What should a small business look for in website hosting?
Look for hosting with the account in your business's name, regular backups you can actually restore, support you can reach when the site is down, secure connections included, pages that load quickly, and renewal terms written in plain words. It should also be easy to leave with a full copy of your site. The brand matters much less than those basics.
What to check
- The account is in your business's name, with a login the owner can reach. Others can be added as users.
- Backups run automatically, are kept for a while, and can be restored without a long wait.
- Support you can reach by a method that suits you, at the hours your site matters, with a clear way to report an outage.
- Secure connections (HTTPS) included and renewed automatically.
- Pages load quickly on a phone, not just on an office computer.
- Renewal terms in plain words: what the price becomes after any introductory period, and how far ahead you are told.
- You can download a full copy of your site and leave without a fee or a delay.
Backups: ask how, not just whether
Most hosts say they keep backups. The useful questions are how often they run, how long they are kept, where they are stored and who can restore one. A backup you have never restored is a hope, not a plan. Asking for a test restore once is often worth the trouble.
Many owners also keep their own recent copy somewhere separate, so a problem with the host does not take the only copy with it.
Security basics
Secure connections should come as standard; the related answer on whether your website needs HTTPS explains why. Beyond that, look for two-step sign-in on the hosting account, a separate login for each person rather than one shared password, and an easy way to remove someone who has left.
Keep the domain and hosting easy to separate
Some owners keep the domain at one company and the hosting at another, so a dispute or outage with one does not take both the address and the site. Either way, make sure moving the site would not mean losing control of the domain or your email.
If your platform and your hosting come as one package, the related answer on choosing a website platform covers what to check there. The yearly checks on renewals and access sit in the related answer on what website maintenance involves.
Related answers
- Does a small business website need HTTPS?
- How do you choose a website platform for a small business?
- What does looking after a small business website involve?
Websites, upgraded or built
Most businesses do not need a new website. They need the one they have to load fast, say clearly what they do and ask the visitor to take one step.