Share
Choosing a website host is one of the most important decisions you’ll make for your Avada WordPress website. Hosting influences everything from the speed of your website to its security. With so many hosting options to choose from, it can feel like a confusing task when making your choice. Fortunately, there are some simple steps you can take to make choosing significantly easier.
Understanding the different types of hosting plans and what to look for in a provider positions you to make a smart, informed decision. Avada is vigorously tested and works as expected on the broadest range of hosting provider platforms, and the full gamut of hosting plans on offer. We regularly test the most basic shared hosting plans up to medium and enterprise-level tiers.
In this article, we will explain why picking out a web host is such a crucial stage in the website-building process. After that, we will walk you through three tips for selecting a quality hosting provider. Let’s get started!
The Importance of Choosing the Right Web Host
When many first-time website owners purchase a domain name, they end up purchasing hosting services from the same company by default. However, this isn’t necessary or in some cases, even recommended. Your hosting provider influences the performance, success, and security of your site. Therefore, the importance of choosing the right one can’t be overstated.
Before you select a hosting provider for your Avada website, it helps to understand the different types of hosting that are available. The most popular options include:
While there are also free and self-hosted options, these aren’t generally recommended unless you have the technical know-how to set up and manage these options. They require a much more significant time commitment, which could be spent elsewhere. Plus, it takes a certain level of IT knowledge and skill to properly manage your own hosting, so for most website owners, it’s a task best outsourced.
Choosing The Best Hosting Provider For Your WordPress Website
Now that you understand the importance of choosing a hosting provider, you’re ready to begin the selection process. Let’s take a look at three steps that can help make this task a lot simpler.
Step 1: Understand the Specific Needs of Your Website
To choose the best hosting provider for your Avada website, you need first to understand your website’s specific needs. Every website is different. What works for one business may not be the best option for you. There are a handful of essential factors beyond the budget to consider when assessing your needs. These include performance, security, storage, and support.
Different sites, regardless of whether it uses WordPress and/or the Avada theme, are best suited for certain hosting tiers. For example, if you’re just starting out with a regular-sized, medium traffic website, you will be okay with a standard shared hosting plan. If you have a high traffic enterprise-class website that will require a guaranteed 100% uptime with load balancers, for example, it may be better suited to a dedicated or managed web hosting set up.
It’s also smart to be realistic about your needs as a business and website owner. For example, if you’re not technically savvy, you may want to consider a hosting provider that offers a indepth support, such as WP Engine or Bluehost (Avada customers recieve discounted rates with these hosting providers). If you have a small website and a tight budget but want options to expand your hosting plan as needed, you might consider GoDaddy instead.
Step 2: Compare the Costs and Features Included With Each Plan
Costs vary widely among hosting providers. You can find plans for as little as a few dollars per month to others that go into triple digits.
It is essential to look beyond the initial price tag and consider what features are included in the overall monthly/annual cost. For example, if one provider charges close to $100 a month, it will be due to their hosting plans suite of features for that tier. Plus, the cost of many hosting plans isn’t just for the hosting itself. It also includes the level and amount of support offered, backups and monitoring, uptime guarantee, and so on.
Below is an example of the current WP Engine pricing for website hosting, and Avada customers receive a discounted rate as shown:
There are some best practices you can use when comparing hosting plans. For example, you’ll want to look for server response times that are around or under 300 milliseconds (ms), as well as uptimes of at least 99 percent.
It’s also helpful to consider what daily activities are included if any. Will the provider back up your site daily? Security scans are another feature that, the more frequently they’re conducted, the better. Finally, consider whether reporting and analytics are included in the hosting package
Step 3: Read Reviews From Real Users
Each company you come across will likely sing praises about its own plans. While many companies claim to the best, it’s more useful to hear about the experience other real users have had.
This is why you should take the time to read hosting reviews online for each option you’re seriously considering. Checking out what others have to say about the hosting provider can give you more insight as to what you can expect:
With that knowledge, along with clarity about your own needs and the choices that are out there, you’ll be well placed to make an informed decision.
Conclusion
Choosing the right hosting provider can make all the difference to your Avada website’s performance and success. However, there are many factors to consider that can make narrowing down the choices complicated.
As we’ve discussed, there are three steps you can take to choose a hosting provider for your Avada website:
Do you have any questions about choosing a hosting provider for your WordPress site? Let us know in the comments section below!
