The importance of good web hosting
You’ve got a website. You’re dedicated to delivering excellent content to your customers. You’re all set…but are you being let down by your hosting environment?
Website Hosting. It’s just so important…
The company that hosts your website is critical to your success. Your host determines your sites availability and security. If you choose the wrong host there can be some serious repercussions, including:
Security & Malware Attacks
Hackers just get better and better. There is no foolproof solution to keeping your website secure. However, a reputable hosting company will stay on top of their server security and also provide a back up service making your website easy to restore in case your site is hacked.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
You want to rank highly in search results, right? Your host plays a key role here too. If your site is down when search engines are trying to access it, then your ranking will decrease accordingly. Similarly, if your website is slow to load – a sign of poor host performance – this too can hurt your search rankings.
Loss of Revenue
If your site goes down your customers will not be able to make purchases from your site or learn about your products and services. Your competition is only a click away and these customers may not return.
And if something goes wrong, you’re going to want to talk to someone about it. Therefore customer service levels and the ability to talk to an actual person from your hosting company is really important.
So, how do you choose the right web hosting provider for your site?
Understand the various hosting options available and the requirements of your website
Your host must run servers geared towards your particular site structure and technology. If your site generates only a small amount of traffic a shared web hosting solution will be fine. However, if your site maintains high levels of traffic you will want a dedicated server. It will cost more, but be much more reliable.
Excellent Customer Support
The internet never stops. Customers have the ability to access your website at any time. If something goes wrong you want to be able to contact your web host and work with them to resolve issues at any time of the day.
100% Uptime Record
Choose a host with an excellent uptime record. While you won’t find any hosts guaranteeing 100% uptime, 99% is not uncommon and should be your target.
Location is Everything
The closer your website is hosted to your customer, the faster it will load for them. Make sure your website will be hosted in a region that’s close to you. Or at least ensure your host is compatible with your chosen Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Price
Shop around for the best deal, but remember – you get what you pay for. Don’t be seduced by extremely cheap web hosting. The first time something goes wrong, the money saved simply will not be worth it! Website downtime is something most businesses can’t afford.
Do a Background Check
Research your preferred host provider. How long have they been in business? What are their customer testimonials like? What is their uptime record like over the past five years?
Ultimately, your host is critical to the success of your website. Choose one that meets your unique requirements and that you can trust.
Need more information? Talk to Webhance Digital about your website hosting needs…