Building a website is not difficult. However, some hosting-related services might be a little confusing. The first step involves signing up and publishing your site with a web hosting provider before it becomes accessible online. Normally, the hosting services store your site’s files in web servers that are connected to fast networks.
If you’re here, you already know how important having a website is in the digital era, especially if you run a business. If you’re working on a budget, however, you’ll need affordable hosting services that allow you to build a site and boost your business’s visibility. So, what is the cheapest way to host a website?
If that is your worry, you can now take a breather because you’ve come to the right place. This post includes five tips about the cheapest way to host a website.
1. Consider Your Budget
Needless to say, you must set a budget when looking for a web hosting provider. It is advisable that you always know what you’re willing to spend to ensure that you don’t go overboard. This is because you might find cheaper services for the same work with a bit of research. After all, nobody wants to spend two to three times what they would have paid for a service.
Creating a budget for your site starts with creating site specifications. To set a realistic budget, you must have an idea of what you’d like your website to do. Therefore, if you’re looking for the cheapest way to have a website, you must consider your website’s design.
What does this imply? You need to factor in things such as the customization you’d like. Choosing a custom design from the ground up, for instance, might force you to dig deeper into your pockets. So, if you’re working on a budget, a standard WordPress theme might suit your needs. You could also factor in the imagery you want on your website before setting your budget accordingly.
Additionally, you need to consider the functionality of the site when looking for the cheapest way to host a website. You must know whether your site will have a basic contact form or downloadable information. You must also consider the storage of these website files.
Mainly, functional requirements include third-party e-commerce websites or integration with internal systems. You must establish what the site needs and set the budget accordingly. To find the cheapest way to host a website, you must seek proposals because you have the desired site specifications. It helps you to come up with a reasonable estimate.
2. Think About The Features You Need
One of the essential things you must do is consider what you need for your website. What do you intend to use the website for? Who is your target audience? Once you figure these out, you can now venture into the market to get a hosting provider.
Usually, hosting a website follows a couple of steps. First, you have to buy a domain name. You must select your provider carefully because different providers have different rates. The domain name is usually the name of your website. As such, you must register the domain name.
Most importantly, you must be careful when selecting the name because it becomes the permanent address. The name makes web users find your site when they look it up. Fortunately, you can purchase a domain name from an accredited web hosting company, although it has to be within your spending limits.
After selecting the domain name, you must choose a reliable hosting plan. Normally, this happens after you’ve found the ideal hosting provider. Herein, the hosting services enable you to host your site on the supplier’s server, which eventually makes it available worldwide.
The hosting plan you choose must align with the needs of your website. You want to have a stable and fast site on a friendly budget. This means that you need to settle for the right hosting solution. There exist five main types of hosting solutions – Managed WordPress, Shared, Dedicated Server, VPS, and Reseller.
It’s recommended for you to choose a hosting plan based on the tasks your website intends to handle. If you’re a digital service provider or run an online store, Dedicated Servers and VPS might suit you. Alternatively, you can settle for shared hosting if your site is intended for personal blogs and freelance portfolios. It might also work if you run a small-sized company.
3. Compare Hosting Packages
Getting the cheapest way to host a website requires you to conduct a proper market assessment. What does this mean for you? You must compare hosting packages from various websites. That way, you’ll have clear insight into the hosting providers that fall within your spending limit. You’ll also figure out who offers the best and cheapest hosting services.
Note, however, that the cost is not the only thing that matters to you. You must also assess what each package offers clients. Notably, you need to consider the speed of the web host. Loading speed is crucial, especially if you run an online business. That’s because people tend to have little patience for a slow-loading website.
Consequently, you must ask your hosting provider the type of internet connection they provide. Doing so will determine whether it’s suitable for your business based on the traffic you expect for your site.
Additionally, you must check the reliability of the hosting service you intend to choose. This is particularly important because most people don’t know about the servers their hosting companies use.
Assessing the packages from different websites will help you distinguish between reliable and unreliable hosting services. You should always settle for a hosting service that guarantees you high levels of speed and reliability.
That aside, you must also determine the web hosting service security. The security features of the hosting company you choose must be top-notch. That’s because your data goes through the hosting company’s servers. If you have sensitive information, you wouldn’t want every Jack and Jane accessing your data seamlessly.
When comparing the hosting services from various websites, you must also factor in the web host features and Add Ons. You must check whether your desired hosting company provides you with a range of free tools. Free tools allow you to create some value-adding elements on your website, thus optimizing it.
4. Your Web Development Skills
You might not think that this is important, but some experience in web development contributes to choosing the cheapest way to host a website. Your level of experience in web development will determine the services you require from a hosting service.
A pro in web development will not require as much help from a hosting service as a beginner would. Basically, web development deals with building, creating, and maintaining websites.
Web development has several aspects that include web publishing, web design, database management, and web programming. Pro web developers have these skills, and they can select the most suitable provider and identify whenever there’s an issue with a service.
Moreover, web development skills allow you to manage and maintain a website to ensure optimal performance, speeds, and user experience. A pro web developer might also have the skills required to optimize the site unlike a beginner who’ll often rely on the provider.
As a web developer, you will frequently write lines of code. The lines of code transform your website to look how you’d want. However, creating a website is not the only thing that matters when it comes to attracting users to your site.
You must also work with a reliable web hosting provider to ensure you have access to fast and reliable networks.
A beginner might take a while learning all these concepts. However, they come in handy to ensure that your site performs optimally. That said, do you have any web development skills?
If not, fortunately, HoboHost as well as other hosting providers make it easy to create your own website with reliable website builders.
Just Don’t Pay For Features That You Don’t Use
Well, now that you’ve learned how to navigate the web hosting market on a budget, you need to make a decision. So, what is the cheapest way to host a website? Well, you could always settle for HoboHost. We offer you affordable hosting with possibly all the features you need for your website.
HoboHost plans start at $1. You can easily create your website with our drag & drop builder. The hosting plans also come with several other features, including one-click installations for WordPress.
Some of the notable features include cPanel Hosting, SSL certificate, Firewall protection, Softaculous, Selectable PHP version, LiteSpeed Web Server, and LiteSpeed Cache. With these features, you can rely on HoboHost for efficient hosting services.
