A Guide for Small Businesses
In today's digital world, every business needs an online presence, even if it only has a single employee. An attractive and informative website can draw a slew of potential clients or customers, which is why choosing a web hosting service and setting up your website is so important. Fortunately, the process is relatively simple and reasonably affordable. The first step is to find a web hosting service, which is the company that will store your files on its servers.
However, web hosts are all different, offering varying amounts of monthly data transfers, storage capacity, email, and other features. The type of hosting services offered includes shared hosting plans, virtual private server (VPS) hosting plans, dedicated hosting plans, and managed WordPress hosting plans. It's important to choose a web host with 24/7 customer support so that you have access to help when you need it.
Linux and Windows hosting are offered by some web hosting services. If you have specific applications that require Windows, you need to ensure your web host has Windows hosting. While most web hosts nowadays offer a graphical interface or a control panel to simplify server administrator and website management, it's important to find a web host that meets your specific needs.
When reviewing web hosting services, it's important to note that while the packages are very similar, they are not identical. Some web hosts are more security-minded than most, offering antispam and antimalware tools, while others offer a variety of email marketing tools. While most of the hosts have built-in e-commerce, you may want to consider using a robust e-commerce application like Shopify instead.
Web hosts give you plenty of room to grow even within the tier, while others require you to upgrade to a more expensive plan. It's important to consider how much you expect to grow your website and how soon before committing to anything longer than a one-year plan.
One great web hosting service is Arvixe Web Hosting. They offer a number of consumer- and business-friendly web hosting plans that let you create multiple domains on a single server, quickly set up e-commerce, and enjoy unlimited mailboxes, databases, and monthly data transfers. While Arvixe could use a bit of telephone tech support improvement, it's an accessible and flexible web hosting service that wins PCMag Editors' Choice awards for novice-friendly web hosting.
Arvixe's shared plans give you the option of hosting your website on a Linux- or Windows-based server, providing flexibility for laying your site's foundation. They offer a standard monthly web hosting charge, but you can save if you commit to a multi-month or annual package. Arvixe lets you choose a one-month plan with any package tier, making it an attractive solution if you're looking to pay for web hosting on a month-to-month basis.
Arvixe has a solid 60-day money-back guarantee that bests many web hosts' 30-day money-back guarantees, but it isn't as lengthy as Dreamhost's generous 97-day money-back guarantee. If you're interested in finding a great web hosting service, read in-depth reviews of the biggest and best names in the space.
