When it comes to choosing a host for an online newspaper we often rely on search engine results and browse through various service provider websites. It becomes very difficult for a novice user to go with the right company as they may look similar on account of offering similar services and features. So the question now arises that how can one take an informed decision before deciding to move ahead with a host? Below are some factors which will help you in selecting the best newspaper host:

1. Reliability: As common sense will suggest that the biggest factor is easily the online availability of your online publication, visitors can land on your sites through organic search or search engines and it's very important that your site is online as no one will wait for you to go back online and will simply move on to the next site. Even 99% uptime isn't good enough in today's competitive market and you should zero upon a company which can deliver you an uptime of say 99.99%. In addition you should ensure that all updates and security checks are done behind the scene without affecting your site uptime and in the process your site load time should also be very low. No one likes slow and sluggish sites and all good companies run an optimization process on the server end to prevent this sluggish behavior due to overload or any other reasons.

2. Security: News websites often have various sections like custom forms, submission forms, payment forms, etc. and it's important that the payment related info is always encrypted so that no one else gets hold of such sensitive info. You should ensure that your host uses SSL (Secure Socket Layer) technology to encrypt such info.

3. Backup: In addition to backing up all the data on your site it's advisable to go with a host which takes regular backups of your site data. If you are unsure about this always make it a point to discuss this aspect before signing up.

4. Disk Space: Disk space refers to the available space allocated to your site. It involves all the space occupied by the data like articles, images, videos and so on. In order to prevent overbilling you should always ask for the space available beforehand. Normally 4 GB is considered a good amount to start your online daily and your host should also provide you with a monthly report upon request to check whether you risk the possibility of exceeding such limit. Your hosting plan should be flexible enough to accommodate any changes required for uninterrupted services.

5. Data Transfer: Data transfer or bandwidth refers to the data downloaded by the visitors while accessing your site. For high traffic sites it's suggested to enquire about these numbers and the costs applicable if it exceeds the bandwidth limit. A good host should be able to provide you with at least 100 GB/month which is often also described as unlimited as this is a very good limit and even news sites with heavy traffic often don't exceed this limit.

6. Technical Support: Support is the backbone of any hosting company and you need to make sure that support is available 24/7 as you never know when you require some help to fix any issues that will come along while you start uploading stuff to your news template. In addition you should also opt for a company which provides live chat support as it's easy to identify and troubleshoot issues over live chats as compared to emails and phone calls.

7. Emails: Publishers often don't want to switch their email services as it's a hectic process and involves making changes to the various DNS settings. Your host should be flexible enough to accommodate for these changes whenever required and also it's advisable to keep both the domain and email hosting at one place. Your newspaper hosting plan should also include free email accounts like publisher@yoursite.com and configuring them on various desktop and mobile clients should be easy and automated.

8. Hosting Type: Instead of shared or VPS hosting you should always opt for dedicated servers. A dedicated server can do the hosting of several newspaper websites and it allow for a seamless integration of various resources so that your sites remain online with no downtime and extremely low load times.

9. Scalability: If in doubt always ask for the specification of the servers where your site is being hosted, the server should be run on genuine softwares and the hardware along with technical specifications should be always more powerful than what is normally required to run operations like these. The server in itself should be capable of automated upgrades when it comes to resources, this ensures that you always enjoy a premier experience while working on your sites even during peak traffic hours.

10. Features: A good newspaper host should provide you with the latest features which run on latest technology. It should be ensured that hosting companies don't take you for a ride as it's often observed that sofwares running on older platforms also offer upgrades which are obsolete and difficult to manage and integrate with the current platforms. Make sure you avoid companies which boast of being in this business for decades but still run on older platforms as they will eventually self-destruct themselves by not adapting with the changing technology and as a result will jeopardize your newspaper venture.

Techcruiser believes in keeping pace with the latest and offers best in class newspaper software along with sites hosted on dedicated servers. If you are thinking about starting or switching your online newspaper then think no more and sign up for a 10 day free trial with no commitments involved and discover for yourself how easily you can start and manage an online newspaper with no strings attached. Time, Tide and Technology waits for no one and it's high time that you go with the service provider which believes in these words.