When hosting your site, many variables come into play. There is no one-size-fits-all, so every business case can be a little different. 

Some small customers will blindly signup for a big hosting company because of all the exposure via ads they invest to your social media, trusting that their solution is cheap and powerful. But that is not always the case.

You want to start with the first question: How fast will my users load my site? Regardless of how your page is done (we hope is pretty optimized and loads fast), there are a few actors to consider. Big sites can leverage speeds using content delivery networks and Memcache systems, but a small-sized business looking at having a web presence all it can hope for is to use a budget third-party cloud-cache solution like Cloudflare, Netlify or Fastly. Some might not even want to be bothered.

So, when choosing web hosting, the first thing you want to look at is where is your audience located. Picking up a hosting that has a server close to your audience will guarantee less noise between your files and your customers. 

Second are the features you get. As most of small owners can’t manage their own webservers, the usual is that they come with a control panel that automates most of the heavy load for you, being Cpanel and Plesk two of the most popular tools. They allow you to manage your own DNS, email accounts, spam filters, SSL certificates, backups and security. Some web builders like WIX or Squarespace might seem attractive, until you realize all the hidden costs and how basic the features they offer are.

The third is their customer support. If your server is down and you are bleeding out potential sales, a powerful hosting is of no use if it’s down. A quick and reliable customer support team that can advice, correct, protect and secure your data is worth considering.

The last thing is obvious. The price. Those are all over the place.  A hosting might cost as little as $3 USD a month, but could be hundreds. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does the service provider include all the costs? 
2. Can you test the hosting before you buy it
3. Does it fit within your budget?
4. Does it have pay-as-you-go options?
5. Uptime