After deciding which type of web hosting to choose, you need to search for certain features, which will help you make an informed decision. As you shop web hosting services market, you will come across plans as low as $3 per month, as well as plans worth $100 per month for Virtual Private Servers and Dedicated Servers. Great hosting is synonymous with the 3 S’s namely, Security, Speed, and Support.

Think about the following features before deciding where to host your website.

1) Uptime or availability: The last thing you want to happen is a user seeing a blank screen when they come to your website. Not only will it dent your credibility, but you will end up losing potential and current customers. So, you need to shop for a web hosting services offering with a solid reputation for uptime guarantee and redundancy. Your website will not drive consistent traffic if the host faces constant server outages. Therefore, you need a web host who promises and guarantees at least 99% uptime. The math is simple, every second your site is inaccessible, you will lose thousands of sale opportunities and your brands‘ reputation will diminish. In 2017, due to an IT meltdown and downtime, British Airways is likely to face a $140 million (USD) compensation bill because the downtime drastically affected flights and left passengers stranded at the airports for hours. Even 99% uptime is not sufficient because it accounts for downtime for 3.65 days per year. Therefore, choose a service provider with multiple backup locations so that in case of outages, another location is online and mitigates potential losses.

2) Scalability: Another key feature to consider is scalability and the types of server upgrade options available. Choosing a non-scalable web host will not serve your purpose because no one knows what might happen in the future. You’re in business to grow. Your website may rapidly see an accelerating increase in the web traffic, and if your web host does not offer scalability, you will end up losing potential customers. Furthermore, in the absence of web hosting scalability, you will incur, downtime and the hassle of moving your website to another service provider who offers scalability. Ask the provider ‘ Will your site crash if it goes viral?’ The best services automatically spin up the server as the traffic flow increases to prevent the server from crashing.

3) Technical Support: No one can prevent technical glitches 100%, and they are bound to occur sooner or later. And, when you find yourself in such a dilemma, your web hosting service provider should be available immediately. It’s always best to have someone who can offer an immediate resolution to the problem 24/7. Getting stranded right in the middle of the night and losing essential files is the last thing an online business will want. Therefore, focus on choosing a provider offering immediate support to quickly resolve any scenario. Customer support is essential to a great web hosting because you don’t want to wait what seems like a zillion of years to get your issue solved.

4) Security: “84% of online shoppers will abandon a purchase if their data is sent over an insecure connection.”

Surprisingly, in 2017, Google incorporated HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol for secure communication) as a factor to determine the ranking on the SERPs. Additionally, look for web hosts, which offer SSL certificates which enable the websites to encrypt the data sent from the user to the server. Today, sites without an SSL certificate are unsafe, and Google ranks them lower in the ranking. Many web hosts can be configured to use SSL certificates, and you need to make sure this option is enabled by default.

5) Speed: “It is estimated that slow loading websites cost the US economy more than $500 million each year with a single second delay reducing conversion rates by as much as 7%.”

The loading speed of a website will decide the rank of the website, and you should evaluate the speed of the server to know how fast your content will load. Usually, if the files are hosted on a single server in one place, the speed will be lower. Therefore, look for a web hosting services provider setting up files in a content distribution network (CDN). With CDN, the files are distributed to different data centers and the data is delivered to the customer based on their proximity to the data center. This implies that pages load faster for everyone throughout the world.

“For every 1 second of improvement in its website page load speed, Walmart.com experienced up to a 2% increase in conversions.”

Speed is a critical factor when it comes to choosing the appropriate web hosting services.

6) Email Hosting: With the top 10 hosting companies controlling over 24% of the web hosting market, look for providers offering email hosting. Email hosting operates the email servers and helps high traffic businesses by providing an email domain name to distinguish them from the rest. Today, most hosting companies allow hosting your email. It’s always advisable to opt a service provider offering both web and email hosting.

7) Pricing: For many businesses, pricing remains the supreme deciding factor. But is it not wise to make your decision solely based on the price? Because everybody knows “you get what you pay for”. Getting stuck with low-cost web hosting scavengers will do more damage than good to your online presence. While cost should undoubtedly factor into your decision, it should never override performance, speed, reliability, and availability. There is no point saving a few dollars in the short run by choosing a web hosting services provider who does not offer even the basic features.