How do you know if your web host sucks? How do you check if you are using a bad web host for your website? Or even worst, are you struggling to keep your server uptime on a positive side?
In today’s web hosting market, there are just too many web hosting services that are under performing. Searching for the term “cheap WordPress hosting” on Google will gives you an approximately 1,010,000 search results.
The truth is, there are many (and I mean M-A-N-Y) web hosting companies that offer super cheap hosting services but comes with subpar performance. Downtimes, inaccessible websites and above all, unsecured ports that leads to website hacks are just a few to name.
I’m sure you get the point and even heard about them!
How do you determine a web host is bad?
The million dollar question, if you ask me.
I used a fair share of shared web hosting services and this often comes lingerring in my head.
How do I know the web host I’m using is a bad web host?
How do I determine if the web hosting service I use is not ideal?
Carry on reading below on some of the ways you can determine if the website is good (or bad) for your website.
1. Bad web host makes your website slow (slow website loading speed)
How fast does your website loads? Does it takes over 5 seconds to load or under 1.5 seconds?
Here’s what Google says.
2 seconds or less — that’s how fast your website should load if you want to retain the happiness of your website visitors and getting love from Google.
And here’s a BIG, BIG fact to take note.
You don’t need to use premium WordPress hosting like WP Engine (click here to see its latest pricing review) to make your website loads under 1.5 seconds. You can achieve that simply by using a shared web hosting like I do in the test below.
As you can see above, my homepage is massively 2 MB and it takes 1.37 seconds to load completely. So, how do I achieve such results?
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It is important to understand that the above combination is required to achieve the fastest loading speed for your website. Of course, a good web host will outdo the bad web host at anytime of the day!
If you want to dive more into website loading speed, here’s a quick video for you.
How to check for website loading speed?
My favorite go to tool would be Pingdom Website Speed Test. It is free to use and works like charm. It also comes with a good reporting feature that allows you to understand which part is slowing down your website and how you can solve the issue for a faster website.
Diving through the reports will give you an idea especially if you are using a bad web host. The response time (in milliseconds or ms) will help you to easily weed out the bad web hosting services.
2. Bad web host gives you a lot of errors on Google Search Console
Another way to check if you are using a bad web host is through Google Search Console.
Head over to Google Search Console and select your account/website of choice.
This is what you will see on the dashboard.
A bad website hosting company will often lead to many errors including server errors and 404’s. At some cases, you will also get server connectivity issues which means website visitors will have problem trying to access your site.
If you are a freelance website developer, freelance writer or affiliate marketer who uses website to generate leads, you are going to literally cry because you are not getting sales!
I’m using a bad web host! What should I do now?
You are at the cross road and I totally get it. We all make mistakes and the pain is real. You might also feel sad and disappointed with the current web host because they are making you lose business.
If you are looking for a good web hosting service that doesn’t burn a hole in your wallet, Host With me (web hosting for beginners) is a great option to start with. At only $6.99 per month, you are going to get a way much better shared web hosting performance and experience — and I can guarantee you that or 60 days money back guarantee no matter what your reason!
If you are looking for an enterprise web hosting or web hosting for high traffic sites, WP Engine is an excellent choice. The performance, security and support levels provided by WP Engine is best to none that I have tested.