Making common mistakes when buying hosting is very common among many beginners. In this case, I am very lucky because when I purchased my first web hosting in 2019, luckily I got one of the best and most secure hostings.
And as of today, I am running the same hosting service because I am completely satisfied with it. When I purchased my first hosting, I did so much search and research. I checked customer reviews and compared many features and functions as well.
From day one I started a self-hosted website and buying a hosting plan was really a challenge for me. But somehow I got the right one.
Many people do many common mistakes when buying hosting services. I am writing this article to just list some of those common mistakes. So that when you buy a hosting service, you can avoid it and get the most suitable hosting.
Before I start a details discussion, here is a list of some popular hosting companies:
Now let’s start discussing the common mistakes when buying hosting for you.
1- Considering Pricing Over Features and Functions
Price is an important factor for everyone but you should never sacrifice features and function while buying hosting for yourself. Many beginners do this mistake and later they realize that they should consider the features.
I can understand that you may have a limited budget but at the same time, you also need to understand that the features, functions, and security of your hosting are more important.
You should always consider the quality over the price. You should check all the features of your hosting like:
- Number of websites you can host
- Security
- Bandwidth
- Storage Space
- SSL Certificate
- Professional Email
- PHP Version
2- Avoiding Security
Never ever avoid the security of your hosting. if you do this mistake means you are doing a big mistake. You must be sure that you are hosting your site on a secure server.
Whenever you buy hosting for your site, do competitive research and find out the best and most secure within your budget.
3- Temptation for Free Hosting
A “Free” word is always attractive to most of us. But every time it is not good. Especially, when you are buying a hosting service you must be careful.
There might be something where you may need to compromise. For example, when you have free hosting, you will see random popups or banner ads on your site.
And in the case of free hosting, you might not have the following:
- Good features and functions
- Secure server
- Good customer support
- Good uptime
- Regular Updates
- Good speed
- Seo Friendly
Free hosting is not actually free. I would always suggest that you opt a good hosting for your site. There are many good hosting plans that you can have within your budget.
4- No Research about Hosting Company
If you are not doing research about your hosting service before buying it, it might be your biggest mistake.
There are many hosting providers and choosing the right one for you from them is not so easy. When you will open the site of these companies, you will notice that most of them have good-looking sites and a list of so many features.
I would recommend when you buy a hosting service for your site, you should do proper research and comparative study about it.
See, you are not going to buy it every day as you buy the daily use item. So you need to give your proper attention and time so that you can make a good decision about it.
5- Not Checking Money Refund Guarantee
When I purchase my hosting, there was a money refund guarantee. But luckily I got one of the best hostings so I didn’t need to use this feature.
But I would recommend, that you should check that you have a money refund guarantee.
In this policy, you have a particular time limit like 30 days or 1 month. And if you are not satisfied with your hosting you have an opportunity to cancel hosting and get a refund.
At the time of buying a hosting plan, you should check about the money refund guarantee and read the terms of it also. It might possible that you don’t get satisfactory service from your providers, in that case, you should have the opportunity to cancel it.
You might face some of the following problems that may annoy you and you need to cancel your hosting:
- Poor uptime
- Poor customer service
- Performance is not up to the satisfactory mark
- Features are not available as per the promise
In case you are not getting satisfactory results, then a money refund guarantee can be very useful for you.
6- Avoiding Self-Need Analysis
Avoiding self-need analysis may cost you high. If you will have a need analysis, you would be able to know your requirement.
After knowing your requirement, you can find the best suitable hosting for you. Otherwise, if you will purchase a hosting randomly, it can be a wrong selection.
Might be you need to purchase a shared WordPress hosting but because of not knowing your requirement you purchase a dedicated cloud hosting. And it might cost you a high amount.
Like this, you can do any mistake. If you don’t want to do this kind of mistake, you must know your need. So that you can make a better decision and select a good hosting.
7- Not Considering Customer Support
Customer support is a very important factor in your hosting but some people miss it. What if you have an issue with your site? How will you manage it?
In that case, you would need customer support and if you don’t have any customer support from your providers, it can be problematic.
When you buy hosting, you assure that you are getting good customer support. So that if you get any problem with your site, you can contact and resolve it on time.
8- Renewal Cost vs Initial Cost
If you are not checking the renewal cost at the time of buying your hosting plan, this can be a big mistake for you and a setback also.
Normally you get an upfront discount at the time of buying a hosting. Most of the companies have a big initial discount.
And some people buy it just after looking at only the discount and very less price. But at the time of renewal, they need to pay the actual renewal price.
You should not do the mistake of ignoring the renewal price. You should check both the prices – the initial price and the renewal price as well. So that you can make a better decision and buy a hosting which is most suitable from a budget point of view.
9- What About Real Customers reviews
Real customer reviews can be very helpful for you. I would recommend that you should not ignore the real customer reviews.
If a hosting has so many negative customer reviews and complaints, I think you should avoid that hosting.
If you will have a look at customers’ reviews, you may have so many ideas about that particular hosting provider.
Conclusion
If you are starting a website or blog, you should assure that you are considering all the important and non-important factors. And you are taking a good decision in terms of buying a good hosting service.
Last but not least, I would recommend that you should also go through the terms and conditions of your hosting before you hit the buy button.
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