Tips for Choosing the Fastest Web Hosting Service Providers
The Internet has become an integral part of modern life. It has made it easy for people to communicate with others, buy goods and services, study, book flights and hotels, watch movies and TV series, as well as catch up on the latest news. Businesses that have a web presence rely on firms that provide high-speed website hosting services to serve content to site visitors. Here are some tips for choosing the fastest web hosting service:
Web Speed Tests
One of the most effective ways of finding the fastest web hosting service providers is by carrying out web speed tests to determine the load speeds of a webpage. In addition, these tests would highlight the areas that may require fine-tuning in order to boost the load speeds. At this point, it is worth noting that most people use web-based tools to carry out these tests. Such tools are generally easy to use because they do not require users to download and configure complicated software to carry out a simple page speed test.
Some of the features that could have a negative impact on a page load speeds include lots of ads, bulky code, un-optimized images, incompatible plugins and apps, externally embedded media, and type of theme used. Some examples of web-based tools that you can use to carry out web speed tests include GTMetrix, P3, Webpage Analyzer, Page Speed Tool, Yslow, Pagespeed Insights, Google Analytics Plugin by Yoast, Load Impact, and WebPage Test.
40 Fastest Web Hosts Ranked by Speed in the United States and around the world. >>
Server Location
The location of your web host’s servers could have either a negative or a positive impact on webpage load speeds. In general, site visitors who are near a web host’s servers experience faster page load speeds and vice versa. For this reason, it is advisable to determine where the majority of your site’s traffic originates from and then look for a host with servers in that area or region. Alternatively, you can use a hosting company with servers spread across multiple locations. It is worth noting that there are tools that you can use to determine the location of a web host’s servers. Good examples of such tools include check-host.net and websitepulse.com.
Bandwidth
Another factor that determines web page load speeds is a host’s bandwidth or content transfer rate. More specifically, if your site receives millions of visitors every day, then it would be wise to go for a host who offers unlimited bandwidth. In other word, you should avoid bandwidth caps because such caps may make it impossible for Internet users to access your site, particularly after you hit your bandwidth limits. In addition, search engine crawlers will face difficulties indexing your site’s pages resulting in lower search engine rankings. As a tip, you can check bandwidth rates using your host’s control panel or cPanel. If you do not have cPanel access, you can use a web log analyzer.
Infrastructure and Technical Expertise
To avoid technical hitches and ensure efficiency, go for a Web host who leverages the latest hosting technology and employs well-trained and technically competent staff. Some of the main things that you should consider here include data backups in multiple locations, firewalls, scalability, and reputation. If your host suffers constant downtimes, visitors to your site will definitely dwindle over time. Since there is no single standard you can use to rank web hosts, you have to carry out due diligence on your own. The best way to do this is by visiting forums frequented by developers, web designers, and programmers. You could also ask fellow entrepreneurs and friends to recommend the fastest web hosting services they may have used in the past.
Type of Hosting
There are basically three types of hosting packages available on the market today: shared, dedicated, or fully managed hosting. However, shared hosting tends to have significant problems, especially with regard to load speeds and security threats such as malware. Still, if your site only receives low to moderate traffic every day, then shared hosting would probably work for you. If this is not the case, you should consider dedicated or managed hosting to not only ensure site visitors do not experience connection problems but also enhance your cyber security.
In summary, when it comes to choosing the fastest web hosting service provider, it is advisable to carry out web speed tests, determine location of servers, scrutinize bandwidth limits, consider type of hosting, as well as hosting infrastructure, difficulty in locating a reliable low-cost host, and technical expertise. You can use tools like Pingdom, GTMetrix, and Google Pagespeed Insights to identify performance bottlenecks making your site buggy and slow.