“Many customers of BreakAway credited their interest in working with us to the professionalism of our website.”
Doug Whatley - CEO - BreakAway Ltd.
Why Quality Web Hosting Shouldn't be an Afterthought
By Tom Warthen – President, ProSite Web Design LLC - www.prositewebdesign.com
Business web hosting is not as exciting as new designs, clever content, or profit-generating e-commerce platforms. In fact, it isn't even something that most people pay attention to. Instead, web hosting is a little bit like the electricity in your home - you probably don't think much about it until something goes wrong.
However, as you think about launching a new and improved version of your business website, hosting should not be an afterthought. It can be much more important to the long-term performance, security, and even profitability of your website than you might think.
These considerations matter most when choosing the right business web hosting package:
Reliability. With the right business web hosting package, your site will be online more than 99.9% of the time, and will always load quickly for guests. This is something that a lot of people take for granted, but you may not be able to get those kinds of reliability guarantees from a budget hosting company, and you don't want to find out the hard way how much downtime can cost you.
Security. Quality business web hosting includes current security features and software updates that prevent your site from being compromised by hackers and other malicious visitors. This is especially important if you have sensitive data on your site. The possibility of fraud or insecure transactions scares customers away, so don't overlook security when choosing a web host.
Search engine benefits. Although it's a minor part of their algorithms, Google and the other major search engines do place more faith in sites that benefit from the availability and quick-loading that comes with a great business web hosting package. In addition, they may inadvertently punish your site if it happens to reside on the same server as another disreputable company's website, which is one more reason to stay away from cheap, mass-marketed hosting plans.
Support. Who will be there to answer the phone when you have a question about your web hosting? You want a host with a strong support plan and 24/7 coverage, because there's never a convenient time to wait for customer support.
It's easy to decide to simply go with the lowest-cost web hosting option available. However, even though hosting might not be exciting, it's not something to overlook. Think about all the things you want your website to do and then host it somewhere that protects the time, work, and money you have put into it.
Contact ProSite Web Design to help you choose the right hosting plan for your business website.
Tom Warthen is the President of ProSite Web Design LLC and has been helping businesses looking for a high return on their online marketing investment since the early days of the Internet in the 1990s. To learn more about how to choose the right web host, and to contact ProSite Web Design for a consultation, visit http://www.prositewebdesign.com.
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