11 Factors for Choosing the Right Web Host in Singapore
Web hosting is a term used to describe a space on which your website is located. All the elements of your website (pages, database, images etc.) must be stored on some web server so that your website is visible and available for the users from around the world at any time of the day.Before you choose from either shared hosting, VPS hosting or dedicated server hosting, learn the important factors that will help you decide on a web host and plan. Make an informed decision for your web hosting plan knowing the important elements. Do the proper web hosting comparisons for a suitable hosting plan. You can do so without having to break your wallet.
To achieve good results with your professional website, choose a high-quality and reliable web hosting. There are many web hosting options in Singapore, but the truth is that not all can provide the same quality. Look for the top hosting companies in Singapore, and check out their reviews. This article can serve as a guide for you to choose the best web hosting service in Singapore. The following is a list of factors that can help you understand your requirements and know the type of web hosting service providers to choose from.
11 Factors for Choosing the Right Web Host in Singapore
- Reliability & Speed
- Disk Space
- Bandwidth and Data Transfer
- Accessibility
- Customer Support
- Security
- Multiple Domains and Subdomains
- Scalability
- Price
- Established Business
1. Reliability & Speed
In Web Hosting terms, Uptime is the percentage of time that a server has stayed up and running. For most web hosts, they guarantee a 99.9% uptime for their services. With a 99.9% guarantee, it equates to an average of 40 minutes downtime per month. Grading a web host solely on uptime is not effective; with more customers expecting an almost perfect uptime from web hosts.
If your website is often down, you will not only lose visitors, but also reduce the confidence that your customers have in you.
According to many surveys, visitors can wait only for few seconds before the website loads. If you can, check out the existing clients of the company, and see how fast their sites load. This is a simple way to to gauge the performance of a web hosting company in Singapore. In addition, you should also look for a hosting provides daily backups, a minimum requirement to protect your important data.
2. Disk Space
To store your website content, you require disk space from your hosting plans. Some of you may ask:"How much disk space do I need?". If most of the content you are posting come in the form of text, then you probably don’t need more than 1 GB space.
There are many providers that guarantee unlimited disk space, but do you actually need that? This is a way to distract clients that don’t know what exactly they need. It is crucial to know approximately the amount of space required, so that you will not pay more than required. If you exceed the disk space limits, you will not be able to add more content unless if you remove some existing content. Look for web hosts that provide different plans with scaling disk space. It would also be useful if the hosting provider allows easy upgrade from one plan to another.
3. Bandwidth
Bandwidth is the quantity of bytes that are transferred from the website to visitors when they open pages from your website.
Just like disk space, this is also an important factor in this process. But, one should not base their decision solely on features like unlimited or unmetered bandwidth.
To avoid any confusion, know the difference between unmetered and unlimited bandwidth. Unmetered bandwidth refers to a situation where data transfer is simply not measured. Some web hosts provide unmetered bandwidth, with allowances determined by the available shared server resources.
Unlimited bandwidth, on the other hand, provides users with bandwidth that is not capped. However, many experts believe that unlimited bandwidth is not possible. Eventually, users will be notified that they are close to the limits. In other words, this may be a marketing gimmick by web hosts boasting "unlimited bandwidth" for their hosting plans.
Opting for unlimited bandwidth plans means that your website may be bounded by vague limits. It is better to go for web hosts that provide unmetered bandwidth, with no arbitrary limits on the exact amount of resources. This provides you with a reasonable amount of resources that will also not affect the quality of hosting for all users.
4. Email
Having an email that matches your domain adds to professionalism for your business. Choose a host that provides email for your hosting service. Some web host providers offer unlimited email accounts for their plans. This is suitable for companies with many different departments and employees. But, do take note that amount of disk space or mail sending/receiving limits affects your emails too. You may reach the limits even with unlimited email accounts.
Email features are important in swinging your decisions towards the right host and plan. Understand what email sending/receiving capabilities you are getting out of the plan.
Established email hosting providers like Vodien support POP3/IMAP/SMTP, standard protocols of receiving and sending emails.
5. Accessibility
Does the web host provide you with full control and functionality over your website? Is it easy for you to make changes to your website? Look out for those that provide you with a web control panel, allowing you to make necessary changes to your domains or websites.
This allows you to manage your website, not having to call them for basic things like changing passwords or email address management. Without it, it could affect your user experience, having to call your web host for any simple task.
The most common web control panel is cPanel, enabling you to manage website databases, files, email accounts, FTP file transfers, SSL certifications and more from a web browser.
6. Customer Support
Customer support means a lot when it comes to services such as web hosting. What web masters need is a 24/7 customer support. Technical problems can occur at any time of the day. Furthermore, the support staff must be able to provide solutions.
Taking a close look at Singapore web hosts, you will notice that most of them guarantee 24/7/365 support. But, what are the types of support you are getting? The best web hosting providers offer help via telephone, email and live chat. In addition, some of them provide support via remote desktop, solving your issue while educating you at the same time.
Time is crucial when you find yourself facing a problem. That’s why it is important to look for a company that promises certain resolution time. For instance, Vodien offers 24/7 SuperSupport which guarantees a solution for most problems in less than 6 hours.
Some providers offer different levels of support according to the tier of the plan. The truth is that regardless, all clients need equal attention and support. It is good to know that your web host provides you with unconditional support regardless of your service plan. Lastly, it helps to know where the support team is based. Language barriers can sometimes cause more confusion and problems.
7. Security
Unfortunately, the number of people who are trying to hack websites is growing. Cyber security is a rising threat for anyone connected to the internet. It is not unusual to read about cases in which websites are targets of spam or virus attacks. A good web host should have efficient anti spam and anti virus protection and on top of that the servers must be physically secured. After all, your most valuable data is stored on these servers.
Physical security is another issue that bugs companies in the Informational Technology (IT) field. Think about it – natural disasters or a lapse in security may occur in the locations of the data centres.
It is imperative that you look for a web host with secure data centres with 24/7 security teams and contingency plans. The best web hosting providers also do provide options for anti-virus and anti-spam solutions to safeguard your website and personal details. For E-Commerce users, you may want to get SSL certificates. SSL certificates provide a sense of trustworthiness and protect your customers' personal information.
8. Multiple Domains and Subdomains
Domains are the web addresses to your website. The most common top-level-domain (TLD) is .com, while other local businesses may want TLD such as .com.sg or .sg. Some web hosting companies offer more TLDs than others, look for those are accredited by either ICANN or ICANN, organisations that look over domain registrations.
If you have great plans for the future and you are planning to grow and expand fast, your web host must have an option for multiple domains and subdomains.
Having which allows you to handle more than one domain within a single account. This is good for businesses with more than one domain, or for users that have multiple business websites.
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9. Scalability
Another thing that is important is to find a service provider that will leave room for growth. We all start our websites with one simple goal – to expand as much as possible. Choose a web hosting solution that allows you to upgrade your plan as soon as you need more resources. So, scalability or upgradeability is a definitive factor when choosing reliable web hosting.
10. Price
While it is true that price should not be the main factor, one should always compare the prices and offerings between providers. This is a simple task; know what exactly you are getting. It is not always optimal to choose the most expensive web hosting plan, if you are getting features that you do not need. Good web hosting providers offer affordable pricing while providing a reliable and speedy hosting experience.
11. Established Business
Finally, look for an established web hosting service provider in your country. To determine their professionalism and dedication, spend some time reading reviews, customer testimonials, forum discussions etc. All these represent honest opinions from actual users. But, you must be sure that the comments and reviews are genuine and not paid by the company itself. Take the reviews and testimonials with a pinch of salt, not all positive or negative reviews truly reflect the company.
Conclusion
Finding the right web hosting in Singapore is not an easy task. These 11 tips for choosing the right web host in Singapore should be sufficient to get you started. It all depends on the type of website you are trying to publish, along with your needs and goals. If you are a beginner in this field, start off by looking at reviews and testimonials of web hosts. If not, give them a call and see what solutions they can provide!
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