Every business needs an online presence – a pivotal element of which is creating a website. Yet, the process is not as straightforward as many may think. Before you can wonder about the perfect web design, you must first worry about which web hosting platform to use. In today’s world, you need a professional web hosting plan that can keep up with your website.
You might not realize it, but professional web hosting is a thriving business in itself.
According to Netcraft, as of 2020, there are over 1.2 billion registered hostnames online! And the sector itself was valued at 56.7 billion USD in 2019. As per Grandview research, this figure is projected to increase to a staggering 171.4 billion USD by 2027.
Regardless of the sector, your business falls under, having a professional web hosting solution is crucial for a robust online presence. Here are some of the vital benefits that only professional platforms can provide businesses.
1. Improved Site Performance
Optimum site performance is immensely important for a business.
Take these alarming statistics into account.
According to Neil Patel, 79 percent of eCommerce site visitors who are dissatisfied with the website performance end up abandoning the platform forever! Similarly, 40 percent of users abandon websites that lag.
To best retain visitors to your website, you must make a point of reducing the instances of glitches and lags. One way to do so is via working on your web design. For instance, you can create a clean and minimalistic design to boost page speed.
Apart from this, your professional web hosting provider also helps in improving the performance of your website. Quality providers work on providing a high load speed, regardless of the contents of the website.
2. Technical Support
Glitches and lags are part of the digital world. Regardless of how much you try to avoid them, there is always a probability that they will eventually occur and disrupt the experience of your site visitors.
Despite the fact that professional web hosting services tend to reduce such instances, you must always be prepared for the worst-case scenario. Your web hosting server must be quick to respond to crashes if and when they occur.
This is another facet where a professional solution comes in handy. Technical customer support is provided by all the top service providers around the clock. This allows all technical issues to be addressed promptly, thereby reducing dissatisfaction among customers.
3. Liberty In Web Design And Templates
Web design is hands down among the most important elements of developing a website – second to choosing the right web hosting provider. This is because people usually form opinions about a brand’s reliability and credibility based on its website.
Now, let’s do a short exercise. How would you feel about a business that offers the same overused template as other websites? The chances are you will judge it for not being professional enough. This is the perception that is avoided if businesses opt for professional providers.
Why?
This is because professional web hosting services don’t limit their users in terms of designs and templates. This means that you can create a custom website as per your branding strategy. Such websites are bound to look more professional than web hosting services that limit users to a given template.
4. Effective Data Management
While amateur web hosting solutions tend to limit websites when it comes to content management, layout, and frequency of ads posted, this is not the case if you choose the best web hosting companies out there.
A professional solution, while for a price, offers web developers the chance to decide how the articles or content they post appears on the website. You can add as many web pages to your website as possible – another feature that is missing in underperforming solutions.
For instance, WordPress is known for its quality of web hosting solutions. See how comprehensive BBC America’s website (a business using WordPress) is.
5. Unlimited Bandwidth
Free web hosting services allow website providers only with a fixed about of space and bandwidth. In layman’s terms, only a given number of people will be able to visit your website at a given time. Similarly, you will only be able to have a limited amount of data on your site.
One of the best advantages that a professional web hosting service provides is that it allows brands to have space and bandwidth, as per the requirement of your business. This means that you can choose a package that best suits your need, as per the stage of growth you are at.
For instance, while low bandwidth and space might be ideal for you when you are a startup, owing to the affordable price of such packages, with increasing traffic, you will be able to upgrade your website to sustain more visitors.
6. A high SERP
Professional web hosting services provide businesses with immense control over SEO practices. This includes control over website structure, codes, and templates.
This helps a business in boosting their search engine ranking through improving the on-site SEO of their website. And every firm knows that without proper SEO practices, having a quality website doesn’t matter.
This is because, as per Search Engine Journal, over 93 percent of online experiences begin on a search engine. And 75 percent of people don’t bother scrolling past the first page of search results.
So, unless your website ranks highly for the right keywords, none of your efforts will materialize. By giving control regarding SEO opportunities, professional web hosting services allow brands to create a winning SEO strategy.
7. Enhanced Security
According to Fundera, over 64 percent of companies end up experiencing web attacks. And since the rise of COVID-19, the FBI has reported that cyber crimes have increased by 300 percent!
Having a secure website is crucial for a lot of reasons. This includes:
- For securing customer data.
- For maintaining brand image.
- For boosting consumer trust with the brand.
Using a professional web hosting provider allows businesses to access a variety of robust security privileges. Compared to a free solution, the tools offered by premium providers help keep cyberattacks at bay. Measures include security audits, virus scanning, necessary OS updates, and spam filtering.
Additionally, professional providers have expert system engineers in their team who are well-versed in dealing with security-related challenges.
8. High Uptime
When searching for the best provider, the chances are that you came across the word “high uptime” quite a lot in comparative analysis.
First, let’s begin by understanding what this word means. You might have gotten messages from your bank about their website going down for maintenance, right? How frequently that occurs depends on the uptime of the web host.
Uptime refers to the frequency of your site’s ability to go online. All web hosts offer a given percentage as to how much your site will go online. The remaining time (when the site is not online) is allocated to system updates, repair, and maintenance.
All professional web companies offer an immensely high uptime – some to the extent of 99.5 percent! So, this is an advantage you will surely enjoy if you select the right provider.
9. Low Long-Term Costs
We know what you are thinking – professional hosting is quite expensive! It all comes down to how you view the cost. While the short-term operational time is significantly higher when you choose professional web hosting, the long-term operational costs are much more efficient and affordable than you can imagine.
Let’s view it one step at a time.
You choose a seemingly affordable free web hosting service. To manage it, you must hire resources like an admin and a web designer– things that require money. You must also deal with the revenue loss caused by limited bandwidth and frequent glitches.
Compared to this, let’s assume that you select a professional provider. The one-stop solution means that once you choose a package, you don’t need to worry about any web hosting related problems. So, you end up saving money overall.
10. Branded Email Address
One thing that you might have noticed about all the big brands is that they have dedicated email addresses. This adds to the credibility of the business. Think about it. Would emails by brands like Netflix or Amazon hold the same weight if they were from an outlook or Gmail account? Probably not!
Therefore, you need a branded email address for the success of your business. And only a professional web host can offer you the ability to create a domain-specific email address. And if you pick the right provider, you might even be provided with email-management tools in the package as well!
Such providers help you in streamlining your email campaigns by making it easier for you to send, receive, forward, and keep tabs on your emails.
Parting Thoughts
There is a lot more to gain than lose if you select a professional web hosting service. Yes, the immediate cost may be too much, especially if you are a budding business. But, think of it as an investment rather than a cost.
Due to all the benefits, such providers help you realize, that in the long-run, you will end up saving money and growing your business.
