Business Web Hosting - The Reliability Difference

Business Web Hosting - The Reliability Difference

The thing that separates good web hosting from the bad is, without a doubt, reliability. If you want your visitors to be able to access your site, you need it to be online and secure. Your site's speed is really important as well. Here are some tips on what to look for in a business web host who can offer you all these features at competitive prices.

Whether it’s an e-commerce website or an informational blog, website downtime can have a huge impact on your business if not addressed quickly and effectively. If your site is down, you lose conversions, sales and the opportunity to interact with your visitors. The worst thing about downtime is the lack of communication from the hosting company.

Here are some ways to ensure that you’re getting a web host with reliable service:

Have more than one hosting option

If you’re working with an agency to develop a custom website and/or a blog, make sure that they’ve chosen multiple hosts as well. There are several hosts who offer similar services, so comparing them will help you choose which one has the best performance records. Also, having multiple options can help in case one host suffers an outage or issues an unscheduled maintenance alert.

Some good choices in this category are Bluehost, Hostgator and HostMonster.

Base your search on price, cost and options not just technical requirements

This is a common mistake made by people who believe that the most reliable web hosts have the least expensive plans. You can be sure that any host with a few basic features will offer you good service if you’re willing to pay for it, but this is not always the case. The number of features on a basic plan is determined by budget and technical requirements rather than what’s best on paper. Depending on the level of service you need, it may be better to pay a little more for extended features– in the end you will probably come out ahead financially and with a better site.

Finally, remember that any essential functionality or plugin you add to your basic plan can be an additional expense. Do some research on sites like Fatcow, GoDaddy and Hostgator to find out which services they provide at what cost.

For custom websites - look for a web host who will provide access to advanced support and development tools. These tools are necessary for agencies that want to customize the menus, homepage and other aspects of the site design. Look for hosts who offer access to an integrated development environment, staging and test environments, and application monitoring tools.

When choosing an eCommerce web host you will want to find one that has all the necessary features at a price that fits your budget. The best options for small businesses and eCommerce professionals have the following: domain name services, email services, unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, SSL certificate support, shopping cart integration and payment gateway support. All of these features are available at prices that range from $5 to $15 per month per site. Choose a web host you can trust by reading customer reviews on sites like Fatcow.

When you’re looking for a web host, never take one company’s word for it that they are the best option. Trustpilot is a site where customers can rate and review their experiences with different companies. You can go to any web host's profile on Trustpilot and see how satisfied customers really are.

This is an excerpt from The Reliability Guide, an ebook by ServerStability.com . It details the many factors that contribute to reliability and which ones are important to your business or organization. You can download the Reliability Guide here . 

As technology changes rapidly, so do the things we need from our computer systems. Confused and overwhelmed by all of the new features and software? Don't worry, these days even a new computer user can learn the basics in a matter of minutes. This eBook breaks down all the basic processes you'll need to know, along with exercises to help you learn how to use each one. Find out how much time you'll save with this eBook. Buy now on Amazon .

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© 2016 ServerStability.com - All Rights Reserved. No part of this site may be reproduced without expressed written consent from the owner of this blog site. Notifications and comments to this address are welcome and appreciated so that we can improve our service to you (but please don't spam).  Disclaimer: This site is not affiliated with Microsoft .

The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the blog author and do not reflect Microsoft 's policies or beliefs . The information provided here is for informational purposes only and is not intended as an endorsement or warranty about any product, service or company .

Conclusion & Final Thoughts

I hope that you've found this summary of all the Microsoft Azure hosting options helpful, and please feel free to leave any questions or comments in the comment section below. Also browse around ServerStability.com for more resources on ensuring high availability with Microsoft Azure .

If you're still wondering what's the best way to host your web site on Microsoft Azure , our next article will take a closer look at how many customers host their sites on Microsoft Azure and what they think of it. You may also be interested in our earlier pieces on hosting with Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform .

In the meantime, why not check out these articles as well:

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