... Skip to main content
Blog

How To Make an Informed Decision About Web Hosting Services

By April 29, 2021September 11th, 2023No Comments

Your business’ online credibility relies heavily on the functionality, reliability, and security of your website. There are numerous Canadian web hosting companies for choosing the best web hosting services for this critical business asset.

To make an informed decision when choosing between web hosting services, you’ll need to fully understand your web hosting requirements, both current and future. You’ll also need to develop a good sense of your bandwidth and server requirements and what type of security level your site will require. Depending on your needs, you may also consider finding a company that offers email hosting in Canada.

Bandwidth and Server Requirements

Your website’s bandwidth will determine how much traffic can visit your website simultaneously. If you don’t have the bandwidth that your site functions require, you’ll have slow loading times, prospects getting bumped, and if there’s a spike in traffic, your site could crash, leading to lost sales.

To determine your site’s bandwidth needs, ask yourself what you need your site to do to represent your business and attract and keep viewers effectively. Will your website be hosting rich content like audio, videos, or images? Will it host an e-commerce site or blog? If so , you’ll need a fair bit of bandwidth from your web hosting services. Bandwidth requires the right amount of processing power, disk space, and memory to accommodate these features .

Security Levels – How They Relate to Site Use

To make an informed decision when choosing your web hosting services amongst Canadian web hosting companies, you’ll need a clear idea of your website’s security level needs. Similar to your bandwidth, the level of security needed will depend on your industry and the nature of your website. If customers share personal data on your website, it will need a high level of security. If your website is mainly to host a blog or other informational content, it may not require any extra security measures at all.

You’ll need to ask the following security-related questions before you can make an informed decision:

  • How will they protect confidential data and your server as a whole?
  • What security measures are in place to prevent malware, bots, spam, and other types of hacking?
  • What steps will they take to mitigate security vulnerabilities?
  • What are their security protocols if a breach occurs?

Do Research and Make an Informed Decision

Thorough research will inform you what your website needs to function optimally and reliably. Look at the profiles of several web hosting services — and email hosting in Canada if applicable — to compare the various packages and prices. It can also be a good idea to gather knowledge about Canadian web hosting companies’ technicians and read online reviews of other people’s experiences with their customer service and technical support.

When you’re looking for web hosting services, Pathway Communications offers expert customizable web and email hosting in Canada.