power provides an extra layer of security that can help safeguard your website and server resources from cyber threats and vulnerabilities that could compromise the integrity and performance of your site.
Automation plays a crucial role in modern web security management. Beyond malware and cyber attacks, automated features like automatic website backups can save your website from potentially devastating issues.
Malware detection scans your website regularly for any signs of suspicious activity, while automatic backups ensure your data is safe and recoverable, even in the event of a system failure or cyber-attack.
Lastly, check the payment options available for your web hosting plan. You want to ensure the plans fit your budget while being flexible enough to upgrade or downgrade as needed.
The Bottom Line
When it comes to web hosting features, it pays off to invest a bit more in a reliable provider. So there you have it! These are the must-have web hosting features you should be looking for when you want to take your website from dream to reality.
Your website is the cornerstone of your business or hobby, and choosing the right hosting provider can be the difference between success and failure.
Look for standard features like 99% uptime guarantees, fast servers, user-friendly dashboards, and robust security measures.
But also read online reviews and check for additional services or extras like:
- Website Βuilder
- Automated backups
- Wildcard SSL certificates
- Proactive security measures
These can help save your site files and content in an emergency.
Taking the time to research your web hosting provider will pay off in the long run. And HostPapa is here to assist you every step of the way with its reliable services and support. Picking the right hosting company can be daunting, but with a little research, you’ll be sure to make the right decision for your website.
Enjoyed this post? Head to our HostPapa blog to read more exciting topics like this one!
