Let’s say, you have just started your online business or have a blog of your own, and purchased a shared hosting package. Maybe because you did not know much about web hosting or about purchasing the right plan or for any other reason. well, that’s perfectly okay.
Many people who start with a basic plan and have a limited understanding of how to get the right plan for their website usually start off with a shared hosting plan. But at some point, you may feel that the plan you have purchased has some limitations. You have hit that spot where you feel you need more out of your website, maybe from a traffic acquisition point of view or security or other features and so on and so forth. This only means that your web hosting plan now needs an upgrade.
With this tutorial, we will seek to understand when is the right time to upgrade your hosting plan and how you can recognize initial signs. So, without much ado, here we go.
Understanding initial signs to upgrade
Before actually making changes to your current plan, you need to be aware of what’s happening. If your website’s performance, security, or uptime has stopped meeting your expectations, you should definitely take the next step and upgrade your plan. Here are some signs to look out for that could mean it’s time to upgrade your hosting plan.
- Website suffers too much downtime
If your website is not up and running, it is obvious that it will affect user experience and hence traffic on the website. Let’s say people are looking for your website and they find it on google but can’t access it because of downtime, it is your loss in the end and people end up assuming that this website is not trustworthy. It is very hard to gain the trust of your users and customers once it is gone. So, don’t let that happen. If your provider gives a downtime of anywhere less than 99% you should consider switching. Or if the current plan has a limitation, look at an upgrade for the plan that promises 99.9% uptime.
- The performance is going down the hill
For any website to perform, speed and user experience are extremely important. These aspects play a vital role in a website’s SEO rankings which help drive a lot of organic traffic to a web page. You should keep checking the SEO aspects of your website on page speed insights and GT Metrix to understand where the page performance is dropping. If it is lower than expected and your current hosting plan has limitations with performance then it is time to upgrade your hosting plan to a better one. Maybe a higher version of a shared hosting plan itself or a VPS plan if it fits your budget.
- If security is a major concern for your website
It goes without saying that a website’s security is of prime importance. But if your hosting plan is not giving you bare basics like SSL certification, SSH protection then it is time to upgrade your plan. Also, if you think a shared plan is not your cup of tea, go with a VPS hosting plan that is more secure and has a virtualized private layer to separate hosting environments within a server. That will give your website more secure and concentrated resources.
- Existing plan has limited resources
Adding more websites and files, attracting more traffic (including recent visitors), and generating more user activity will certainly take up more space and more traffic on your website. First, test your site’s ability to target visitors with a tool like LoadImpact. If the results are not what you want, you may need an upgrade to your hosting plan.
Conclusion
Here is hoping that this tutorial gave you enough ideas as to when is the right time to upgrade your hosting plan. We hope that this piece will serve as a foundation for your goals with your business website or your blog. Once you make your site or blog up, do know how you can optimize your website’s content.
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