What would happen if you had your websites go down for five or 10 minutes? No big deal, if it happens one time. If you buy hosting for your sites from an unreliable provider, however, site outages could become an ongoing problem. This means lost revenue and readers for you, and a time to look for a new web hosting service. Start by reading the following tips that can help smooth the process for you.

If you have been used to the same web host for several months, look at the availability of your website. An availability of 99% or more means your website is accessible all the time. If you notice a lower availability rate, look for a web host that does not encounter as many outages.

To get started with your very first website, consider a free web hosting company. After all, your initial site is the one that will teach you lessons – not make you a ton of profits. You may end up with a lot of downtime, and you’ll have ads that aren’t yours, but you’ll get an intro to running your own site.

When choosing a web hosting company, you want to go with security over cheaper prices. It is important that not only is all of your information secure, but all of your customers’ information, as well. Select a web hosting company that you know you can trust and that provides secure web hosting.

Using a free web host? Prepare yourself for the idea that your entire site may go away completely. After all, small host companies pop up and then disappear with incredible rapidity. If one of them is in charge of your website, and then the company just goes underground, all of your content can go with it — so back everything up!.

Consider how much downtime the web host will have when looking for one. These downtimes vary from 10% to .000001%. This means that there could be hours of downtime per week or as little as seconds. Select a host with the lowest amount of downtime that you can find.

Good customer support is essential to any web host. If something goes wrong or your website is not working, it’s important that you have someone to contact who can help you with the problems immediately and get them taken care of. Inquire about the host’s company support options before shelling out any money.

If you own and operate several websites, it can be to your advantage to choose one web hosting service that allows you to have “add-on domains.” Many hosts will give you the ability to have unlimited domains added to your main account at no additional fees. This can save you a lot of money, as well as time going back and forth between multiple accounts.

That’s really all there is to it. Reliable web hosting is a critical element of your online business plan, so don’t be afraid of switching around if necessary, to find a more reliable web hosting service that provides quality service 24/7. Follow the information in this article and you will surely find a web hosting provider that fits all of your needs.