Article:
Three Questions You Should Ask Your Hosting Provider

Some people choose their website hosting provider in the same way as others decide their secret Santa partner, by pulling a name out of a hat. Or that’s how it appears at times, as often the first name that comes to mind or is stumbled upon becomes the provider of choice.

Time is not something we have a great deal of these days, and that is often why we make such important decisions so quickly and without much research, but this is one of those cases where asking a few questions can only help in terms of making sure your website will be hosted by reliable professionals.

With that in mind, here are three questions you should ask your hosting provider before settling on them.

What kind of server reliability and uptime scores do you offer?

The whole point of having a web host is to ensure that your website can be visited and viewed at any time, without downtime that leaves people unable to see your website. A web host needs to be able to assure you that they are operating on a powerful server and stable network connections with a recommended uptime score of 99.5% and above. If the web host tells you that uptime is typically below 99%, that is an unacceptable number and you need to find better.

What is your security policy?

Security is becoming increasingly important in terms of websites in the modern world, and you need to ask what security measures are taken by the hosting provider to secure your data. Ask how often they conduct malware or virus scans and what they do in the case of a cyber security threat being identified? The hosting provider you choose should have proper security processes in place, such as SSL certificates, to protect your sensitive data and put your mind at ease.

How responsive is your customer service and tech support?

This one is the major issue that occurs with many web hosts. When things are going wrong and you need to contact them to find out what is happening and rectify an issue, many companies are nowhere to be found. To find out about their customer service and tech support services, contact other customers and ask them questions, or look for online reviews from trusted sources. Also ask the web host for their average response and resolution time to get a clearer picture of what to expect in such a situation.