Even if you are well-informed, approaching web hosting as a novice can come  with lots of hiccups. Without the right level of knowledge, you are liable to make  some first-timer mistakes. It is almost as though everyone needs to make these  mistakes at the beginning of their web hosting adventure.  

To help eradicate or, at best, reduce the rate at which people make these  mistakes, we have compiled some common ones amongst them.

8 Common Mistakes You Should Avoid When Hosting 

Below are 8 of the common mistakes you should avoid with web hosting.  Setting Your Mind On Free Hosting: 

Free hosting is a very nice option for a website you want as a hobby. If you are  running a simple and low traffic website like blog sites, you can hope for the best  free hosting packages. 

However, if you are running a business website with hope for growth, one of the  worst mistakes you can make is free hosting. Free hosts are usually known for  their unreliability, abysmal performance, and lack of growth. 

All of these are expected as you didn’t pay a dime to host your website. Also,  there are similar websites like yours that need that space you occupy. Although  there are some credible, free hosts out there like WordPress, there is little you  can get for free. 

Another big disadvantage of free hosting for a business site or a company  targeting growth is the lack of uniqueness. When you host your website with a  free hosting company, you need to have their name as part of your domain URL  (e.g., name.wordpress.com, with the name being your domain name and  wordpress.com being theirs). This reduces your firm’s credibility. 

Lastly, Google and other site engines do not rate free websites. And this might  affect your progress as a firm. Note that paid web hosting does not have to be  over the top. There are plans to suit every budget. 

Selecting The Wrong Hosting Package: 

With the number of options available, it is easy to choose the wrong package.  Depending on what you want to do, there is a certain package that suits your  needs.  

Choosing the wrong package can be detrimental to your site. For example, if you  go for shared hosting instead of dedicated hosting, it will have dire effects on your  website’s growth and productivity.  

You can check out our comprehensive piece on the types of web hosting and the  suitability to different sites to learn more about this. 

Setting Price as The Deciding Factor: 

The majority of people approach the web hosting industry with the same mindset  as other industries, i.e., looking for the cheapest available option. While there is  value for money and the best value in the web hosting industry, it should not be  the make or break.  

The main factor in web hosting is quality. Where can you get the best quality?  Where can you get the best plan that sits well with your vision? Where can you  get reliability and peak performance? Those should be the questions that will  drive you in the web hosting world.  

However, if the same quality is available at varying prices, you should choose the  obvious choice.  

Paying No Attention to Security: 

Security is usually overlooked by many newcomers, probably for a cheaper plan.  The unfortunate thing about security is; the effect might not be felt at the start.  However, with the increasing presence of internet fraudsters these days, you will  regret your laxity sooner rather than later. 

If your site involves exchanging valuable information such as personal data or  commercial activities, your security must be top-notch and air-tight. Even if your  site is just a simple blogging site, you shouldn’t turn a blind eye to security. 

At the minimum, you should look for hosts that offer SSL certificates for traffic  encryption and also offer spam protection. This will help improve your credibility  and give you a higher search engine ranking. 

Overlooking Customer Service: 

Customer support is probably the most important aspect of web hosting. Without  effective customer support, your site is doomed to fail. You might get away with it  during your rosy honeymoon period, but reality will eventually set in when your  website starts to grow, and the inevitable problems show up. 

Most web hosts claim to provide 24/7/365 days’ customer/technical support, but  the reality is only a few do have the resources for it. To determine the  effectiveness of a web host customer service, you need to put them to test. 

You can draw up a list of technical questions peculiar to web hosting and ask  them via all available contact options. With this, you can rate their response time  and efficiency. However, they might respond aptly, seeing that you are a potential  customer. Hence, you can go a step further by emailing some of their customers  to get firsthand information. You can also check the support message board to  see their response time and efficiency. 

Failure to Check Hosting Reviews: 

Going by the advertisement of every web host company, they are the real deal.  However, the only way to get a quick insight into their efficiency and reliability is  to read online reviews. 

Of course, you should be wary of hosts that have all raving reviews. This is  because some companies go out of their way to pay for reviews online. The most  reliable reviews are those written by technical writers that test out every hosting  service they write about. 

Commitment to a Web Host Without a Refund Guarantee Policy: 

Even if you are getting satisfactory service from your host, the time might come  to part ways. This might be because your site has outgrown its resources or any  other reason. It is best practice to make sure you are not on the losing end.

The money-back-guarantee gives you a sense of security and speaks a lot about  the reliability of a company. Some companies also have redundancy principles to  cater for failure on their part. 

Lastly, make sure you read the refund policy to the last letter to grasp the terms  and conditions. This is because the refund policy differs from one company to  another. Some companies offer part refund instead of the full payment while  some offer full payment after some time. 

Hosting All Your Websites On a Single Server: 

Hosting your websites on a single server is an enticing prospect as it reduces cost.  It is also easy to manage and maintain. 

However, if your server needs maintenance or breaks down, all your websites will  be down at once, which might cause a loss of revenue. To prevent a situation like  this, you can host your sites on different servers with the same host company or  decide to host with different companies.  

Conclusion 

With the cost and importance of web hosting, it is paramount you get it right the  first time of trying. Apart from the common mistakes listed above, there are still  others like ignorance on bandwidth limitations and storage that can affect your  website.  

Lastly, there are some companies like Teqporte cloud that provide clear guides to  help make your hosting seamless. It certainly will not hurt you to go through the  documents and articles they provide carefully.