Websites are essential for all business sizes in this time and age. Every business, small or large, needs a website, and it is crucial to use the right website hosting service to ensure optimal performance.
Web hosting providers contribute to website performance, search engine optimization, and intuitive website design, making it crucial to business growth. If you have ever spent time choosing a website hosting platform, you know how tedious it can be.
So, to help you make an informed decision, this guide will look into various website hosting platforms best suited for a business in Nigeria.
Table of Contents
What is Website Hosting?
Website Hosting is a service that enables others to see and use your website online. It involves a website hosting provider allocating space on a web server for a website to store its files and data. It makes the files peculiar to a website available or accessible for viewing online or on the internet (text, images, videos, files, codes, etc.).
Web hosting is simply buying or renting space to house a website on the World Wide Web. Given this, a website host or hosting platform provides this hosting technology required for your website’s effective and secure operations. Every website you have visited is hosted on a server. Although you could own your server, they are expensive, which is why many rent spaces on a server owned by a web hosting company instead.
How to Choose a Website Hosting Platform
Understanding how to or what factors to consider when choosing a suitable website hosting platform is essential. Before you choose a provider, you need to:
- Understand your website needs.
- Research and compare hosting providers.
- Research key features, especially for security and performance.
- Be on the lookout for dedicated support.
- Find a suitable plan for your business needs.
All these will effectively guide you in making the right choice. Also, there are specific features you need to watch out for, and they include:
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Security
Security is one of the most important factors when choosing a host. Your provider should be PCI-compliant, that is, a hosting service designed to help merchants comply with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) established by credit card companies. This is to ensure that your customers’ card information is safe and follows strict security standards to protect them.
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Storage space
This is another crucial factor to consider when choosing. You want to ensure enough room for your site files and elements and extra for some growth. Most websites do not require more than 1GB of storage space, with blog sites often requiring 700-800MB.
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Uptime
Website uptime is the time a website or web service is available to users in a given period, and it is measured in percentages. Your hosting company should have between 99% and 100% uptime guarantee, that is, always available. This is essential for your business needs without worrying about downtime, such as when a website is inaccessible completely or is unable to perform its primary task for its users due to server or network issues.
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Customer support
This is crucial when something is wrong with your website. Make sure your host is always responsive and always solves your problems effectively.
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Transparent pricing
Price is a significant factor when considering what web hosting platform to use for your website. This determines what kind of website you can host with a provider. Many providers offer different packages and prices, but only the most reputable offer competitive pricing that allows businesses to get the best of their features at affordable prices.
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Scalability
This reveals how a web host can handle heavy traffic. You want to ensure your website can grow without any issues from the side of the hosting platform. The website hosting platform can manage your growth closely and effectively as you grow.
Other factors include Corporate Email, Site Speed, SSL Certificate Installation, Content Delivery Network, Free Website Migration, (Free) Domain Registration and Integration, Easy setup process, performance, and more.
To help narrow your selection process, we have generated top choices suitable for all websites and businesses, especially in Nigeria.
Read Also: Where to Find Amazing Website Templates for Your Business Online
Top 6 Web Hosting Platforms For Your Business
Here are our top choices for the best web hosting platforms you can utilize for your website:
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HostGator
Hostgator
HostGator is a web host suitable for small businesses and entrepreneurs with content-heavy sites. With an impressive 4.7 out of 5 rating in 2023 and a 1-click WordPress installation, HostGator hosts over 10 million domains. Every plan has unlimited storage, unmetered bandwidth, domain, site builder, SSL, and email.
Highlights
It is a beginner-friendly, feature-vibrant service with a reliable uptime of 99.9% and 24/7/365 support. It is a smart choice for every business owner who is just starting. They offer shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud, dedicated servers, resellers, and managed WordPress hosting plans.
Pricing
Price starts at $2.75, $4.50 and $6.25 per month for the hatchling plan, baby plan (recommended by HostGator), and business plan, respectively.
Pros
- Highly stable and reliable web hosting
- Affordable pricing starts at $2.75 per month
- Best shared hosting plans on the market
- 24/7 phone and live chat services
- Free Gator website builder
Cons
- Plans are slightly higher than those of other competitors
- Free security tools are limited
- You must update the control panel and site design for an indifferent user experience.
Read Also: 8 Website Design Mistakes That Can Affect Your Conversions and How to Avoid Them
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Bluehost
Bluehost
Bluehost is another popular choice among several website hosting platforms known for its affordability, uptime, and easy-to-use features. Bluehost is one of the best WordPress website hosting platforms with unmetered bandwidth and a free domain for the basic shared hosting plan. It is considered the best drag-and-drop page builder for beginners.
Highlights
It is an excellent option for small businesses with reliable, high-performance hosting and advanced security add-ons.
Pricing
When billed annually, here are Bluehost’s pricing plans:
- Basic: $2.95 per month
- Plus: $5.45 per month
- Choice Plus: $5.45 per month
- Pro: $13.95 per month
Pros
- The introductory plan price is low when paid annually (starts at $2.95/month)
- 10GB – 100GB storage capacity
- 24/7 live chat and phone support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Automated back-ups are not included in basic plans
- Pricing gets higher after renewing plans
- No unlimited storage for any plan
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Hostinger
Hostinger
Hostinger offers affordable web hosting for small to medium-sized businesses, and it is the perfect hosting provider for a beginner website. It has an easy-to-use interface requiring little to no technical know-how, and it is one of the few shared hosting providers offering Litespeed technology, which boosts site speed scores.
Highlights
Its 99.9% uptime guarantee, 30-day money-back guarantee, and 24/7 phone and online customer support services make it an outstanding choice for your business website.
Pricing
Here’s Hostinger’s monthly pricing for a 3-year plan. 12-month and 24-month plans have different monthly pricing.
- Single Web Hosting: Starts from $1.99/monthly
- Premium Web Hosting: Starts from $2.99/monthly
- Business Web Hosting: Starts from $3.99/monthly
Pros
- Depending on your plan, there are daily and weekly backups
- Easy WordPress Integration
- Website Builder Access
- Free SSL Certificate
- Free migration from a former hosting provider
Cons
- No phone support, only live chat and email
- Low storage and bandwidth for starter plans
- Renewal prices are higher
- Only affordable when purchased for 2-3 years
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NameCheap
Namecheap
Namecheap is another web hosting service platform, an affordable and reliable domain name registrar, and also one of the largest in the market. It is a cheap hosting provider with three plans, all of which come with unmetered bandwidth (for the popular plan), free domain registration, privacy protection, free website builder, and a free SSL Certificate.
Pricing
Prices start at $1.98/month with the Stellar plan
Pros
- Website hosts on SSD servers
- CPanel is available with all hosting plans
- You can host up to 3 websites on the starter Stellar plan
- There are limited downtimes
- Unmetered Bandwidth
Cons
- Unreliable performance
- Poor response time results
- Poor security transparency
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GoDaddy
GoDaddy
Here is another solid web hosting choice for beginners and pros because of its ability to scale. GoDaddy is the biggest domain registrar in the world. Due to its wide range of hosting plans and types, such as shared hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, dedicated servers, and more, you can always upgrade if you need more resources and better performance.
Highlights
GoDaddy is a reliable and affordable web hosting service with a 99.98% uptime guarantee, a no-hassle money-back guarantee, and lots of free extras with all hosting plans.
Pricing
- Economy Plan: From $2.99 per month with 25GB storage
- Deluxe Plan: From $9.99 per month with 50GB storage
- Ultimate Plan: From $14.99 per month with unlimited storage
- Maximum Plan: From $21.99 per month with unlimited storage
Pros
- Modern and easy-to-use interface
- Easy and fast setup time
- Generous server resources
- Free domain is included
- Free SSL
- Fast and reliable server performance
- 24/7 support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Slower customer support
- Security tools cost extra
- The cheapest plan gets a free SSL for 1-year only
- Easiest to use but quite expensive
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Dream Host
Dream Host
Dream Host is one of the widespread providers in the web hosting industry. With a primary focus on shared hosting and WordPress, the platform also offers VPS or private server solutions for gigantic projects, cloud hosting, reseller programs, and e-commerce solutions.
Highlights
Dream Host is a reliable web hosting service with a 99.99% uptime, a one-click installer, a custom control panel, a free domain, and several options to serve any website and user.
Pricing
Here’s Dream Host’s monthly pricing for a 3-year plan, although a month and 12 months have different monthly pricing
- Shared starter plan starts at $2.59 per month
- Shared Unlimited plan starts at $3.95 per month
Pros
- Affordable and feature-rich plans
- Good performance testing results
- Easy website setup process
- Free domain, SSL, domain privacy, and daily backups
- 24/7/365 support service
Cons
- Malware removal tool is paid
- Live chat is not 24/7
Conclusion
As quick as it can be to choose a website hosting platform for your website, it is undeniably better to take your time. To be saved from making the wrong choices, you have to make a better and well-informed decision. With the above-compiled list, you can find a provider that suits your business or brand needs in the long haul and provides all that is essential for the ease of your online presence and the growth of your business.
With all these wonderful options, Which one do you think will suit your business and why? Please share with us on our Whatsapp page with other like-minded readers.
About Author
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Oluwapelumi is a young, vibrant, and experienced creative content writer, product designer, freelancer and diplomat.
She’s passionate about words, and their usage to make utmost meaning to every audience. She’s an author of several blog posts and articles in the Personal Development, Business, Health, and Travel fields on Medium and a devoted lover of God.
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