If you run an online business, choosing the
right web host is one of the most important decisions you will need to make.
Your website's performance, reliability, security and many of its background
features are controlled by your host and therefore making the wrong choice can
have disastrous consequences. So, to make sure you know exactly what to look
for, we've put together a list of sixteen essentials from a web host that
businesses need.
1.
You need expert technical support
There will always be times when website
owners, even those with their own dedicated IT departments, will face issues
they cannot solve on their own. When this happens, you need a web host with the
expertise to provide you with the right solution.
This has become increasingly more important
as businesses begin to move their entire IT infrastructure to the cloud. If
you're running large, complex systems and using highly sophisticated
applications on your host's servers, you need to know that when a glitch
happens, your web host can fix it -- and quickly.
2.
24 hours support
In addition to expertise, you also want your
web host's customer support to be available 24 hours a day. Since your online
business operates 24/7, you can't afford to wait until the next morning if your
website shuts down or your email system stops working. Every minute you are
offline you may have to make a sale or become a dissatisfied customer. A good
web host should provide continuous, high-level support when needed.
3.
Backup
Backups are an essential part of any disaster
recovery operation and it is important that your host allows you to schedule
backups of all your data. This includes ensuring that your backups are stored
remotely on the different servers on which your site is hosted.
Failure to back up your data can have dire
consequences - it can result in the loss of all your customer information, the
entire content of your website, and income as a result of your site going
offline. And you can add to this the cost of rebuilding your site and the
reputational damage caused by downtime. If a web host does not provide a backup
service, it is too risky to go with that host.
4.
Web Host Backup
In addition to being able to back up your own
data, you also want to know that your web host is backing up their servers as
well. If one of the servers goes down, you need to know that they have their
backup (and backup) available and that they have tested the backup to make sure
it works. That way you know that all the software the host needs to run the
server, plus all the data stored on it, can be quickly put back online.
5.
Guaranteed Uptime
Changes in cloud technology are reducing the
chances that websites will go offline due to server failure, however, for those
who have not opted for cloud hosting, server downtime can be a big problem. To
ensure guaranteed uptime, you should look for a host that has mirror servers
running in different locations, so that if one goes down, the other will
maintain a service. That way, your site can always be online.
Before choosing a host, you should check out
what their customers say about their uptime reputation.
6.
Security Options
Website hacking is constantly in the news and
the number of attacks on all types of business websites continues to increase.
In this environment, it is important that you choose a web host that can
provide a wide range of security features to protect your site. Look for hosts
that will scan your site for malware and vulnerabilities and can detect and
protect intrusions. Beyond that, you'll also want email scanning and spam
removal, SSL certificates, and remote backups.
7.
Room to Grow
When you start an online business, it means
that as your business grows, your website is going to grow too. What may start
as a small website, a few pages, a few products and a few thousand visitors a
month can soon become a dozen websites with thousands of products and millions
of visitors. In addition, you may also have to run various background
applications that require large data storage and huge processing power.
When you choose a web host, you need one that
can give you the ability to grow - but at the time and rate that best suits
your company. You may have a tight budget and need low-cost shared hosting when
you start out; As you grow, you can move from shared to VPS to dedicated
managed servers. Eventually, you may want to move to cloud hosting.
In fact, you should choose a web host that
can offer all these types of hosting and which can help you to move from one
type of hosting to another without any complications.
8.
Website builders
One service that is always worth looking into
a web host is a website builder. Many business owners wrongly consider building
a website to be a highly technical process and spend a lot of money getting a
web developer to build one for them. In fact, a large number of websites that
businesses require can be built very easily using an automated website builder.
There are website builder programs that let
you design how your website looks and features but take care of the coding for
you. There is no need to know about HTML, CSS or PHP. You just focus on
choosing the page layout, colors, fonts, etc and then inputting the content. Modern
website builders come with a variety of templates, images, and features that
allow you to create a professional website and customize it to suit your brand.
If you choose a web host that has a website builder, you can save a lot of money designing your website and have the ability to change the way your website looks at any time.
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