WordPress is undoubtedly one of the most popular platforms to host a website. Reason being, the flexibility provided by the platform in terms of category relevance, branding opportunities and integrations to boost marketing. However, while picking the best WordPress hosting plan or even a provider, consumers completely lose track of the key elements that can help them make the most out of WordPress hosting. This inevitably results in consumers either changing the hosting provider or worse off, migrating away from the platform itself. In a bid to avoid this mishap, it is important that one must take a stepwise approach like a checklist to tick off major factors that go into choosing the best WordPress hosting. This guideline-like approach not only helps one to narrow down to the right hosting provider but also allows one to gain clarity about good and bad practices in hosting. So, without much ado, let us put pen to paper and jot down 6 easy steps to choose the best WordPress hosting.
1. Draw a budget for your WordPress hosting plan
As a business, try to limit your spending when it comes to hosting a WordPress website. This is because the best WordPress hosting will cost you not more than $2-3. At times, consumers overestimate their requirements and spend large amounts on unwanted resources. This is as good as taking away a chunk out of your pockets, that too for nothing. So going ahead, ensure that you spend wisely because doing this in advance will filter out unnecessary options.
2. Assume a rough range of traffic on your website today and few months down the line
Once you draw the budget, state the objective of your website. Are you looking only for web presence, or do you want to monetize from your website? Based on this, you will get an idea as to what kind of traffic you can expect on the website month on month. This will help you gain more clarity on the resources your hosting will require e.g. bandwidth, speed etc. which will help you figure out requirements .
3. Select a WordPress hosting plan based on tech support, scalability and server uptime
If your hosting provider maintains a great server uptime, you can be rest assured about the health of your website. Moreover, even if you face any technical glitches, ensure that the hosting service provider has a good reputation in terms of tech support etc. This is so because, with support and server uptime guaranteed you can scale without any hassles. As we speak of tech support, ensure that the provider has equipped his hosting resources with the latest processors etc. as you choose the best WordPress hosting.
- Choose a hosting plan that allows you to park domain/domains
With domain parking you can reserve a domain name today or even in the future for WordPress websites. Parking a domain name will give you an edge when it comes to branding because it is one definite way to stay on the top of your customer’s mind. So, choose a good TLD and also ask your service provider about other good second level domains available for WordPress. Most service providers allow registrations at a really cheap price.
- Understand what kind of a site backup or recovery practice is followed by the hosting provider
It takes ages to fix hacked websites since retrieving the data from the website itself is a time consuming task. In a bid to protect yourself from virus or malware attacks, it is advisable to be prepared with a service provider that will help you with a good backup-recovery plan. Integrations and add-ons like CodeGuard, serve as a stable backup and recovery tool. Since this backup is taken and hosted on cloud, the data of your website remains safe.
6. Ensure there is a sound security plan for the hosting
Along with backup and recovery, the overall security of the WordPress website is equally important. WordPress updates for security are quite frequent and one can be sure of the data being protected. However, some nasty attacks like DDoS penetrate deep into the system to create problems. With the help of integrations like SiteLock, you can prevent such attacks and protect your WordPress website. Moreover, a secure website is one major reason users and visitors trust the website. So, in a bid to choose the best WordPress hosting, ensure that you take this into account.
We hope that with these steps you will be able to narrow down a web hosting provider that can give you the best WordPress hosting experience. Also, bear in mind that this list is not entirely exhaustive but a safe route that will direct you to a good hosting service provider.