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If you’re a small business owner looking for a more robust hosting solution or thinking about transferring your growing blog to a host that can handle the increased traffic, you might be overwhelmed by the numerous hosting providers on the market. Don’t worry! We’ve compiled a list of instructions for choosing a suitable hosting provider.
Website Uptime
Website uptime is the amount of time a website remains accessible to its users. That is why the average uptime of your website is critical when it comes to generating traffic. Logically, your site will receive less traffic if it is frequently down. Some visitors might not even come back if your website is down the first time they try to access it.
Even for small e-commerce stores, an hour of downtime can lead to a significant loss. As a result, you have to select a host that guarantees at least 99.90% uptime.
Keep in mind that anything less could result in nearly 9 hours of downtime per year. We know that this might not sound so bad, but for giant enterprises and online stores that depend on the functionality of their websites for sales, one hour of downtime can lead to the loss of thousands of dollars.
Website Loading Speed
The speed with which your website loads, like its uptime, has a significant impact on its traffic. According to a study by Google, if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, more than 53% of mobile site visitors will abandon the site.
That is why choosing the fastest web host possible can improve your chances of retaining visitors to your site. This in turn will increase your User Experience rating and of course, your SEO ranking. All in all, if you want to see your website generate any kind of profit in the future, you must improve its loading speed.
Customer Support
Another important consideration is the customer support options provided by your web host. At some point, you may need help with a technical issue, and if you’ve ever dealt with poor customer service, you know how aggravating it can be.
Consider a host’s phone, live chat, or ticket-based customer support before selecting it. Look up their customer reviews and run a test run to see how accessible their support service is. If you get lost in a maze of useless FAQs and poorly constructed knowledge bases, remove the host from your list!
Website Security
The security of a host’s servers is also an important thing. When choosing a hosting provider, you must consider the security measures responsible for protecting your website and its data. Are they adequately protected against DDoS attacks, which can significantly disrupt your website’s performance and potentially jeopardize its security?
Another factor to consider is whether the hosting company provides a web application firewall (WAF) and a free SSL certificate. By monitoring and filtering incoming traffic, a WAF can help prevent malicious attacks on your website, whereas an SSL certificate ensures that any data exchanged between your website and its visitors is encrypted and secure. This is especially important when you consider the fact that users leave all kinds of personal information online.
Data Protection
Data loss is another major concern for website owners, which is why it’s important to find a hosting provider that offers automatic data backups and disaster recovery protocols. These precautions can help ensure that your website’s data is regularly backed up and can be restored quickly in case of a disaster or technical failure.
Access Control
Access controls are also essential for keeping your website secure. A hosting provider that offers selective access restriction, Secure Socket Shell (SSH) capabilities, and the ability to whitelist authorized IP addresses can aid in the prevention of unauthorized access to your website’s data and server.
Conclusion
In conclusion, several factors must be considered when choosing a web hosting service. Prioritize the functionality, dependability, and performance of your website. These three factors can have a significant impact on the success of your site, so you have to do some research before selecting the web host that meets your specific needs.
You also need to pay attention to all the security measures that we mentioned above. All this may seem a little unnecessary for small websites and business owners, but keep in mind that you want your website to grow and attract a larger audience. When this happens, you will need to guarantee the security of your site. Also, be aware that search engines like Google prioritize websites that have SSL certificates and strong security measures in place.
