Small online businesses must make a good impression with their website if they want to produce any sales. Choosing the right web hosting provider is a big deal because you could find that your business has been completely derailed because of security concerns, a lack of scalability, or just poor-quality servers.
Here are the top tips you should follow if you’re currently in the process of picking a web hosting provider.
Make Security Your Top Priority
Did you know that cyber-attacks have been growing at an annualized rate of 15% since 2013? Cyber-attacks are now measured in the hundreds of millions, and the numbers are showing no signs of decline.
Switzerland is probably the strongest place to be with regards to privacy. Article 13 of the Swiss constitution guarantees citizens’ their right to privacy and there are strict federal laws in place to protect your data. Switzerland is not a Member State, which means Swiss national laws have no effect regarding the GDPR recitals and provisions referring to Member States law, even though GDPR applies to Swiss organizations according to § 3.2 GDPR. All of the preceding facts should come into effect when you’re considering acquiring web hosting in Switzerland or similar privacy-friendly nations. Data privacy has always been important. A single company may possess the personal information of millions of customers data that it needs to keep private so that customers’ identities stay as safe and protected as possible, and the company’s reputation remains intact
Look up the security stats of each web hosting provider. They must have a strong track record of protecting their clients. Regular security updates should be a given. Thankfully, web hosts are more transparent about their commitment to security than ever before, so this information is easy to find.
What’s the Uptime?
Uptime is how often you should expect your site to be available to your target market. Regular downtime doesn’t just irritate your customers it also makes it impossible to rank high on Google, as uptime is a major ranking factor.
So how much uptime should you demand?
You should always aim for at least 99.9% uptime at a minimum. Site outages should be extremely rare, and you should demand nothing less than these standards.
Are You Working on a Shared Server?
The best web hosting companies would never contemplate using shared servers for their clients. The space is minimal, and outages are common.
Unfortunately, many small businesses on a low budget may opt for these web hosts because they think they can save money.
You should never opt for any form of web hosting that involves a shared server. Growing businesses are always going to hit the glass ceiling sooner or later.
Ignore the Price
Price is something of a false indicator in web hosting. You don’t want the cheapest web package you want the package that best suits the needs of your business.
You should look at whether the package fulfils your needs and whether you can easily scale as your business grows. Scalability through packages is much more valuable than price. You don’t want to grow only to find you need to go through the painful process of migrating to another host later.
Read User Reviews
Other customers are always going to be your most reliable sources of information. For example, WordPress powers one in four websites but it might not be right for you. You can discover specialized information through reading consumer reviews.
You’ll find these with a quick Google search. Get a good idea as to the options available and decide if others in your situation have had the right experience.
Last Word – Take Your Time
Choosing a web provider shouldn’t be something you take lightly. Spend your time looking through the different options available. Read the terms of service and consider different web hosts with your long-term future in mind.
Have you chosen a web host yet?
