by As a business owner, you know that who your company or organization partners with matters. Whenever you work with an outside provider of services, their performance will reflect on your own.
In the digital world, there is perhaps no better example of this than with web hosting service providers. When it comes to designing and maintaining a website that your audience enjoys using, a web host can make or break the experience.
A website that’s hosted with a good provider is simply a better website. It will be faster, with pages that load in the blink of an eye, and you will be able to rest easy knowing that the data stored on your website – whether internal business data or external data from customers – is safe and secure away from prying eyes.
With all that in mind, here is more information on why it is critical for your business – large, medium or small – to select a good web host.
Why website speed matters
Let’s start off with the most important fact concerning websites: speed matters. A faster website leads to happier visitors. That can turn those visitors into actual customers.
Even a two-second delay in page load time can come back to hurt you in terms of sales volume. This is even more true for visitors to your site who are using a mobile device. Google has found that more than half of users will leave a website if a page takes longer than three seconds to load.
This means that website speed has to be your business’s top priority. After all, your website should be the core of a digital strategy that includes everything from social media, to content marketing, to email marketing and more.
Page load time comes down to hosting
Now, if website speed and page load time are what matters most, then hosting needs to enter the conversation. Whom your business chooses as a web host provider will undoubtedly have an effect on your website’s speed and overall performance.
Why is this? Well, whenever someone uses a device of any type to access your website, they are accessing files and running programs that are stored on a web server. That web server, sometimes referred to as a remote computer, then needs to run code, perform database queries and access files.
It’s the website host that provides that web server and dedicates a certain amount of resources in order to keep your website loading quickly and working as it should for all users.
However, as you may have guessed, not all hosting providers will dedicate the same amount of resources to your website. Others are simply more reliable than others.
A good web host means better website performance
This is where it can be tricky to determine how well your website will perform with any given host. You have to know a little bit about what you are looking for.
When choosing the right provider for hosting your website, you will want a web host that has the equipment and resources available that are capable of operating your website. For example, a host needs a hard drive fast enough to perform all those essential tasks, such as executing code, running database searches and pulling files from servers.
It’s also important to figure out whether the provider offers dedicated resources or shared resources. One key example of this is a web server itself. If the host provides a dedicated server for your site and your site alone, then you won’t run the risk of having to compete with other websites for bandwidth use and other performance factors.
A shared server, on the other hand, is exactly that. You share resources with other websites. This can often lead to slower site performance and page load speed.
Finally, you will need to ensure that the host provides enough memory and bandwidth for your site to function as it should.
A good web host provides peace of mind
Aside from page speed, web hosting providers can also be separated by how much effort they put into securing your website and the data that accesses or stores. There is a lot that goes into securing a website from intruders – and you definitely do not want a host that takes shortcuts or skimps on resources dedicated to security.
A good web host will, of course, restrict access to its network and servers to only trained technicians who know what they are doing and won’t leave the door open for cybercriminals. The host should also be constantly monitoring its networks for intrusions – both attempted and successful – or other unauthorized activity.
Hosts should also provide basic security features like SSL (secure sockets layer) encryption and WAF (web application firewall) that are needed to keep data secure.
Additionally, a reliable web host will have the tools and resources it needs to prevent malware and DDoS (distributed denial of service) attacks that are commonly used by cybercriminals seeking access to sensitive information, or simply wanting to cause trouble for a business.
Your business needs to partner with a hosting provider who values security, your privacy and your customer’s privacy as much as you do. Make sure they have the necessary resources and are capable of providing you with the peace of mind that comes with knowing you are protected.
Host your website with Emagine
At the end of the day, you’re putting a lot of trust into whomever you select as your web host.
Rather than go with one of the big name providers, whose performance can be shoddy and customer service often even worse, why not partner with a company that knows your business and its website are both unique and require unique services that fit your needs perfectly?
That’s what Emagine offers with our hosting services. Not only will we host your website, making it both fast and secure, but we can even help design and build your site so that it functions seamlessly and consistently.
Ask for a free consultation today and we’ll get to work on a hosting service that delivers for your business.
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