Why Your Web Hosting Choice Matters
By Keith Curreri • Published on August 4, 2017
You can build a website that’s beautifully design and filled with witty content, but if your web host choice is less-than-ideal, you’re still going to create a poor experience for visitors. What exactly is a web host? Here’s an analogy that might help to explain it: your website is an apartment. You own the actual stuff that goes inside the apartment (your TV, your dresser, your bed, etc.) but you still have to pay rent in order to keep living there. Your web host is like your landlord. Basically your web host talks to your website’s URL so that your content remains live and accessible to visitors. Here’s why the host you choose matters:
A poor host allows for security breaches
Hacking issues regularly appear in the news, with the most recent and devastating example being the Equifax hack. If you try to save money by going with a cheap web host option, you can make your site vulnerable to hackers. This is especially dangerous if you’re dealing with customers’ private information. Your clients aren’t going to care how much money you saved on your monthly hosting costs if you allowed their social security numbers to fall into the wrong hands.
It impacts the speed of your site
Let’s face it: Internet users today are impatient. If you opt for the cheapest web hosting option, you might set your website up for slow load times. If your site is taking too long to load, potential customers might opt to go to a faster loading competitor’s site when they’re ready to make a purchase.
It can impact your SEO rankings
The wrong hosting company can cause your SEO rankings to drop, which has a major impact on how easy it is to find you online. If you’re not showing up well when people are searching keywords that relate to your business, it makes it much more difficult to attract potential customers. If they don’t know you exist, how can they head to your website?
The right web host also provides an easy, fast customer service experience. If you choose the wrong company, you’ll end up wasting valuable time on hold trying to get answers to your questions. If you’re not sure about your web hosting options, I can help. contact me for a consultation.
