In 2017, more than 70% of small businesses in the United States had their own website, and expectedly, this figure will increase in 2018. Most businesses have their own websites featuring their products and services, and even many of the physical businesses have completely diverted to online businesses and are doing their work through the website without any physical location.
If you are running a business of any type and do not have a website, consider it. In today’s world, it’s not just helpful, it’s necessary. It can also help you boost your business. You can easily set your website up by considering some of the basic components of a business website:
- A domain name – It is the name or identity of your website such as mygoodbusiness.com
- A reliable web hosting solution – Web Hosting is a dedicated space for your website on a server.
- Development of the website – It contains the code and design of your website that deals with the layout, pages, and other necessary features of your website.
- Content creation – One of the most important components for a website, because quality content can help you drive traffic to your website.
- Promotion and advertisement – Every business and website needs promotion and advertising to spread the word about their products and services.
In this post, we are going to tell our readers about the essential elements of a good company that provides reliable and fast web hosting solutions for small businesses. But first of all, let’s learn the types of web hosting.
Types of Web Hosting
- Dedicated Servers – Your own a dedicated machine placed in a data center. You have full control over the machine and you can manage it directly.?
- Virtual Private Server (VPS) – A virtualized machine on a dedicated server (think of it like a “slice” of a dedicated server). It’s still fully yours, but it is smaller.
- Shared Hosting – A small space in a web hosting server along with a plethora of other websites on the same server.
- Cloud Hosting – Hosting based on a cluster of other servers.
All the mentioned hosting services have certain pros and cons. We are not discussing the pros and cons; however, here are some of the essential elements of a small business web hosting solution.
7 Essential Elements of a Small Business Web Hosting Service
1.99.99% percent Server Uptime
In a physical business, how would you feel if you lose a customer because your shop was closed for an unknown reason? Likewise, a downtime of even a couple of minutes can lead to a potential customer loss. So, a reliable web hosting server has almost 99.99% percent uptime (and a policy in place to deal issues if that cannot be maintained).
2.Up-to-date Hardware That Meets the Latest Standards
Outdated hardware may lead to potential downtimes from part failures, and in severe conditions data loss if the server crashes. So, never go for a cheap web hosting providers that may have installed the outdated hardware like processors, internet cards, HDDs, and RAMs. The best web hosts never compromise on the hardware and internet bandwidth quality and provide the best available services.
3.Web Server’s Security
Cybercriminals are always ready to find a hole in less secure servers. Once they succeed, it may become harmful to the website owners as well as their users because most of the websites have the personal data of users stored in web hosting spaces. A reliable web hosting service provider always makes sure that the servers are protected with the latest tools to overcome any hacking, virus, malware, and DDoS attacks.
Following are some necessary tools that MUST be installed in a web hosting server, just to name a few:
- Antivirus & Malware scanning tools
- Antivirus & Malware removal tools
- IP blocking services
- Firewalls
- DDoS prevention
4.Anti-spam email monitoring
A safe and sound web hosting server comes equipped with the anti-spam email monitoring tools. Spamming can be a serious issue and may result in IP blacklisting. So, the anti-spam email monitoring tools should be up to the mark to monitor inbound and outbound emails and avoid any serious issue. Email whitelisting and blacklisting options are also an essential part of the email monitoring tools that help you in blacklisting the culprits and whitelisting the trusted ones.
5.24×7 Efficient Support
Disasters are inevitable and no one knows when they may struck by one. Similarly, a web hosting service provider may face any disaster at any time either it is a DDoS attack or a malware. In such circumstances, the support team makes sure that things go normal and try to solve the issues or suggest alternatives to the customers. A reliable web hosting solution provider has an up to the mark support staff that is highly trained and equipped with the latest tools to increase their efficiency.
6.Programming Languages Support
There are various tools and languages that are used to develop websites of different types. So, the support for almost all necessary programming languages and related tools is one of the most essential elements of a web hosting server. Although there are several languages to consider, the most popular are:
- PHP
- ASP
- JSP
- Cold Fusion
- Ruby on Rails
7.Timely Backups and Creation of Restore Points
An all-around service provider is the one who takes regular backups of all the servers and creates restore points on a weekly or monthly basis. In case of any virus attack or hacking attempt on a specific website, the loss can be reduced if a backup is saved on the server that can be restored with the help of the support department.
Things to do before choosing a Web Hosting Provider
- Contact the Sales Department – To get answers of any possible questions you may have regarding the service and support.
- Read Terms & Conditions – Specifically to read their policies regarding warranty and refunds.
- Read Old Customers’ reviews – Reviews can really help you to decide about a hosting provider.
- Choose the right package – Always check all the available packages and choose the best one as per your needs.
Errors to avoid when choosing a web hosting provider
- Don’t go for free web hosts
- Never rely on disaster recovery backups
- Try not to purchase a domain and web hosting from the same company
- Don’t sign up for more than a year without trying it first