Six Things You Should Know About Hosting Services
How much do you know about hosting services? What makes them different? Which one should you choose? Why are they important to your business? Let’s look at six things you probably don’t know about hosting services but should…
1) The Type of Hosting you choose makes a difference
There are many hosting providers offering low-cost website hosting making it seem all providers are the same. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find out what you really get until you have already signed up and by then it is too late. In addition to knowing where your content is stored (dedicated server or shared host), it’s important to choose a web host that specializes in hosting sites like yours. Just like choosing between a small, medium, and large car, certain types of web hosts are better suited for certain kinds of websites.
For example, if you have a smaller website that will be getting very little traffic (under 50k visitors per month), it’s most likely best to find a good, shared hosting plan with unlimited storage so that it doesn’t cost too much in added fees. However, if your site will see hundreds of thousands of visitors per month, an unlimited-storage dedicated server might be more your speed—and may make sense finGet in touch with ProFusion Web Solutions today. A team of highly professional and friendly people, we aim to provide you with the best possible solution. We can guide and help you form the best strategy to meet your hosting requirements.ancially depending on how much traffic you expect to get.
However, site size is only one consideration in choosing a hosting provider. Additional services provided as part of the hosting fees that may cost extra or not be available at all also need to be explored. For instance, site backups. Many hosting providers do not provide backup service or if they do, it is at additional cost and may be dependent on frequency and amount of data stored. It takes time and effort to conceive and practice good backup procedures, which is why we offer daily site backups and retail them for a full 30 days at no additional charge for the backup or restoring from a backup. This is an essential service that all businesses need, therefore, it should be part of the service.
Other optional items may include additional software to ensure your site is secure, runs optimally, or has the add on function most sites need, but may not come standard with their web application or hosting plan. Therefore, we have carefully selected a premium suite of applications and plugins that most sites require and provide these to our customers at no additional cost.
We have negotiated volume pricing on these products to allow us to offer them as part of our basic hosting plan at no additional fees. These premium products, if licensed separately, would cost more than $500 per year, but our customers pay a small fraction of that for hosting their entire site for a year. For businesses running a WordPress website Bellingham, having a hosting plan that includes plugin and application support is especially valuable.
2) Security Monitoring may not be included
Many web hosts don’t monitor their own servers—instead, they rely on customers or a third-party company to alert them of any problems. The best web hosts are constantly monitoring their networks themselves. You can check and see what your host does contacting them directly. Check their terms of service agreements, if you see something like third party monitoring or no direct monitoring, it’s wise to go with a different host. However, if your chosen provider has methods in place for self-monitoring like user logging and regular server checks, you can feel confident that they’re really watching what goes on with your website(s).
But monitoring for server issues is only part of the service required. A server can be working fine, but if application, plugin, and other software are not patched when updates are available, may mean the site itself is not working even though the server is fine. A good hosting provider should offer application updates and issue resolution as part of their hosting packages to ensure problems are kept to a minimum and hackers are kept at bay. If your hosting provider is constantly referring you back to your developer to resolve issues, perhaps it is time to find a new hosting provider. This is especially important when you run email marketing service or other tools that integrate with your website.
3) Shared Hosting isn’t Always Bad
If you've been looking for web hosting in Bellingham, Ferndale, or nearby, then chances are you've come across a few shared host providers. With companies like GoDaddy and Bluehost offering shared plans for as little as $3-$4/month (if only – initial rate first year only), it's easy to see why they're so popular: compared to going with a premium hosting provider. Many of these companies load 300, 400, or more sites on their shared servers to keep the costs down. We are not attempting to dissuade people from shared hosting plans. In fact, some shared plans, like ours where we limit the number of sites to 50 or fewer can even compete with VPS and dedicated servers in terms of performance and reliability at huge savings to the client. For many small business websites, a quality shared hosting plan is more than enough. The key is finding a host that doesn't overcrowd their servers.
4) There is No Such Thing as 100% Uptime
There is no such thing as 100% uptime. It doesn’t exist. More than likely, your service will go down at some point – even if it is just for a few minutes. There are too many dependent parts that must work together to provide a working website. Even the biggest of the big, Amazon, Google, Microsoft have issues that cause their sites to go down. Many that are beyond even their controls. This is especially true if your business has a lot of traffic and a lot of moving parts. Uptime guarantees sound great on paper but don’t mean much when something goes wrong, and your business suffers as a result. When you site does go down, it is comforting to know that someone is monitoring it and that they will begin working on the issues the moment that site goes down. Does your website partner provide site monitoring at no extra charge? Our Premium web hosting for Bellingham and Ferndale website customers as well as our customers across the US does.
5) Unlimited Bandwidth is Mostly True
Bandwidth and Data Transfer can be confusing terms and are often used as if they are the same. Data transfer refers to the amount of data that can be transferred from the server to visitor’s computers, while bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred within a specific time frame. If you’re building a site with a lot of user-generated content or a high volume of traffic, you may need to take some steps to ensure your website doesn’t crash under load. Unlimited bandwidth and storage are nice to have features, but they typically aren’t unlimited. Some providers may cut off excessive users if they see them using too much bandwidth or storage space over time, so it might be worth looking into whether your provider has an actual unlimited plan in place before you make up your mind.
But bandwidth and storage alone do not guarantee a fast-loading site. Other issues like whether your servers are optimized for the applications you are using. Or whether your hosting provider is using premium servers, optimized memory, caching, CDNs and state-of-the-art solid-state drives to ensure the data being transferred is being accessed and delivered as quickly as possible to your visitors. You can always find more about our Bellingham Premium web hosting and Premium website hosting in Ferndale. A slow host will hurt your local SEO Bellingham WA efforts because Google prioritizes fast-loading sites.
6) Backups are not all created equal
Some backup systems are incredibly simple, while others are way too complicated for their own good. Simple is better, especially when it comes to backups. The concept is simple. Set up a system to backup your files, and if you ever need them a way to simply restore them. So if the concept is so simple, why do very few businesses actually backup their site files. And even fewer ever test their backups to ensure they can be restored. Your site’s files aren’t that different from files on your local computers.
A good web host will create a system where your files are backed up each day and they are retained for some number of days. We provide daily backup and 30-day retention of those files so we can go back to any day up to 30 days back to restore your site files. To make restoration easier, all you need to do is put in a support request to restore your site and we will handle the restoration and ensure the restored files are working as expected. And all of this is done at no additional charge.
Now that you know what to look for in your next hosting partner, take the time to evaluate the initial cost vs the long-term costs and choose wisely. Your website is a major investment that cannot work for you if you do not give it a chance.
Conclusion
Web hosting isn't just about where your files live. It affects your site speed, security, backups, and even your SEO. Shared hosting can work well if the provider limits overcrowding. Security monitoring should be included, not an add-on. Daily backups with easy restoration are essential. And no host offers 100% uptime — so find one that monitors closely and responds fast when issues happen. Choose wisely. Your business depends on it.
Need reliable hosting with daily backups and real security monitoring? Contact Profusion Web Solutions at (360) 738-8188 or [email protected]. We offer premium hosting with 30-day backup retention and no hidden fees.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is web hosting and why do I need it?
Web hosting stores your website files on a server. When someone types your domain name, the hosting server delivers those files to their browser. You cannot have a live website without hosting.
What is the difference between shared hosting and dedicated hosting?
Shared hosting puts multiple websites on one server. Dedicated hosting gives you an entire server just for your site. A shared account is cheaper. A Dedicated is faster and more secure.
Is shared hosting good for a small business website?
Yes, if the host limits how many sites go on each server. Avoid hosts that pack 300+ sites per server. Look for hosts that cap shared servers at 50 or fewer sites.
Do I really need daily website backups?
Yes. Without daily backups, a hack or server crash could erase your entire site. You would have to rebuild from scratch. Daily backups let you restore to any point in the last 30 days.
What is uptime and what should I expect?
Uptime is the percentage of time your website is online. No host offers 100% uptime. 99.9% is realistic and good. The key is how fast they respond when downtime happens.
Does web hosting affect my SEO?
Yes. Google uses site speed as a ranking factor. Slow hosting means slow pages. Slow pages mean lower rankings. Your hosting choice directly impacts your search visibility.
What is the difference between bandwidth and data transfer?
Bandwidth is data transferred within a specific time frame. Data transfer is the total amount moved from server to visitors. Many hosts use the terms interchangeably, but they are different.
How much should I pay for website hosting?
Basic shared hosting costs $10 to $30 per month. Premium managed hosting costs $50 to $200 per month. Avoid $3-$4 plans. They overcrowd servers and provide terrible support.
What security features should hosting include?
Daily malware scanning, automatic software updates, server-level firewalls, and active monitoring. Never pay extra for basic security. It should be included.
Can I switch hosting providers later?
Yes. A good developer can migrate your site to a new host. The process usually takes a few days. Just make sure you have full backups before switching.