So, you’ve just invested several thousand pounds on a fancy new website designed to take your business to the next level. And now you’ve opted to host that fancy new website on the cheapest hosting platform available.

Great. You’ve effectively set your new website up for failure.

Appropriately specified hosting is an integral part of any new website design and build, and crucial for the immediate and ongoing success of that site.

Whether it’s a 5-page brochure website with 30 users a month, or a 10,000 product eCommerce website with 30,000 visitors a month – your hosting platform could make or break (literally) your website.

This guide simplifies five key considerations when it comes to choosing web hosting for your site.

1. Security

Security is important on ANY site, but more so for eCommerce websites that may store sensitive customer data.

Your hosting must emphasise security, including continuous monitoring for unauthorised access or unusual activity. A Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate is essential to encrypt data between browsers and your server, ensuring payment and customer information remain protected. As mentioned, security isn’t only crucial for eCommerce; it also reduces the risk of hacking and SEO penalties, as well as generally maintaining your visitors’ trust.

2. Speed & Performance

Servers need sufficient processing power and memory for quick page loading.

Google recommends loading your website within 3 seconds to prevent visitors from leaving your site before it has even had chance to show its face!

In fact, if it doesn’t load in under 3 seconds then Google could penalise you in the search results in favour of other, faster performing, competitor websites.

Although other factors contribute to website speed, such as it being a well-built and efficiently coded website; hosting is the engine that powers your website.

Investing in a high end website then not backing it with a good hosting platform is like buying a Ferrari chassis, putting a lawnmower engine in it but still expecting it to go 0-60mph in under 3 seconds.

You can have all the air intakes, spoilers and ‘go-faster’ stripes you want, but without that adequate engine driving your rear wheels, you’re still going to be stuck behind that caravan.

Bonus Tip: Assess server reliability and uptime to ensure consistent performance. A reliable website host should boast a 99.99% uptime.

3. Plan For The Future With Scalability

Consider what your website will need to be capable of in 6, 12, or 24 months’ time.

Will it remain static, or do you anticipate that functionality will evolve and expand?

Will visitors (traffic) increase?

Ensure your hosting platform can accommodate sudden surges in traffic without compromising user experience.

An adequately specified web server should be able to handle steady growth or ad-hoc spikes in traffic.

If not, ensure you can upgrade your server resources with ease and minimal disruption for you and your customers.

4. Support

Think of hosting support as you would an insurance policy. You pray you never need it. But the peace of mind it offers is priceless.

Accessible and dependable support is crucial for resolving issues quickly. Optimal support includes 24/7 monitoring for website downtimes and backups.

Look for a provider with a solid support structure and prompt resolution times to give you peace of mind.

5. Consider Pricing Carefully

Unfortunately, the saying ‘you get what you pay for’ has never been more appropriate than when it comes to web hosting.

Times are tough. We get that. But, while tempting, solely considering monthly costs can lead to compromises in security and performance. Free or extremely low-cost hosting plans might harbor hidden risks.

The money you’ll initially save on hosting will be dwarfed by the money you’ll ultimately lose because of lost opportunities from potential customers who can’t access, or navigate your site, or if their data is compromised because of a hack.

Thoroughly assess packages to avoid potential security and support issues, especially if the deal seems to be good to be true!

In Conclusion

Don’t cut corners, or costs when it comes to hosting your website!

For your peace of mind, Vizulate partners with three highly reputable hosting providers that we thoroughly vetted and tested before choosing them as our preferred hosting partners. This allows us to provision the most appropriate hosting solution for your website, your customers, and your business.

Furthermore, we’ll manage everything on your behalf, but we also have 24/7 access to expert support from our hosting partners should we need to call on them.

All of our premium hosting packages include:

• Provision of server resources (processor, memory & storage) with ample bandwidth to allow for increases in traffic and processes
• SSL Certificate (https)
• Daily backups of the entire site and database
• Regular website framework maintenance (theme and plugin updates)
• Updates tested on staging environment before being rolled out to live website
• Programming language updates (e.g. updating to the latest recommended versions of PHP as required)
• Server side caching (for optimum performance)
• Downtime notifications (server has a 99.9% uptime guarantee)
• Priority support

Please note: We don’t offer website hosting as a standalone service. It is only offered alongside new website design and build projects being delivered by ourselves. We don’t host websites designed and built by other agencies or third-parties.