How to choose the right hosting for a cultural project

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-15 02:26

Today every self-respecting museum, gallery, concert hall and even a separate cultural project has its own website. And if the idea came to launch an Internet project, the website design is ready and there are even ideas for its promotion and monetization, you will have to start by placing the project on the Internet, which means - with the choice of hosting. Even those who launch an Internet project for the first time have heard such concepts as free hosting and cheap hosting, but do not forget that the most important thing is to order reliable hosting. So, what are the criteria when choosing a provider to focus on when launching a new project.

Don't be guided by a low price

Free hosting or very cheap hosting should be chosen only if you need to place a landing page or if you want to try your hand and understand how everything works. But it must be remembered that free hosting has a number of disadvantages:

Limited tools;

Server instability;

Obtrusive, as a rule, advertising of the provider;

Lack of feedback from the hoster if problems arise.

Of course, hosting is not forever, and you can change the location of your site at any time. But if you get your bearings right away, you can save yourself a headache and save your time.

How not to go wrong with a hosting provider

Before delving into the technical details of a particular hosting, it is worth evaluating the company that provides a virtual server. What should you pay special attention to? First, the company must be officially registered and licensed for telematic services. Otherwise, one day you may be left without a website.

A huge plus in favor of the company will be the fact that it has an office where you can personally meet with the company's employees, if the need arises. And even before entrusting your Internet project to one or another hoster, using special services, you should check the date of registration of the company's domain. The logic is simple - the longer a company has been in the market, the more relaxed its customers can feel.

Particular attention should be paid to the capabilities of the support service - it should work 24 hours a day and seven days a week. Of course, it is difficult to expect that even in this case the problem will be solved as quickly as possible, but still, at least the virtual server can always be overloaded, and this is already a lot.

Of course, it will not be possible to call a hosting assessment according to these parameters professional, but this will at least make it possible to get a general idea of the company to which the site owner trusts his Internet project and money.

What you need to know about hosting specifications

If the team does not have a technical specialist who could advise on which hosting to choose, then you should definitely consult with the support service before deciding on the choice of a particular tariff. If we are talking about a cultural project and it is supposed to upload a lot of high quality photos and videos, you need to choose a virtual server with the amount of disk space that will allow you to store all the necessary information and ensure the high availability of the resource.

But even if you chose the hosting, guided only by intuition, you shouldn't worry too much. At any time it will be possible to choose a more suitable option and switch to a different tariff. And yet, there are general points when choosing a VPS that you should pay special attention to.

Daily backup

Website owners know that regular backups are the very moment that allows them to sleep peacefully and not worry about saving data. Therefore, the hosting provider's guarantees about data preservation is a very decent plus for the provider's karma.

Reliable data center and own equipment

Today, the data centers that host the servers are equipped, as a rule, with modern security and fire-fighting systems. This means that shutdown of equipment is possible only in a critical situation, but they are also controlled by engineers. If technical work is carried out in the center, then a duplicate system begins to function, the virtual server continues to work and this does not affect the functioning of the site in any way.

DDoS protection

If someone thinks that a beginner, modest and still small Internet project need not worry about the intrigues of intruders and competitors, he is mistaken. Sometimes DDoS attacks are organized just to try their hand or to have fun. And only reliable protection of the hoster can rob you from such troubles.

Access to the site via FTP

This function is required for editing, deleting and copying folders and files on the server. In the case of a cultural project, where a large amount of media materials is expected, this greatly facilitates and optimizes the work.

Intuitive hosting panel interface

This parameter is important not only for beginners. Experts are sure that only a slow Internet speed can be worse than an incomprehensible interface.

Domain mailbox

Any project inspires more confidence in users if it has a branded mailbox. Today, reliable hosters provide, as a rule, the ability to create an unlimited number of mailboxes. This is very convenient, because you can create separate boxes for communication with different categories of clients and users.

Hosting change

The site owner should remember that he always has the opportunity to change the type of virtual server, tariff and even hosting provider, if necessary. In addition, many hosters periodically carry out various kinds of promotions for bonus replenishment of the balance or the provision of additional free services. The main thing to remember is that reliable hosting is one of the most important components of the success of any project.