8 Important Features to Look for in A Web Host

If you have designed a new website and want it to reach out to a wide audience online, then make sure that you choose the right server host for putting up your website. Though, the design of your website is in the most desirable way, but until you don’t get it hosted properly, there is no purpose of setting up a website. Hence, before choosing any web host company for your website, make sure that you do proper research. Listed below are some important features that you should look for before sign up with a web host company:

1. Technical Support

2. Ease of setting up

3. Shell Access

4. .Htaccess

5. Cron Jobs

6. Data Backup

7. Software Versions

8. Uptime

Technical Support

Technical support is one of the most vital aspects to look for when you want to choose the ideal web host for your site. Ensure that the web host should be offering 24X7X365 support as you may never know when you could need it. But that’s not all. You should also know the different communication mediums that you can use to reach them. While ticket support is the most common type of support offered by many companies, you should also ensure that they should offer email support too. Likewise, real-time support like chat or telephonic support is a must when you need prompt assistance. The quality of support is equally important. If your web host hires a third party for support then you cannot rely on the quality. So it is always better to opt for the web host who has an in-house support staff.

Ease of setting up

In the competitive world of web hosting one of the ultimate weapons, next to pricing and freebies, is ease of setting up. Hence, many web hosts support commonly used CMSes or blogging systems. It is more important to know the ease of setting up the CMS. Some web hosts might offer a fairly easy way of setting it up while the other would go a few miles ahead and allow you ultra-quick single click setup. Ensure that you exactly know how easy would it be for you to set up your preferred CMS on your web host.

Shell Access

Shell Access is another major feature you should look for while finding the ideal web host for your site. This access allows you to login to your server over SSH using the command line. Through this access you can do multiple tasks without compromising on security: copying files set or modify file permissions for entire groups, and a number of other tasks. However, it is important to check with your web host about the number and type of tasks you are allowed to do.

.Htaccess

.Htaccess is the configuration file that is used by the Apache server and allows you to do the multitude of tasks including adding the password to directories, redirect pages and rewriting URLs. Of course, there are a number of other tasks that you can do with it. You can check with your web host to ensure the specific tasks you can do with your .htaccess files.

Cron Jobs

Another thing to look for while choosing the ideal web host is Cron jobs. Cron jobs allow you to auto-perform some key jobs on the server by scheduling them at different times. It can actually be called a job scheduler that can be timed to do different tasks at given times.

Data Backup

One of the key assets of any website is data. So, data losses can cost you dearly and in many cases have an extremely adverse effect on the business. Despite words like 100% guarantee and the likes, you cannot be completely assured that your data will never be lost. Backing up your site files as well as databases can be a good option here as it will shield you from the harm even in case the of data loss. Hence you need to check for the backup options. Many old web hosts offer Site Backup. If yours don’t, then there could be some ways in which you can also go for Site Backup by using cron or shell access.

Software Versions

The software versions play a great role in determining the quality of you hosting It is always better to opt for the hosts that can allow you to choose the most appropriate version from an entire collection. However, if your host does not offer this facility then at least you should check that they are using the latest versions. Some hosts are quite lazy and may even surprise you with their outdated, almost obsolete PHP versions that may limit your functionality and at the same time increase the security threats.

Uptime

You make your site for attracting the visitor. So when it becomes difficult for them to access your site, the very objective of building a site is defeated. Yes, we are talking about uptime. Ensure that when it comes to the figures (especially like 99.9%), you provider should have a proven track record. Check their social media pages to read the reviews the get. Many users just look at such nearly perfect figures and select the host without diving further. You should actually check with your host and collect the details of uptime guarantee and more importantly ensure that their guarantee is not limited to most ideal conditions. They should have taken into account the things that could go awry, before calculating the guarantee.