A mistake often made by new businesses is to chose a low-cost web host because they are trying to keep their own start-up costs as low as possible. In the long run, doing so can end up costing you more due to the problems such a provider can cause. Read the following tips to find the right web hosting company to fit your needs.

When transferring your site between hosts, have a copy of your website at both your old and new hosts for a few days. It’s important to do this because it takes 6-48 hours for the DNS to propagate. During this time, some visitors will be sent to your old website, while others whose ISPs have updated their DNS info will be sent to your new site.

When choosing your web hosting service, do not rely on someone’s recommendation, or only on the info you’ve read online. Most services have affiliate programs and the people recommending the service may not have any direct experience with it. You should take more than recommendations into consideration when choosing your web host.

If you are considering using a particular web hosting site, read reviews about it. Specifically, check for reviews written by users of the site’s hosting services. Just as you wouldn’t make a major electronics purchase without first checking out product reviews, nor should you bypass looking at reviews for web hosting sites you’re considering using. Doing this now can save you frustration further down the road.

If you want to use a shopping cart software, make sure it is compatible with your web host. A good web host should support certain features such as Web scripting, dynamic content or executable files. These features will allow you to add different ways for your visitors to interact with your website, for instance by leaving feedback.

Once you have selecting your web hosting company, you should opt to make payments on a monthly basis, as opposed to committing to a longer period of time. It’s difficult to know if your web host will be a good one, and your business may change over the course of the next 6-12 months. If your host goes out of business or if your company outgrows them, you could lose any hosting payments you’ve made.

If you will be using more than one domain name or run more than one website, it’s important to select a web host that allows add-on domains. You can find hosts that allow you to have up to 20 different websites on one account for free which should allow you plenty of options.

As you’ve seen, you shouldn’t be cheap when it comes to web hosting. Staying online is very important for a small business owner since you need to be able to receive sales to pay the bills. Using the tips you’ve read here will help you to avoid mistakes that others make when it comes to web hosting, allowing you to stay with the host you choose for the life of your site.