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Experiencing immense growth within the process of hosting a site is not uncommon in the world of affiliate marketing. VPS, Virtual Private Servers, cater for this by ensuring you are allocated a fixed amount of resources, rather than taking up too many. Resource hogging and the risk of an unstable environment is completely erased, making it a solid economical hosting solution. VPS provide flexibility in that you can also make custom tweaks to a site that requires admin rights, making them fit the needs of any type of website.
An ever expanding industry of hosting businesses mean it can be challenging to seek out the reputable ones, here are a number of factors that should influence your choice:
1. Do they provide Server Uptime guarantee?
This is one of the most significant inhibitors to take into consideration when choosing a metered or unmetered VPS hosting plan. It is important to ensure there will me maximum uptime and either none, or minimal downtime. Whilst this is often difficult to measure, the majority of companies offer uptime guarantee, so do not settle for anything short of 99.95%.
2. The Price
Out of the three main types of VPS web hosting (unmanaged, managed and unmetered) metered and unmetered tend to be more affordable. With many dedicated servers costing several hundred dollars a month, a VPS is the more affordable option in relation to this. There should also be little signs of setup fees, if there is, it is advised to contact the hosting company to enquire about it being waived.
Assurances that you will get your money back is also handy if unsatisfied with the service, so always look out for money back guarantee.
3. Do they offer easy management tools?
Not all VPS providers offer management tools that are efficient and basic to apply, meaning it is essential to examine companies you come across in depth. First steps usually involve finding out whether there are any server administrative skills required to maintain the account.
Industry-leading programs like cPanel and Plesk are worthy to explore as they are equipped with reliable management tools. This makes the whole process considerably easier by providing more assistance in the learning process, therefore enabling you to free up time and resources to focus on the core of your business.
Whilst Plesk is definitely valuable, cPanel is the most popular control panel as it offers more features. However, make sure to choose to personal preference as the control panel will require assessing on a regularly basis in the role of the key administrator.
4. Make security the priority:
A secured VPS host is the biggest concern of service providers to ensure that formal security checks are in place to make certain of secure transactions. Even if they go untouched, Secured Socket Layer (SSL) certificates are a must in the case of a provider wanting to prove their experience and capability in the security area. Bonus to this, they also enable secure online business management websites and credit card payments.
In addition, it is beneficial to check if the hosting provider offers 24 by 7 server monitoring for your VPS account to act as solid protection if attacks such as DDOS happen to occur. If sufficient monitoring is in place, such attacks can quickly be intercepted to prevent downtime.
5. What sort of support does it offer?
The level and quality of support should also be a main determinant in choosing your VPS host. Those offering 24/7 support across multiple channels should be your first choice.
It is important to have the ability to contact someone immediately who can get your site up and working again at any hour, in the occasion of any mishap. Reputation of customer support with a host should reveal the quality they offer and often gives a clearer picture to what they may appear to be offering. Finding solid answers to questions such as ‘are they staffed 24/7?’ and ‘do they outsource support?’ should lead you onto the correct path in choosing the most suitable. Support is usually available in a variety of methods such as email, phonecall, and live chat.
There is also no harm in testing a hosts quality of support BEFORE joining, such as calling in. For example, if a host with a toll free number does not answer after 1-3 times, the evidence is there to suggest they would not be a reliable option.
6. Know exactly what you are looking for
It is important to be able to address the exact requirements needed for your VPS hosting plan in order to be able to decide on the most suitable. For instance, concrete knowledge on how much memory you will need, and the level of computation power, allows you to rate the quality of suggested VPS.
Steer clear of companies who do not publish any upgrades clearly in their VPS hosting plans, as unlike shared hosting, it accentuates unique operations meaning there is no need for them to be similar. Before purchasing, always check if the web host allows you to customize your VPS hosting plans.
7. What kind of machines does your hosting company use?
Hardwares can be tricky to revolve a decision around, however, keep in mind that the more RAM you have, the better. Do not buy anything offering less than 512mb as that may considerably impair performance. More workspace for a computer inevitably leads to faster loading speed, therefore meaning your site is likely to run more efficiently.
8. Decide if you need an Unmanaged or Managed VPS server:
Unmanaged servers, such as Ubuntu and CentOS, provide plans where the setup of the system is your own. Little support is given other than resolving some smaller issues that depend on their default server setup. With a managed server, you have the option of asking the hosting company to set up the application, as well as requesting them to complete maintenance.
Whilst Unmanaged hosting tends to be more affordable than Managed, decisions should mostly be made around your own personal background in computers, as well as the budget.
It is important to be aware of what type of control you have when dealing with the server hardware if Unmanaged hosting seems to be favored. This is because ideally, you need to be able to perform a reboot independently, rather than when the owner chooses to make time for it.
9. Is the service reliable?
Although it may seem obvious, the reliability of the overall service must be guaranteed. This is especially important in the running of an e-commerce website which needs 24/7 attention to hand. Always keep in mind the amount of potential profit that could be lost for instance, the technical support department lacks consistency.
As previously stated, be confident in checking online reviews and requesting references BEFORE agreeing to any business hosting package.