When you’re ready to sign up for a web host, there are a lot of factors to consider. Among one of the most important is how your web host will impact your site performance. Not all web hosts are created equal, and choosing the right one can make a huge difference. Here, we take a look at three ways your web host affects your site so that you can make the best decision on your hosting service.

Speed

Your site speed will vary drastically depending on your host and your hosting package. Why should you care about site speed? Because it matters to your users. The statistics show that:

•    40 percent of people will abandon a site that takes more than three seconds to load.
•    79 percent of shoppers are less likely to buy from a site again if they’re not satisfied with the site performance.
•    Every one second delay decreases customer satisfaction by 16 percent.

Though there are many factors that affect site speed, your host plays a major role. Each time someone visits your site, their network has to make a request to your web host’s servers. If those servers are slow to respond to those requests, your users will be waiting around for your site to load.

For example, if you’ve chosen a shared hosting package, the server’s resources are split between you and the dozens of other site owners on that server. The server has to deal with many, many requests coming in at once, so it may lag in responding to your users’ requests. However, moving your site to a faster server, such as through a dedicating host package—where your site is the only one on that server—or to another shared web host, will allow the server to respond quicker and for users to quickly access your site.

Another factor that comes into play is where your host’s servers are located. The farther they are from the user, the more time it will take for the information to transfer. That’s why it’s best to use a host with physical server locations closest to your target user.

Security and Backup

There are many areas where hackers may get into your site, and one of them is through your web host. In addition to taking precautions with your software and keeping it updated, you should also seek out a hosting provider that can help secure your site from attacks and lost data. For example, your host should have a reputation for keeping the servers secure from hackers, both from digital and from physical attacks.

Another thing to look for is backup security. This is not something all hosts provide, but it can make a difference if your site security is compromised or if you accidentally delete a file. A good web host will automatically back up your site so that you can recover lost data. Your host should also offer customer support for diagnosing security problems and helping remedy the issue.

Uptime

Uptime refers to the amount of time your site remains operational. If your host has to shut down the server for maintenance, for example, no one will be able to access your site during that time. This can have a huge impact on your profits and customer satisfaction if it’s down for any amount of time or if downtime is frequent.

For example, Amazon.com was once down for 40 minutes, and that outage cost Amazon nearly $5 million in lost revenue. Unless you’re a mega giant like Amazon, your losses won’t be as drastic, but this illustrates how downtime can adversely affect your site and your business.

When creating your site, be sure you choose a web host or a website builder with a strong reputation for site uptime. Many hosts report 99.99 percent uptime, so you shouldn’t have to settle for anything less. Otherwise, it may end up costing you customers and revenue.

With these factors in mind, we hope you now have a better understanding of why it’s important to carefully consider your choice of host. Be sure to stick around for part two of our series to learn more about other factors that come into play with your web host.

For more information please visit: www.websitesetup.org