Setting up a WordPress website is a great way to grow your business and expand its reach to every corner of the internet. But first you have to have the right WordPress hosting provider. These web hosts specialize in taking care of WordPress websites, and it’s important to find the provider who meets your needs.
There are a few key questions you should ask any potential WordPress hosting provider before you sign a contract with them. From their bandwidth options to their pricing plans, you’ll need to make sure they provide the care you need. Read on to discover the questions you should ask before selecting a WordPress hosting provider.
What Are Your Needs?
The first question you need to ask when you’re picking a WordPress host is what your needs are. Depending on how big or small your business is, you may need a different amount of bandwidth. You want to make sure you have plenty of bandwidth to run your site without overpaying for more than you need.
You should also take into account the ways you predict your company’s needs will change in the coming years. If you expect your business to blow up in the next six months, you may want to go with a larger bandwidth from the jump. If you expect things to grow steadily in the next year or so, make sure you go with a company that can scale with you.
Do You Meet Hosting Requirements?
It may sound obvious, but you need to make sure your WordPress hosting site meets the proper hosting requirements. WordPress has a specific set of standards that hosts need to be able to support.
Your host needs to be able to handle PHP version 7.3 or later. They also have to support MySQL version 5.6 or higher or MariaDB version 10.1 or higher, as well as HTTPS support. Ask your host before you sign a contract with them if they can handle these requirements.
How Much Support Do You Offer?
You need to start by determining how much support your company will require. If you’re pretty tech-savvy, you may be okay with a more minimal support plan. But if you aren’t comfortable with computers, you need to make sure your WordPress hosts will provide the level of support you need.
Once you’ve figured out what you expect in terms of customer and technical support, talk to your hosting company about what they can offer you. Pay special attention to how long their customer support takes to respond to problems. You don’t want your site down all weekend while you wait to hear back from technical support about an issue.
What Is the Website Load Time?
People’s patience for website loading time is shockingly short. Some new estimates show that 53 percent of website users abandon a page if it takes more than three seconds to load. That means if your page isn’t moving at light speed, you’re losing customers.
Your website load time will vary a bit depending on your site design and the amount of bandwidth you choose. But your WordPress host should be able to guide you in optimizing that load time. If they don’t offer any insights about how they plan to keep your load times low, find someone else.
Are You Well-Known?
This may sound like a strange question to ask your WordPress site host. After all, this is a business contract, not a Who’s Who contest in high school. But a company having some brand recognition can indicate that a lot of people think they’re doing something right.
Name recognition also usually comes along with larger companies, and larger companies mean more resources to help you. They may be able to offer quicker customer support, better bandwidth options, and other important amenities. So do a little poking around and see if their name comes up often in the WordPress hosting web chatter.
Is the Website Secure?
Having a secure website can be crucial both to drawing in customers and to operating things from the back end. You want to make sure your site is protected against invasions. This is also important in case servers go down entirely unrelated to hacking activities.
Your WordPress web host should provide both security and backup services as a part of your contract. They should have backup servers storing the latest version of your website so nothing is lost if servers crash. And they should have an action plan in place for in case your site gets hacked.
What Are Your Prices?
Finally we come to the question everyone has and no one wants to discuss: money. You need to figure out on your own how much money you have available to spend on web hosting each year. During this process, be sure to stay realistic about how much bandwidth you need versus how much you’re willing to pay for.
Take a look at the plans your WordPress site host has available in your budget range. Shop around to get a good idea of competitor prices for similar plans. You want the company that offers the most support and functionality for a price you can afford.
Find the Right WordPress Hosting for You
Finding the right WordPress hosting company can make a big difference in your experience running a website. The right company will make things a breeze with a website that loads quickly and plenty of support when things go wrong. And they’ll provide the bandwidth you need at a price you can afford.
If you’d like to find the best WordPress hosting, get in touch with us at WPFarm. We provide WordPress hosting, optimization, and repair to keep your site running smoothly. Check out our pricing today and find a plan that works for your WordPress hosting needs.
