Before your website can go live, you need to choose a web host. The host actually provides space on a server so that you can make your website accessible online for everyone.
Now, a lot of people seem to think that it doesn’t matter who you choose to host your website. As long as you can get your site up, they think that’s all that matters. These people are sadly mistaken.
The web hosting company you choose is incredibly important. The right host can help you reach more customers, improve the overall performance of your website, and so much more.
Here’s a look at just some of the main reasons that your choice of web hosting matters so much.
The problem with a lot of free and cheap hosting services is that they’re often very unreliable. They don’t make any guarantees about the amount of time your website will actually be up and running. Their servers tend to crash easily, and when that happens, your website is offline, so no one can access it. When your website’s not available, you’re turning visitors away, and chances are that they’ll never come back.
A good web hosting service provider should be able to guarantee 99.9% uptime for your website. That means that they guarantee your website will pretty much always be up and running, so you can attract visitors 24/7.
Another important issue to consider is the speed of your website. When you use an inferior hosting service, your website will run really slow. It could take a long time for it to load for your visitors. And let’s face it, most internet users are impatient, and they’re not going to stick around to deal with your slow, buggy website.
The best hosting companies have great servers, plenty of server space, and unlimited bandwidth for your site, and that spells fast performance. With a good host, you don’t have to worry about losing visitors because your site is too slow.
Site security should be a top priority. You need to make sure your website is protected against hackers who will try to crash your website or worse steal shoppers’ personal information. The problem with a lot of hosting companies is that they don’t use the latest security technology to keep your website protected. This exposes your website to major threats that could bring your entire company down.
Thinking about using one of those free web hosting companies? Don’t waste your time. Not only are their services unreliable, but most of them will force you to place their advertising on your website. This is your website. Not theirs. You want visitors to be paying attention to your sales messages, not your hosting company’s advertisements.
A good web hosting service will never require you to place ads on your website. This is very important when building a professional website for your company.
The truth is that problems will probably arise at some point with your website. Maybe it will temporarily go down, or maybe you’ll notice some minor performance issues. If you went with one of the fly-by-night hosting companies, you’re going to have a really tough time getting anyone to help you when you encounter a problem.
On the other hand, a good web host will usually offer 24/7 customer support. They’ll usually be able to help you over the phone or online via chat. Their representatives are friendly and knowledgeable, and they will get to the source of your problem in a timely manner.
