If you are an entrepreneur, you need a website. Without one, you will miss out on a lot of business. People do not turn to their high streets when they want to buy products and services anymore; they log onto their computers and use search engines. If you do not have a website, you are not going to be able to get the attention of clients and won’t make as much money. To open a website, you are going to need to find a host. This post will tell you what a host is and explain why you need one.
What Is a Web Host?
A web host is a service that stores the files you need to run your website for you. They do this by renting you space on a server. You can either lease an entire server or part of one. Shared hosting, when you rent part of a server, is an affordable way to get your website live, though you could encounter slow response speeds. Getting your own private server is perfect if you want your site to perform well. Also, try to find a host that offers uptime protection.
Uptime is a measurement of how long a service is available and how often it goes down. The higher a host’s uptime percentage is, the fewer site visitors will have to worry about your store being unavailable. Some providers offer uptime protection, with figures reaching up to 200%. With this in mind, find a service offering web hosting in Singapore with uptime protection, or a host located somewhere else. Singapore is home to 54% of data centers in Southeast Asia, though, which means it is a popular place for hosts to base themselves. The nation also has strict regulations that prevent hosts and other digital services from adopting unethical practices, which means a Singaporean host is one you can trust.
Powering Your Website
As mentioned in the introduction to this post, most people do not go out shopping for goods and services anymore. It’s much easier for them to turn their computers on and make purchases online. Because of this, finding a web host is absolutely essential. Until you have one, you won’t be able to capitalize on the vast number of people who are using the web to shop today. In addition to giving you a server to use to host your website, a host will also be able to give you your own private email server. A private email server will allow you to send and receive emails with your own customized mail tag. A custom mail tag can make you look very professional and is something that all business owners need. Nobody’s going to take you seriously if you do not have a mail tag of your own.
Fast Website Speeds
When you hire your own host, as in you go out and find one to host your site rather than using your site builder’s built-in hosting, you get to benefit from much faster website speeds. These speeds can be made even faster by hiring your own private server. As mentioned above, a private server is one that’s used exclusively by you. If you are interested in renting your own server, you need to shop around and try and find a host who’s offering reasonable deals.
In addition to shopping around, you also need to take some time to learn about the different types of hosting servers. There are many more beyond just private and shared ones, as well as servers of varying speeds. The faster a server, the more expensive it will be. However, it’ll also be a lot better. Make sure that if your website responds poorly after hiring a new host, you find another. Continuing to pay for hosting services even though your website isn’t benefitting from them is one of the worst things that you can do. Why waste money on bad hosting?
Robust Online Security
Online security is something you need to devote a lot of time to thinking about. If you don’t take care of yourself online, you could end up falling victim to some kind of fraud. If you own a business, you’ll eventually get targeted by criminals. Cybercriminals do not discriminate. As long as a business is profitable, criminals can benefit from hacking them. One of the biggest advantages to hiring a professional host is that they will become your frontline, protecting you from any cyberattacks. Make sure that when you are looking for a host, you find one who prioritizes cybersecurity and has measures in place to deter and prevent criminals from targeting their customers.
You also need to make sure that you use a VPN, have a firewall downloaded on your work devices, and that you take steps to limit data access. Data leaks most often occur from within, so blocking employees from viewing sensitive data can further protect your business. If you catch an employee leaking data or believe that you have been the victim of a cyberattack, you need to do everything you can to prevent it from happening again. If customer data falls into the wrong hands, you could be taken to court and sued. Your industry regulator could also take action against you.
Responsive Support
When you hire a host, you’ll benefit from professional, responsive customer support. Any technical issues you encounter when managing your website, you can get in touch with your host’s customer service team and ask them for help. Bear in mind that you aren’t going to be able to ask them for help with questions that relate to your site’s development. They will only be able to assist you if your website is not performing properly, i.e., it’s responding slowly, or it’s not even up at all.
Most hosts will get in touch and tell you if they are going to be performing updates, so your site shouldn’t unexpectedly go down. If you do have to deal with frequent downtime, you need to change hosts. The more your site is down, the less likely it is that you are going to be able to make money. After all, who’s going to buy products from you if your site is perpetually down? Hosts will usually be able to perform routine updates without disturbing you. They do this by staggering them so sites can stay online throughout updates.
If you own a business, you need private web and email hosting. Finding a host to work with can be difficult if you have never had to before, so take this post’s advice and find one with good reviews and fast server speeds. Give priority to private servers since they respond a lot better than shared ones.
