Whether online or offline, the state of your reputation defines your success. However, in many cases, reputation greatly relies on other factors, especially when you’re online. A website’s design, content, and services constitute factors that can be controlled by the owner of the site. However, reputation can also be affected by availability and speed, which are factors not under the control of the owner, but of the web hosting services provider.
Hence, the choice of the right web hosting service provider is very important if you want to make your business successful via the Internet, but again, this is a very tricky process due to the fact that most companies are offering economical or free hosting services that lure the customers.
Search Engine Optimisation
SEO is also a factor that greatly affects a website’s reputation since the world has become accustomed to using search engines. Therefore, websites need to follow the various requirements of search engines in order to be easily found on the internet.
A website’s reputation with the various search engines relies on the same factors that affect their reputation with the online community. Content, design, services, speed, and availability will determine a website’s search rankings.
Free Hosting Service?
While it might be tempting to sign up with a free hosting service provider, there are few questions that must be known to all those who are looking to subscribe to a good hosting service provider. You will often find that knowing adequate answers to these queries will help in selecting the right choice for your business.
- How can you decide if the web host is good or not?
- Does the web host service provider offer sufficient disk storage and bandwidth features?
- Which type of web hosting service provider will suit your requirements?
You cannot select the right web host if you don’t know what you need. Although speed and availability are factors not under the control of a website’s owner, there are ways to ensure that a site’s reputation is not negatively affected by a hosting service.
Here are some of those ways:
#1. Choose the best web hosting provider
Every type of business on the internet has a reputation, even hosting service providers. When establishing a website that can greatly affect your reputation online and offline, it’s imperative that you purchase the services of a hosting service that has an impeccable reputation on the web.
Trusted hosting service providers will normally have been in the industry for quite some time and will already have the equipment and personnel to continuously provide high quality hosting.
#2. Type of hosting plan
It may be true that you should only go with the hosting plan you need and can afford, but you also need to consider that stability of such a plan. For instance, a shared hosting service can be cheap, but it would fail if you suddenly need more server resources due to an influx of traffic. Requiring more resources than the server can provide will slow down your site or worse, bring it to a grinding halt.
- Virtual Private Servers (VPS) is a hosting plan that is a bit more expensive than shared hosting, but it will definitely be able to provide the resources you need in any given situation. A fully managed and secure VPS hosting plan will not only decrease your workload in terms of maintaining the site, but will also ensure that your site is protected from attacks.
- Dedicated Servers are the top of the line when it comes to hosting plans and this means that these are the most expensive as well. This type of hosting plan is perfect for established websites that are already experiencing a steady income stream.
#3. Choose the right software
Every type of software, especially operating systems, have its unique advantages and disadvantages. To ensure that your site functions at its full potential, you’ll need the right software. For instance, Linux is the preferred operating system for many website owners and administrators due to its versatility, stability, and security. However, other sites prefer the Windows OS for factors related to the site’s design.
#4. Improve Security
Websites on the internet experience millions of attacks every day. Those who have excellent security are rarely affected, but those who don’t, suffer the consequences. There are several layers to a site’s security. The software that you select and the hosting service both have security platforms that protect the site from attacks. You’ll need to find out exactly how the web hosting services provider enables security for your site and how you’ll design your site to make it more secure.
A good example would be the Linux OS since it is known to be the most secure operating system today. The Linux operating system’s design has so far provided the best security for websites.
Protecting your reputation on the web should be one of your top priorities. The hosting service will play a major part in upholding your reputation although this will not be under your control. You may not be able to dictate the services of a hosting provider, but you can at least take some precautionary measures like those described above.
When you are selecting a hosting service provider, always ensure that your choice should be the right web host and suits your business requirements because these are essential for developing your business reputation among your target customers. Your reputation becomes even more important when you’re an online business or have an online presence. As such, you’ll need to be making careful selections when having your site hosted. You’ll need to choose the best web hosting provider, the ideal hosting plan, and the best software. When it comes to making a software choice, bear in mind that Linux VPS hosting is a suitable platform for online businesses.
Not only will Linux VPS increase the stability of your site on the web, it will also ensure that your site is well protected. In any business, those are the two factors that will greatly affect your online reputation.
Images: Author’s Own
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