As a small business owner, your online reputation is a vital part of your success. What many don’t stop to realize is that much of your online reputation sits in the hands of the company that hosts your website. Look at it this way, if you were looking to buy a home, and when meeting your realtor for the first time you saw he drove up in a broken down old truck, would you feel confident in his negotiating abilities and professionalism? Of course not, and when a consumer visits your website, and it isn’t working correctly, the same reflects on you. In fact, in an article published by Resource Nation, the author examines some pitfalls in web hosting and sites an Akami survey that revealed that 75% of people who visited a website that took longer than 4 seconds to load, would never return to that website again. As you can see, having a reliable host is of prime importance to safeguarding your client base, and ensuring that new ones will come into the fold. This article will attempt to help you understand why three certain factors are key to having a reliable host, and will arm you with the right knowledge to aid you in your quest for finding a hosting solution.
Feel the Need for Speed
As previously addressed, having your website load up at a snail’s pace (or more than 4 seconds) will kill your business. Having a speed of 1gbps unmetered is advantageous, but be sure to take things a step further and ask the provider what type of connections they have to see if it is indeed a quality, fast speed. Imagine lifting up the hood of a Lamborghini and finding the engine of a Toyota Corolla. It may look fast on the surface, but when getting down to the bones you discover false advertising. The same can hold true for hosting providers, so be sure to look under the hood and ask those probing questions.
Safe and Secure
Be sure to investigate the security features within the hosting plan’s servers. This is especially important if you will have an ecommerce site through which clients transmit personal information for purchasing transactions. Without solid security tools in place, clients may hold reservations towards using your company. After all, what with all the online fraud that is out there, consumers want that security knowing their personal information is safe.
Don’t be Lost in Space
Having enough space to support your site is key, but having too much space is a total waste of money. The ideal solution is to determine what your site will be doing (i.e. play videos, store media, etc), and how much traffic it is getting, as well as upcoming projected traffic. Any good hosting company will have a consultant who can help you determine what type of service you require that fits your needs, without losing you in a mass of empty space that is unused, but that you are paying for.
Be a Researcher
You owe it to yourself to do some research, and discover some other concerns that one should have when selecting a hosting provider. Furthermore, there are several types of hosting solutions that companies provide, i.e. the cloud, dedicated servers, reseller, VPS, etc. But before you attempt to make a selection, first determine if the company itself will meet your needs by offering quality that is next to none.
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