What you need from your web hosting provider
Category Commercial and Industrial News
Large and small businesses alike need to give careful thought to which company is doing their web hosting. With numerous options out there, it's important to find a provider that suits your budget and your business's needs. You also need to avoid downtime and slow loading - both of which can harm your search engine optimisation (SEO) efforts. 3Cube Property Solutions takes a look at how to choose the right web hosting provider.
The crux of web hosting
To start with a basic definition, TechRepublic defines web hosting as "a service that provides the infrastructure that allows an organisation to publish a website". Typically, your web hosting provider will charge you a monthly fee in exchange for giving you a domain name and making your website available to the public.
In an interview with CNET, digital marketing specialists revealed that great hosting boils down to the four S's: speed, support, security and scalability. In a nutshell, your hosting service needs to display your site fast and consistently and it needs to support you in a way that helps your business to reach its full potential. Your website hosting service provider needs to provide state-of-the-art security to keep your information - and those viewing it - safe and secure. Lastly, your website needs to be able to keep up with your business as it grows.
Types of web hosting
The two most popular forms of web hosting are shared hosting and dedicated hosting. Shared hosting is the more affordable option, and can be the best web hosting option for small businesses. It means that your website shares a web server with other websites. As your business (and your website) grows, this can become less ideal, with challenges including greater security risks and slower performance. Dedicated hosting, on the other hand, tends to be more expensive, but gives your business the superior security and performance of having a dedicated server.
How do I choose a web hosting provider?
When you're choosing the specific hosting plan that's right for your business, there are several factors to bear in mind. Topping the list is storage space, which refers to the total amount of data that you get from your hosting provider. The amount of data you require will depend on how much content is on your website and what type of content it is. As an example, if your website has lots of explainer videos, it will require more data than a website made up predominantly of text. Similarly, if you're running an online store, you will need more space than other websites. Popular hosting services vary from offering 10 GB of storage to unlimited storage, so make sure you choose a provider that will meet your needs - both now and in the future.
Make sure you choose a web hosting provider that can guarantee uptime of 99.9%. If your website is down, it means it is offline. This obviously means that no one can use your website - and it also has bigger-picture implications like having a negative impact on your credibility and your search engine rankings. In case something goes wrong, you'll want a hosting provider that offers 24/7 support and quick responses to your queries.
Domain names and web hosting providers
Your domain name is the address of your website, and your web hosting provider is the company that stores your web files on their server. You need both of these in place to create a website, but they are two separate services, and you should be able to change hosting providers without having to change your domain name.
Finding the right web hosting solution for your business goes hand in hand with creating a website that's both attractive and functional. Without a web host that meets your needs, you'll miss out on opportunities to attract traffic, create leads and ultimately grow your business.
Making sure that you have the right website hosting provider is an important part of ensuring that your business succeeds. So is choosing the right premises. To find the right home for your commercial or industrial enterprise in Gauteng, contact 3Cube Property Solutions today.
Author: 3Cube Property Solutions
