When you first think about getting your own website, whether it is for your business or even for a hobby, there are lots of complicated things to be wary of.

Selecting a web host can be one of the bigger problems and if you pick the wrong one, you may well live to regret your decision later on. That is why it is so important to do due diligence when you are analysing which host to select.

We have collated a list of some of the most common mistakes that people live to regret when they choose a web host:

1. ‘Free’ doesn’t always mean free!

You’d think that anything that claims to be free will cost absolutely nothing. However, in the world of web hosting things can change quickly and whilst free hosting is widely available, if you want to have seemingly simple things like your own domain name then you might have to put your hand in your pocket. Additionally, if you want to use different themes, plugins or use more space as your online business requirements expand, guess what? It’s likely that you will need to pay for it. So you’ve ended up with a site that isn’t free at all.

2. Web hosts that are frequently down

You don’t want to find that after spending weeks preparing and uploading the content of your new website, due to maintenance or server issues your website can’t be access online. Whilst most web hosts ensure this is kept to a minimum, you can check whether they have an Uptime guarantee or whether they have a reputation for bad Uptime scores. To put into context, here is a definition of Uptime.

3. Web Hosts that don’t fully support your website

Some hosts are fully compatible with most website platforms but others struggle and you won’t get a great performance out of your website due to this. Check which platforms your web host is compatible with before you make the choice. If you have a platform like WordPress, most hosts will support it as it is so commonly used.

4. There is too much traffic on the server slowing your website down

If you opt for shared server hosting then the chances of your website running slowly increases greatly (find out more about servers). If its really important to you that your website runs quickly and you have a large amount of traffic then you should be looking at dedicated hosting for good page speed performance.

5. The Customer Support is Poor

It is really important, particularly if you have a problem with your website that support is available when you need it. Most hosts offer 24/7 Support through a number of different channels, so make sure your host will be there when you need them to be.

These are some of the biggest mistakes that we’ve seen people make and sometimes it can be a difficult process to rectify the issues, even starting a website over again from scratch!

You can avoid all of these issues and more by taking time and researching the web host solutions that are available or take the problem away completely by letting a web host expert take care of it all for you.