However, there is another choice that is nearly as important. Web hosting. Many people don’t think much about the web hosting they choose. They simply Google the term and take one of the first options that are offering good rates or discounts. Maybe they simply choose a service with a well-known name.

Unfortunately, this is not a worthwhile way to choose the hosting and it can cause you trouble later on (as many users of hosting sites such as GoDaddy have reported). Web hosting is very important, no matter what platform you’re using to build your site. When using WordPress, you want to host that caters particularly to your needs and works seamlessly with WordPress.

Here’s how to decide on the best WordPress website hosting.

Down and out?

The reason for choosing web hosting carefully is so important is that it is the biggest factor that determines whether or not you stay online. Any service has occasional outages, but some are simply worse than others. You can use online tools to see how often a website goes down, but if you want an accurate assessment of user experience, you need to see what users say. After all, there’s a difference between going down for a few minutes here and there at off-peak times, and an hour-long peak-time outage.

Customers will be able to tell you what happened during the outage – how the hosting service handled it and whether they were updated often and treated well.

Read customer reviews, but make sure you’re looking at real reviews that haven’t been paid for.

WordPress tools and optimization

You should also look for hosting that is particularly useful for WordPress. Many hosting services offer tools and optimization specifically for WordPress. This is especially helpful for beginners but is even worthwhile for those who have tons of WordPress experience.

SiteGround, for example, provides a one-click install, free transfer, auto updates and backups, and 24/7 WordPress support. A2 Hosting is known to be particularly versatile for WordPress users and offers knowledgeable 24/7 support.

Upgrades and downgrades

We all want our websites to be successful but have little guarantee from the get-go of how successful they would be. This is why many people start on a midrange hosting plan, that will cater to them as long as their website isn’t getting millions of visitors. However, along the way, your needs will change. Either you’ll realize you overestimated your audience growth, or you’ll begin to expect far more visitors. Either way, you need hosting that allows you to easily upgrade or downgrade. It should keep most of the features intact even if you’re downgrading and shouldn’t negatively affect your website functioning. Ultimately, you’ll want versatile WordPress web hosting with a good reputation for uptime and customer service. Don’t simply go with the first Google result!