There are many things to consider when choosing a hosting provider. A good web hosting service can increase the overall website’s performance and the website owner’s experience.
Additionally, with the increase of e-Commerce trends due to the pandemic, having a website can be very beneficial in the long run. It can help achieve personal or business goals, like building a successful startup.
Google is the most popular search engine that frequently updates its ranking factors.
Doing so will help you choose the right marketing strategy for your business. With this in mind, this article will cover six web hosting traits to avoid and tips to choose the right web hosting provider.
1. High Downtime
Website uptime and downtime are important factors that determine its reliability. While uptime is a site’s capability to operate and function, downtime happens when a website is not available.
Website downtime can occur due to several reasons, such as:
- Server-related issues – Downtime most likely happens because of hardware failures, server errors, and hardware or software maintenance from the server-side.
- User-side problems – These include end-user issues, such as internet service provider’s problems, DNS configuration, and hardware malfunctions.
- Cyberattacks – DDoS attacks are among the most common cyber threats that can make your website inaccessible.
Temporary downtime, like scheduled server maintenance, might not cause major issues to your site. However, consider contacting your web hosting’s customer support if the downtime occurs frequently. Alternatively, opt for a more reliable web hosting company.
Moreover, high downtime can lead to major business loss, such as ads revenue, Google rankings, customers loyalty, and business reputation.
It might be difficult to identify the cause of downtime. However, it is still possible to track the site’s availability to minimize the chances of getting downtime. For example, consider using a website monitoring tool like Pingdom, Sematext, Uptime Robot, or Monitis.
2. Slow Page Loading Speed
Page loading speed is one of the most important Google’s ranking factors. Thus, having a fast page load speed will increase the chance of ranking on higher search engine result pages (SERPs).
Moreover, having slow-load web pages might decrease users’ interest in re-visiting the site despite its enticing content.
Additionally, slow load speed means higher chances of getting bounce rates for an online business, harming your SEO efforts.
Therefore, picking the right web hosting company with stable hosting performance is crucial. To do so, pay attention to the following several factors.
Web Server
Look for a hosting provider that uses LiteSpeed technology since it significantly boosts web performance. It is also faster than other web servers like Apache and Nginx.
Storage Type
Hardware can also affect your site’s performance. Consider looking for web hosting that offers SSD storage rather than HDD storage.
You can find most of the information, including the number of CPUs, RAM, bandwidth, and storage type, on the official web hosting provider’s website.
Data Center Location
Another factor that can affect a site’s performance is the data center’s location. So, it is highly recommended to find a web hosting provider near your area.
Web Hosting Service
A type of hosting service is also an important factor that affects web performance. For instance, a dedicated hosting service can still give stable performance even if it reaches a traffic peak.
3. Non-Responsive Website Design
Over 50% of web traffic comes from mobile internet users. As a result, Google prioritizes websites with mobile-friendliness.
A mobile-friendly website should adapt when accessed from different devices, like desktops, smartphones, or tablets. It also means the content is readable, and the web layouts can automatically adapt to the devices’ screen.
Non-responsive designs might lead to a lousy website reputation. You might lose visitors, which can significantly reduce the site’s conversion rates.
Having a responsive website design can be demanding as website owners need to optimize the overall design layouts. For instance, changing the HTML code or adding JavaScript elements might be too technical for non-developers.
Fortunately, most web hosting services include a content management system (CMS) or website builder that allows you to build a responsive website without coding.
For example, WordPress provides various mobile-friendly design templates. So, consider using one of the web design templates to make your site more responsive.
4. Poor Security
Poor security practices, such as having weak credentials and a lack of security awareness, can expose a website to cyberattacks.
If your site is hacked, it might drastically lower your Google rankings, and you can lose profit and traffic.
Therefore, aside from performance factors, security is also one of the essential aspects worth considering when choosing a good web host provider.
Most web hosting companies are secure, but it doesn’t mean you can blindly choose a web host. As end-customers, it is important to know the following security measures of your web hosting provider.
Hardware Security
Web hosting providers must have secure physical servers. For instance, it includes technicians, backup power supplies, and managed access points to avoid hardware-related issues.
Backups
In the worst-case scenario, when, for example, the server is compromised or crashed, web hosting companies can restore their clients’ data from the backups.
Additionally, web hosts might have several backups, both physical and digital. A physical backup is useful if your web hosting provider’s data center experiences a hardware failure. Meanwhile, digital backups help you restore your website and files instantly.
Network Monitoring
Constant network monitoring can be a key point to a secure hosting environment. Therefore, look for a web host that continuously monitors their physical servers and traffic.
5. Lack of Customer Support
The role of customer support is vital, especially for beginner website owners. Customer support can take care of hosting-related issues by giving answers or a guide to solve the problem.
If a web host provider lacks customer support, clients who experience technical issues might get confused or take wrong steps because they don’t know what to do.
To conclude, customer support should have a professional attitude, excellent response time, and be friendly. So, conduct some research before deciding on the right web host. For example, try contacting support and asking for help before purchasing a web hosting plan.
6. Minimum Website Updates
Frequently updating website content can also help you compete with other sites.
If your website is a blog, it is necessary to update the content regularly. Meanwhile, it is crucial for eCommerce websites to adapt to new trends, such as analyzing customer demands or market trends.
Doing so will help rank higher as Google also prioritizes sites with current or updated content. Thus, fewer content updates mean lower rankings.
It is also highly recommended to create high-quality content that can effectively help your website rank higher. Also, if you are about to update or redesign your website template, keep it simple and user-friendly so that your visitors can navigate your web pages seamlessly.
Conclusion
Knowing how to avoid bad web hosting traits can be your first step in building a successful website. Yet, it is also vital to understand how to choose a web hosting service that suits your needs.
Here is a recap of six bad hosting features:
- High downtime
- Slow page loading speed
- Non-responsive website design
- Poor security
- Lack of customer support
- Minimum website updates
Therefore, it is highly recommended to carefully research by visiting web hosting providers’ websites or reading independent reviews from other users before deciding. Good luck!