WordPress Web Hosting: Important Facts Web Hosting Providers Don't Tell You

Your existing clients need your website to stay updated about your products and offers, while your potential customers need your website to convince them to choose you over your competition. A business without a website is definitely going to have a difficult time gaining attention. Anyone can make a website using Wix or WordPress, but creating a website involves more than just design and codes, you also need a WordPress web hosting company to work with.

Creating a Website

Beginners and people outside the website development industry might only be familiar with the designing and developing part of the process, however, there are actually three main steps to launching a website.

The first step to creating a website is getting hosted; this is the part where you register your domain and secure a server with a hosting provider.

Note: You do not have to get your domain and web hosting from the same company, but it IS much more convenient if you can find a service provider that can give you a reasonable offer on both.

Once you know what type of hosting you need and which WordPress web hosting company to proceed with, you can continue to the next steps which are designing and developing the website. You should also take time in choosing your web hosting service provider as your hosting plays a vital role in the performance of your website.

Quick Review: WordPress Web Hosting

You need web hosting for your website to open on other computers and mobile devices all over the world. If you don't have the equipment and the capability to host your own server, then you will need to work with a web hosting company. Basically, a web hosting company is a landlord who leases out a virtual space for you to store your website data and files so that you can publish things on the World Wide Web.

Web hosting companies have servers or specialised computers and equipment where you can keep or store your website. Whenever a user goes to your website through typing your URL or clicking on search results, they are actually connecting to the server, where your website is stored.

Not all websites are created equal, and not all pages have the same purpose. Your WordPress web hosting needs depends on your website's goal and the user traffic it gets. For example, an e-commerce site has different web hosting requirements compared to an informational website.

Web Hosting Facts Providers Don't Tell You

If you want to launch a website for your business, then you need to end up with a good web host before anything else. You should know why shared hosting is not a good idea and what other options you have. There are many things you need to consider when choosing your provider; however, there are some things that they might not tell you but are important to consider.

1. There are times when even your host can't control your server.

You may think that the web hosting company has full control of your server, after all, it IS their product, and they own the pieces of equipment that keep everything running. However, that is not true every single time.

One of the cases wherein your provider has no control: when they are actually a reseller hosting provider. What is a reseller hosting provider? They are hosting providers who buy a huge amount of server space at wholesale rates so they can rent it out for a more expensive amount. Reseller hosting providers trade with large-cap web host businesses offering a huge infrastructure and multi-tier security requirements.

Reseller hosting providers often offer extra services such as email hosting, free domain booking, and local language support.

Another case is when there is a server downtime. Both a web host company and a reseller hosting provider cannot do much during a downtime. But a web host company can answer your downtime concerns better than a reseller hosting provider.

2. Glitches are every WordPress web hosting company's nightmare.

Even the best-reviewed and the most renowned hosting company can't do anything during technical glitches. Most hosting companies like to have their servers placed at different locations with limited staff. The reason why hosting companies strategically place their servers in multiple locations is to make sure that their clients get maximum uptime.

However, should there be any technical glitch at one of the locations, then expect that you will experience some website issues. The problem could be as bad as not being able to access your page until the server issue has been resolved.

3. 100% uptime is a lie.

The highest uptime percentage that a web hosting company can offer is 99.9% of uptime. No company can guarantee or can even possibly provide 100% uptime. Why? Because servers need software upgrade and maintenance. There could be other issues ranging from something as small as a power outage, something troubling like a security breach to something as bad as a natural disaster.

4. Your web hosting company cannot control natural calamities.

Your WordPress web hosting service provider does not need to inform you that they cannot control the weather. You know darn well that they can't. And, of course, given that they cannot even control the rain-- you can't expect them to be able to stop natural calamities from happening. If a natural disaster like a hurricane or a tsunami occurs where your server is located, then you can expect that the downtime is going to take days, weeks or even months to fix.

No one can predict when flooding, volcano outburst, hurricanes, or an earthquake is going to happen. These calamities are pretty hard to deal with, it may take a while before you can get your page up and running again. But if there is no backup, then your data is gone forever. So, before choosing a web host provider, it won't hurt to ask how they handle natural disasters.

5. There is no such thing as a hack-proof environment.

If a WordPress web hosting service provider tells you that they offer a hack-proof environment--run for the hills. That's a lie. Think of it this way, if government agency sites keep getting hacked, how could a privately owned organisation assure you that their services are hack-proof?

They can only follow best practices to ensure that they fill loopholes and block intruders from breaking into their process. But keep in mind that hackers can upgrade their skills as well.

All you can do is to follow the guidelines suggested by your hosting provider. If they tell you to change your password, then you probably should. You should also let your service provider know if something does not look right so that they can get into it right away.

6. Your data can still be damaged even if it is password protected.

Your hosting provider has people monitoring your data. After all, someone has to look after the servers, especially if you opt to proceed with a shared or managed web hosting plan. Your provider may not mention that even if your data is password-protected, it can still be intentionally or accidentally damaged at the host's facility. This is highly likely in a shared web hosting setup since you are sharing a server with many other businesses. You should work with a trustworthy hosting provider and learn about their managed web hosting plans.

7. Unlimited is not really unlimited.

Some hosting companies, especially ones offering shared web hosting, might try to reel you in by offering "unlimited" storage and bandwidth, but keep in mind that this means nothing once your website has outgrown their services. Unlimited storage and bandwidth is an impossible promise to fulfil unless they have an unlimited supply of hardware, cables, RAM, computers, and power backup. Stop chasing the impossible and choose what is suitable for your needs instead.

Final Thoughts

Your WordPress web hosting plan, type and provider plays a vital role in your website's performance. For example, the speed of your website is one of the factors that affect your page's SEO ranking. The higher your SEO ranking, the better chances you have to reach your target audience. It is true that large images, videos, plug-ins, cache, and many other elements can slow your website down, but sometimes the issue is with your hosting server. This is more reason to be careful when choosing your provider and type of web hosting. Hopefully, you add the items mentioned above to the things to look out for when looking for the right service provider. They say prevention is better than cure, so prevent yourself from having a major web hosting headache before you actually have to cure yourself AND your website from bad decisions.