With stores not open for in-store shopping due to the pandemic, small businesses that were not online have had to quickly pivot to create an online shopping website. Even when the pandemic is over, an online presence for small businesses is critical since the pandemic has resulted in many people’s habits being permanently changed to shopping online. Now more than ever, the need for a robust online presence is vital. Small businesses are faced with the decision of how to choose web hosting.
Finding a proper hosting environment for a business is important, especially for smaller organizations. When I started my blog ten years ago, I chose one of the most popular web hosting companies; however, I ended up switching to a different web hosting company that better suited my needs. Startups and small businesses often need the most efficient approach that delivers a combination of cost-effectiveness and performance. By choosing services like IONOS, small businesses in Toronto can get a seamless web experience.
If you are a small business owner looking for the best web hosting service, you’ll want to keep reading. The following tips will help you find a hosting platform to maximize your organization’s online capabilities.
What Type of Web Hosting to Get?
As noted, small businesses need to balance affordability with performance. Maintaining a successful website to promote your business means getting web hosting that meets your circumstances. Do you need functional shopping carts? Do you value guaranteed uptime? Are you looking to integrate a forum of feedback component?
Consider your circumstances before looking for a host. There are several types of web hosting service:
- Shared – As the name suggests, your website will be stored on a single server alongside other sites, making this the most cost-effective hosting option. This is perfect for small businesses in most cases because you will not need a lot of server resources. However, if you expect rapid growth and a lot of site traffic, you might need to consider one of the other options listed here.
- Dedicated – If you’re willing to pay more for hosting, you can place your business on a dedicated hosting plan. Basically, your small business website will be held on its own individual server. You get all the computing power of the server exclusively for your site. If you value website performance, this is a good option.
- Cloud Hosting – Think of this as a shared hosting plan, but instead of being held on a shared server, your site is held on a virtual private server (VPS). This is a fancy way of saying your company’s site will be held in the cloud. It is ideal for business owners who see scalability as an important factor in their online output.
- WordPress – If you have a WordPress website, you can find hosting services that offer dedicated hosting for your site. In real-world terms, there is nothing new on offer – you are still choosing between a shared, dedicated, or VPS web hosting plan.
What Factors to Consider When Looking for Web Hosting?
Hosting services come in all shapes and sizes. There are many features available, but not all offers are created equal. When shopping for the best hosting service, here are the main factors you need to consider:
- Cost: Determine how much money you are comfortable spending for web hosting each month.
- Performance: Research what server hardware providers use.
- Uptime: If you don’t want your website down all the time, look for hosting with 99.9% uptime. It is now critical for small businesses to reduce website downtime to maximize online sales.
- Customer Support: Technical issues sometimes arise. You want to know you can contact your hosting service and have problems solved efficiently by reliable customer support.
- Security: Phishing, trojans, ransomware, remote access attacks. There is a world of cyber risk out there, so you need a hosting platform that keeps your site secure.
- Domain Name: Does your hosting service allow you to create your own domain names? This could be a benefit to you to have both of these services from one company.
Hopefully, the above answered your questions about how to choose web hosting. What has your experience been with web hosting companies?
You might be interested in reading, “What Type of Small Business Insurance Do You Need?”
