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When you are starting a new website, there are a lot of decisions to make. In addition to web design and content, one of the single most important things you will need to decide on is who is going to host your website. The success of your entire project is going to depend on having a good host, so it is worthwhile to take a little time to research and to learn what you can about your web hosting options. It is also a good idea to learn about and dispel some of the myths that surround the world of website hosting.

There are a number of different myths about website hosting companies and taking the time to explore the facts and understand the fictions is a great first step in choosing the right hosting company for your site. Here are five hosting myths to be aware of to get you started on your research:

Any web hosting company will work just fine

If you want your website to be successful, the web hosting company has to be reliable. You don’t want your pages to load slowly, connections to be dropped or your site to be down when customers come to visit. Choosing a reliable hosting company that can handle traffic and that has a plan to avoid down time is important to making sure your site can actually be reached by customers or clients.

Using a free web hosting company is a great way to save money

With a free website hosting company, the reliability you get is equal to what you pay for. Your site may not be up all the time and the free host may not have an obligation to you to make sure things work well. You may also be limited in what domain names you can choose with a free web host, which means that you won’t necessarily be able to pick the appropriate web address for your business. Finally, free web hosting companies may have advertising or other issues that make your site look less professional to visitors.

You should always host your website with the company you register your domain name with

While you can host your website with the company that you get your domain name from, you don’t have to. In fact, there is really no reason to assume that these two things have to be linked. Instead, you are better off looking at price, quality, reputation and a host of other factors when choosing both a registration company and a web host and picking the best company in each category.

Data does not need to be backed up

No matter how good your web host is, you want to have your data and information backed up. Ultimately, it is your responsibility to safeguard your data and you are the one who will suffer the most of data is lost that has not been properly baked up.

Account specs are pretty much the same from host to host

Different web hosts offer different specifications and features and there can be a big difference in what you are paying. Pay attention to both bandwidth and disc space that you get with web hosts you are considering and be sure to choose a host that offers you enough of each. In many cases, it is ideal if your bandwidth and disc space are unlimited.