Identifying Your Hosting Needs
Thembie
Last Update 2 years ago
The web hosting package that is best for your needs is based on the level of resources you’ll need to effectively run your website. Resources include the storage, memory, CPU, and bandwidth used to run your website.
When establishing your website’s hosting needs, there are several factors you’ll want to consider. Below are a few of the most important items you’ll want to evaluate as you begin to do so.
Storage
Storage is often the main difference between hosting plans. Lower cost plans will have less storage whereas higher cost will have more. When determining storage you will need to factor in site size and amount of visitors.
To find out your actual site size there are many websites that will do this for you, as well as test your page load time. If you have a smaller site, run the test for each page to get an accurate result. If you have a larger site, you can run a few pages and use that average for the rest of your pages. Add them up, and you have your site size.
For the visitor amount, you should be able to check your analytics or reports. Use these two numbers to look at plans and see where you would fit. We recommend leaving some room to grow and not choosing a plan that is very close to your numbers.
Amount of Visitors/Traffic
Possibly the most important thing you’ll want to take into account is the amount of traffic you anticipate your website will receive. High traffic without the right resources can lead to extremely slow load times for visitors, and slow load times are proven to deter customers.
Additionally, poor website performance will lead to issues with search engine results.
Determining your bandwidth needs can be done by looking at your website traffic history. If you anticipate a spike in your traffic, then you should select a web hosting plan that can accommodate the increase in your website traffic. Good web hosting providers will work with you to provide the needed resources as long as you plan ahead.
Scalability
By definition, scalability is the capacity to be changed in size or scale. Does your web hosting plan allow for scalability as your business grows? Do you need quick access to more resources if you get bigger, or will your package accommodate for growth? If you plan on growing your company or business, scalability is an extremely important factor to consider as you choose a hosting package.