In my experience, it often seems like web hosting is left out of the planning or creation of a website. Website owners and web developers/designers, spend a lot of time in the “design” aspects of a website and sometimes over look the need to pick the right web hosting company.
Not sure if it is a lack of understanding or if they are going with what is popular, but I am sure once, they understand a little more about web hosting, they will make better choices. Thousands of dollars go into a website design and then they turn around and host it on a $5/mo hosting service. Nothing wrong with a cheap plan, but if you spent good money on a website, shouldn’t the technology and the infrastructure match the quality of the design?
It’s like building a Ferrari Body then putting it on a Toyota 4 cylinder Frame/Engine. Why do that?
First of all, all professional websites need quality web hosting. That means it needs to be fast, reliable and secure.
Recommendations for a quality web host, that by design give a fast, reliable and secure website:
- Get a Dedicated Virtual Server – it’s so affordable now a days. Why fight for resources in a shared hosting environment? If you have to get a shared hosting, select a web hosting company that is dedicated to optimizing the # of customer vs. Maximizing the # of customers on a server.
- Separate your Email server and go with an email service that is built on a big infrastructure like Google Apps.
- Use SSD (Solid State Drives) Servers for faster data access
- Get on a hosting service that is built on a Cloud Architecture. You have multiple physical servers powering your site vs 1 physical server, If one goes out for repair or replacement, you still have the others working.
- Use web hosting components that are built on it’s own infrastructure. Most basic web host put you on a server that has all the components installed locally on the same server as your website. It’s better to have it out on its own multi-server network. For example, instead of using local DNS (local server), use a service like Amazon Route 53 – it’s built on a global infrastructure and very affordable. Other components that should not be used locally are Email Services; use Amazon Simple Email Service to delivery messages from your website (e.g. contact form).
For more details see a previous post – Understanding Web Hosting.
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