7 Tips for Hosting Your Web Application

There is no shortage of websites on the internet. However, a lot goes into these websites existence. The work that most people think of when it comes to websites is creating them and creating content for them.

Another aspect, though, is managing the space that websites exist in. If you want to run a web application, you need to find a space to run this application on. This is where web hosting comes into play. To choose the best place to host your web application, though, you need to know a few things. In this article, we will take a look at 7 tips for hosting your web application.

1. Know What You Need

The first thing you should do is make sure you are aware of what you need. After all, not all types of hosting are one in the same. There are 3 main types of hosting: shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated server hosting.

Shared hosting is when multiple websites share the same server. This is popular with first-time website owners because it is the simplest option you have and for most small to medium websites, it’s a great choice. Once your website gets a little bigger, though, you might notice performance dragging under shared hosting.

For fast-growing websites, VPS hosting is a great option. VPS is an acronym for a virtual private server. This is pretty much the “medium” choice when it comes to the three types of servers. You still share a server with others but not nearly as many and you have more control over your section of the server than you do with shared hosting.

Finally, there is the highest tier of a server, a dedicated server. On this type of server, you use the entire server for your website. This is a great choice for large and high-performing sites. Since you are using the entire server, you can control it greatly, tailoring it to your every need.

2. Reconsider Using a Website Hosting Company

When you are looking into finding a server to host your website, you will most likely come across what is known as website hosting companies as a potential option. These are sites that try to appeal to less technical customers such as new, small businesses. Unfortunately, they often put the concept of advertising and turning a profit over the idea of providing their users with a great place to work on their websites. As a result, many of these websites have subpar performances and poor visualization.

3. Avoid Free Domains

Another trick that a lot of small businesses get drawn in by is the idea of a free domain. This, like many other things like it, is simply one of those ideas that are too good to be true. Avoid Free domain websites usually entail caveats that hurt web application owners. For instance, you might get to use their server for free if you allow the host to maintain ownership over the website.

4. Don’t Host Your Own Website

After hearing nightmare scenarios about hosts and hosting companies, you might get the idea to host your own website. This is a particularly bad idea. For one, you don’t have the same technology that people who host websites as a profession do meaning that your website will run slow and you risk being hacked. In addition, the average person doesn’t have the technical knowledge needed to host their own website.

5. Pay Attention to Space

In most cases, you will have a certain amount of space on a server that you can use. This is measured in bandwidth and disk space. While, of course, you can’t tell the future, you should try to go for a little more space than you think you’ll use. This way you won’t go past your quota and incur any consequences.

6. Do Offsite Backups

It is an unfortunate truth that websites sometimes crash and files are sometimes lost. Almost every host performs regular backups to help with this and you should make sure the host you are using does so to protect your files. To be safe, though, you should perform your own offsite backup in case something happens.

7. Try to Find Something with Low Cost and High Value

All in all, you should try to find a host that offers you the most for the least – just like you would with any other business purchase. As we mentioned earlier with free domain sites, though, be wary of anything that sounds too good to be true.

AKB