You may have done your research when it comes to understanding what kind of a website you want for your small business or organization. You probably have selected the designs too and are now in the final stages of locking a web hosting provider. But you are in the midst of selecting which hosting or which plan would suit your new website the best, right? Well, there is nothing to worry about, because for any new website, the starting point is pretty much the same. Initially, any new website owner starts slow with limited resources and understands and builds traffic on their website slowly and steadily. Since the business is small, the customers are not that many and the budget is limited, most owners start off with shared hosting.
Shared hosting serves as a good starting point for business owners, not because of its budget but because it absolutely fits and caters to the mindset of a startup owner who has just launched a new business. While hosting a website that is new, shared hosting gives enough firepower in the form of features to ensure that the website performs at its best. So, before you push the buy button, let us understand and explore the features of shared hosting through this article.
- Traffic estimate and disk space
When hosting a website, you need space to store various files which are with codes, important databases, media, and so on. Therefore, disk space is required. Logically, this feature is important even if your site is small because it lays the foundation of your hosting and the traffic that you will get. Once you’ve set up your website to host some files, you want users to be able to have that data within reach. Hence, bandwidth is important here. Imagine a tunnel. The wider the tunnel, the higher the chances of information that can be passed through it. That’s exactly how bandwidth works. Many web hosts offer unlimited bandwidth, but they can also affect the performance of your website by limiting the speed of your traffic. When looking for a good shared server or a shared web hosting plan, just ensure that you are aware of the bandwidth and speed of traffic. Once again, larger websites require more storage space but that also depends on what hosting you buy.
- Uptime
Uptime is the time when your website is online and users can easily access the website. It is usually measured as a percentage of the total expected working time (twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week). Of course, that depends on whether you want your website to be 100% online. Usually, when you buy shared hosting, your project is not very big, so you don’t really need 100% uptime. In such cases, a 99% rate is often found. When choosing a hosting plan, do pay attention to what the company says about their uptime – because some of them only use the best servers for a certain company website or websites, while yours may get affected. Before you buy a shared web hosting service, you can browse several forums or ask friends for advice. You should also pay attention to the various security features included in the package which offer better security for your server. Keep in mind that most web hosting companies don’t include expensive security options with cheap shared plans (for example, your server will be more secure if the plan includes RAID, server backup, manual server reboot, advanced network architecture, or other similar services). So, ensure that your shared hosting plan has all the aforementioned included and ask your provider before you get a plan.
- Preinstalled applications
Many web hosting companies are confused because they have many additional features in their shared applications. Some offer unlimited options, pre-installed apps, extras, and more. Focus on pre-installed apps, special widgets that help you build websites faster and manage them more efficiently. One of the most basic applications is the control panel. If the shared package includes a control panel, breathing will be easier. This life simplifies as you can control the most complex server tasks with a very simple user interface. The most popular control panel is cPanel, which is easy to manoeuvre and manage hosting. Most control panels now run in multiple applications and have add-ons that allow you to activate some important functions with a single click. Ecommerce tool, payment tool or shopping carts- understand if your hosting provider gives them preinstalled. You can also use CMS files like WordPress or Joomla for quick and unsupervised installations. Keep in mind that these plugins are only useful when you need them. If one creates a website or promotional form, then most of these features are not necessary.
- Chatbots and support
More than a feature, today this has become a staple. Something which is essential and a basic for anyone who buys a hosting plan for that matter. But please check if your provider offers these for shared plans since some providers start charging you separately or don’t include it in shared offerings.
Conclusion
So guys, these were some key features that are required in a shared hosting plan before you plan to launch a new website. Hope you have enjoyed reading this article and that you would think of them before buying a shared hosting plan. You can start learning about how you can build up your website and create a strong online presence then.
If you have any feedback or doubts or queries to share, please feel free to do the same in the comments section below. We will try to answer them as much as we can.
