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A good WordPress host needs a number of things, and five of them are listed on this article. You should know that WordPress sites make up 34% of the websites on the planet. This means that WordPress sites are one of the biggest targets for hackers and other cyber terrorists.
Your host is a key element in your protection from such persons. You are the one that mans the front gate (metaphorically speaking), in that you stop people accessing your files by going through your WordPress site. The host is the one who mans the back door, making sure that people do not gain access and control over the server.
What you need to do is make sure you research your host thoroughly. The tips below are all things that you should look into when you purchase hosting from a host company. This list is in no particular order.
Why not use Free hosting?
A free host is not always a bad thing…but it usually is. There are very few incentives to give you free hosting. The only ones that spring to mind are government initiatives that were copied from the British, in order to get small businesses online. And, sites such as Google, who offer free hosting through Blogger.
Usually if a host offers you free hosting then they are implying that you have no right to complain about their service. This means they may have poor security, sketchy updates, poor bandwidth amounts, and a whole host of other problems. They may even lock you into their hosting so that they can sell you hosting in a year or two when you cannot move your site.
They may also give you free hosting so that they can run their own adverts on your website. So, your best bet is just to avoid them.
Hosting that offers you the ability to scale up
Running straight in and buying a lot of web space, a lot of bandwidth, or choosing VPS is not a very good idea. It is better to start off small and work your way up. However, you should make sure that your host actually allows you to purchase more webspace and/or more bandwidth.
It is also a good idea to check to see if their upgrade cost is reasonable. For example, they may have a bronze, silver, and gold package. If your bronze package was just a token of $5, make sure that the next upgrade is not $200.
Update and maintenance schedule
It is the host’s job to update the host server on a regular basis. You should check to see if they have a maintenance schedule, as this is a nice indication that they actually maintain their server.
Also, a maintenance schedule is a nice act of courtesy to their users. There are hosts that update as-and-when they like, which then causes problems for the user because their website goes offline. Telling you when your website is going to be down is a curtsy that too few hosts give.
Reliable web hosting has 98%+ up-time
If your website is down for more than 2% of the year then the search engines are not going to be impressed and it will become very difficult for your website to rise up through the search engine results pages.
You need to check that your host has an up-time of 98%+, and that their claims of its up-time are not just marketing banter. You need to check for complaints online or historic logs, showing that their server has been offline for more than 2% of the year.
Web Hosting that makes security a priority
As it said in the introduction, the security of your host is very important. You can lock down your files as much as possible, but if they are somehow available online then they are going to be able to be read if they are hacked via the server.
It may take time for the hacked server to break into your files, but there is nothing you can do to stop them. It is up to your host to stop people hacking the server, or adding viruses or malware to the server.
Your host should also pay attention to physical security. Once a server has been hacked then getting into the websites contained in it is just a matter of time. However, if you have a hard line to the server because you physically installed something or removed something or wired into something, then breaking into the server is easy.