Whether you are starting a new website or considering a switch, in this blog you will receive lots of tips on what to look out for. And which choice I made myself recently.

Many people want a website but don’t know where to start. They therefore choose a website with WIX or Squarespace because it is easy.

Mailchimp, for instance, is the most well-known email marketing software that people know and because it is free, often choose it. Totally unaware that there is much better free and user-friendly software out there. The same works the same way with websites. Website-building platforms present themselves as free or cheap, but actually WordPress is much cheaper. There are an awful lot of themes available for free, and if you are serious, you buy one. Often, you’re done for under 80 euros. And then you can customise colours and fonts. That theme is just a one-time purchase. Only the costs for web hosting and your domain name recur annually. I.e. your annual costs are less than 50 euros.

But what do you look for and what is really important when choosing your webhosting partner?

What is webhosting or a provider?

A a web hosting party makes sure that your website stays accessible. All websites run on servers. Disks that hold all the data that the website creator has specified must be displayed or be available underwater for the website to work properly. Web hosting companies also provide secure servers. Often also provide backups of your website, automated or otherwise. Some even keep your WordPress website updated. Even though updating WordPress takes almost no time at all and you can even set WordPress to automatically update the website to the latest update including the plugins, there are some people who still specifically choose WordPress hosting. At least you have a choice 🙂 .

My experience with Flexwebhosting

In 2013 I started my very first website GezondlevenmetPien.nl. A food and health blog that also focused on the vegetable garden and naturism. I made my own low-carb recipes, wrote blogs and shared them online. Also on Pinterest and on Facebook, where I ended up with quite a nice group of people. And I used affiliate marketing for the first time. I helped Body & Fitshop grow big 😉

The funny thing was that by now, thanks to my work, I did manage to update a website in WordPress (or in other software, much alike for me). But how to get a website online, I had no idea. But. I did figure it out, with occasional support.

For instance, Mark Bovenkerk in those days was a direct colleague of mine, who knows a lot about online. Through him, I ended up at Flexwebhosting.nl. Because how nice it is when you know someone who has good experiences with a company. That’s why I am now sharing my own experience 😊. So that you too can make a good choice.

In 2013, Flexwebhosting was still quite small. Prices were good, as was their service. Support via chat so I could get on with it quickly. Ideal! They were growing fast! I did realise that. Since Versio bought them on 1 January 2022, their service has deteriorated rapidly. At the end of the summer in 2023, I received invoices and started scratching behind my ears. These were hefty prices. And I discovered that many prices had gone up by 40% or more 😱 . And then I was really fed up. I needed to to find a new webhosting party.

How do you choose a web hosting party or provider?

As I indicated, the choice of the first provider was ‘word of mouth’ advertising. Someone who does a lot with online indicates that party x is a good choice. For me, especially when I didn’t know anything about it, a decisive factor.

I now have 10 years of experience with websites. Built several websites myself. Both for my work, for hubby and for myself and also for others. So this time, I made my own choice.

7 decisive points for choosing web hosting or provider

1. Accessibility and speed of response of support is at the top of the list
   If you run into something while making your site, updating it or maybe even because there is a hack or virus on your site, you want to be helped quickly. After all, you’ve made time to work on your website and there’s nothing more frustrating than having to send an e-mail and wait for it to be answered. Support via chat or phone is a necessity, I dare say 😀 . Email can be for all non-urgent matters.
2. Reviews – What do others say?
   Reviews say a lot. If people are dissatisfied, they will let you know. By the way, don’t base your choice on Google Maps Reviews… I have found that companies can remove them very easily! So if they don’t like it, they send in a removal request, which is always granted (!!).
   So for the business market, choose Trustpilot and other platforms in particular. Or vloggers or bloggers (like me now)… By the way, having a bad experience cannot be avoided, so if you find 1 or 2 really bad reviews, focus on the opinions of all those others. And make your choice based on that.
3. Price
   Price is very relative and difficult to compare. What is included? E.g. for an SSL certificate which makes your website seen as trustworthy by Google, I ended up paying 72 euros per year at Flexwebhosting and at some other web hosting it is included! So look e.g. at:
   – What does a SSL certificate costs?
   – How many Gigabite may your website contain? So how big can your website be?
   – How many email addresses are included? Or can you have an unlimited amount? A minimum of 5 email addresses is nice. So you can have a different one for the newsletter, your personal, your support, your webshop and your webmanager for instance. You can always forward an email address. That means that all email ends up in the same mailbox. However, you can only send from the email that has been used as a forward address. In my case: hilleen@hildijk.nl… A lot of people don’t know how to write hilleen (and in English probably hildijk too haha), (that is also the reason why I didn’t choose my full name as a domaine name). In that case it’s nice to be able to say that contact@hildijk.nl is my email address.
   – What does your domain name cost yearly?
   Check especially AFTER the discount doesn’t apply anymore 😉
   A .com extension costs around 1-2 dollars a month. Just to give you an idea. It therefore isn’t the best way to cut costs, but it also adds up. These are yearly costs. Not one-time.
   NB Attention, be aware that a lot of webhosting publishes prices without VAT,
4. Do they offer a migration service? If you already have a website, then it is very nice if you do not have to ensure yourself that everything is transferred 1:1 and that everything continues to work, without causing you any headaches. In those cases, you are glad there is a migration service. Would you start with your first website? Then this migration service is not something to take into consideration.
5. Is there a dashboard or panel to give you the freedom to do things by yourself?
   For instance, it would be nice if you could set up which mail addresses you want or easily add new ones. Or that WordPress can be installed on your new domain name (or another software) via your dashboard at the push of a button, so to speak. If you are less fond of self-reliance, you will also be happy if support just does this for you 😉
6. Server speed
   All sorts of factors play into the speed of loading your website. And it starts with a fast server. Also the choice of your template, the layout of your site, how big the images are (in terms of kB) etc. obviously also play a big role
7. Website and support in your native language
   When it comes to website, issues that can arrise, technical stuff, it is so much easier if you can explain it in your own language. AND also look at the timezone that they are in, because needing support when support is not active, is also counter productive!

How do you find your new Web hosting party / Provider

Google is indeed a friend of mine. With the right search, I can find an answer to almost anything. For things like a provider or web hosting party, I personally also like blogs that have done a listing, where first of all, they all list names. And they often include an explanation or the pro’s and cons. I looked up many different providers.

And then the process of choosing begins. The 7 Decisive Point I all took into consideration. I ended up choosing between two companies (and no, I don’t remember the other one) and I choose
Cloud86

My choice for Web Hosting is Cloud86

The mission of Cloud86 speaks to me:

To offer web hosting at a fair price, without compromising on quality.