Your web design and content are finally ready. Your brick and mortar business took off, so you’re looking to build a WordPress website to establish your online presence.
Before you can even start developing your website, however, you need to find a good hosting for your site first. Otherwise, if you use a poor-quality website host, you could run into all sorts of trouble in the future, such as your site loading slow, getting hacked, etc.
There are countless WordPress hosting providers in the market right now. And, choosing the right one that fits your business can be confusing. If you’re wondering which website hosting you should choose, Neil Patel wrote a review to help his readers narrow down their options for a dedicated WordPress hosting solution.
If you’re wondering what features to look out for when choosing a WordPress hosting, then you’re in the right place.
This article covers the crucial features your WordPress web hosting should possess.
1. High Server Uptime
A great web design is only the beginning of developing and launching a website. You need to ensure your customers can access the site anytime.
Remember the times when you click on a link only to see “503 Service Unavailable”?
Frustrating, isn’t it?
Several minutes of downtime can drive away potential customers, which means losing business.
Uptime refers to the amount of time your website is available as intended. On the other hand, downtime means your site is inaccessible due to server issues and related problems.
There are two things that you should consider when comparing server performance:
- If your website is not big yet, consider shared hosting. While it does not give you 100% uptime, you should expect at least 98%.
- For big websites or web applications, choose a dedicated hosting with the highest server uptime. Providers will usually state 99.9999% uptime. The six digits represent the best uptime performance.
It’s worth pointing out that there are several types of WordPress hosting. The most common are free, shared, virtual private servers, cloud hosting, and dedicated server plans.
Depending on which stage your website is right now, the amount of content your site has, the number of monthly visitors it gets, etc., you’ll be better off using one WordPress hosting type over the other.
2. High Disk Space and Traffic Allocation
Disk space is the amount of storage that your WordPress site takes up on the server.
Your website is composed of database files, web pages, and other assets.
As you add more content to your website through blogging or other pages, it consumes more space.
Traffic works the same way. It requires computing power from the server to deliver your site to your visitors.
For small websites, traffic allocation may not be an issue. However, if you expect your website to gain more audience, consider looking into each hosting package’s allotted traffic.
Providers often put a cap value over the traffic. When the number of visitors is maximized, your website will stop responding.
Unlimited disk space and unlimited traffic are usually available on expensive hosting packages. It can be costly when you are just starting out.
You can choose a plan with smaller disk space and traffic allocation. However, your service provider should have an easy upgrade option so you can quickly increase them in the future.
3. Website Analytics
Whether you are running an online shop or offering your services online, the goal is to increase your audience.
As such, website analytics is an essential feature that you should check out when shopping for a hosting plan.
Most providers include analytics tools for free. If possible, ask for a demonstration of its functionalities.
Make sure the user interface is intuitive and easy to understand. Some providers only offer limited analytics features, with its advanced features only available for extra bucks.
At the very least, you should see how much traffic your website generates at a given time. You should also see the amount of space you have and how much your current site is using.
The hosting plan should support the installation of third-party web analytics tools without extra charges. Among the most popular are Google Analytics, Hotjar, and Kissmetrics.
4. WordPress Updates and Website Security
WordPress powers around 38% of all websites on the Internet. Its popularity, coupled with countless themes, extensions, and plugins, create vulnerabilities in the system that hackers and malicious programs can exploit. Even a minor security breach can affect your website.
Fortunately, WordPress developers are continuously working to improve its security. As such, your hosting plan should include automatic WordPress updates.
This makes it easy to keep track of the latest releases. Updates ensure that you have the latest protection against new threats.
Some providers even include an update scheduling functionality, so you know when your website is due for maintenance.
The host’s servers should also include a firewall that prevents malicious attacks such as SQL injections and data theft.
Other popular security measures include anti-vulnerability, anti-malware, and more.
Other Features to Take Note
Aside from the essential features above, you should also explore advanced functionalities such as:
- Email accounts – Some hosting packages include professional email accounts that carry your domain name.
- Advertising credits – Most plans include advertising credits up to $50. You can spend it on Google Ads or other online advertising services to drive traffic.
- Content Delivery Network (CDN) – Depending on the host’s servers, CDN allows visitors to access your website much faster, which significantly improves user experience.
- Service support – It will be hard to keep track of your server’s health, WordPress updates, and security without experts. Most hosting providers offer 24/7 support through email, chat, or phone.
What’s next?
Remember, don’t settle for crappy hosting. With low-quality hosting, you put your business at risk. What’s more, you lose tons of sales potential, which could easily hurt your bottom line.
Now that you know the essential features that your WordPress hosting solution should have, you should be ready to set-up your website in no time.
