Small Business Web Hosting

If you are a small business owner, you need a website in this day and age. With commerce moving online at a rapid clip and smartphones and WiFi making Internet access ubiquitous, you’re missing a major opportunity by not having an online presence. But how do you get started? Before you sign up for a web hosting plan or otherwise waste money, you need to know what you need as a small business owner. There are many different web hosts out there, each offering a unique suite of features for different types of clients. Understanding how web hosting works will enable you to choose the best small business web hosting plan for your needs.

The most obvious factor you should be considering is price. Obviously, if you are looking for affordable CheapWeb Hosting, you should be mindful of how much you end up paying. However, if your small business is exceptionally popular, low-cost hosting plans may actually hurt your business by providing you with limited bandwidth and resources. In general, there are three major types of hosting plans: shared, VPS (virtual private server) and dedicated. Shared plans are the least expensive, but because these hosting plans have you sharing a server with other clients, they restrict the amount of bandwidth your site has available. High levels of traffic will quickly overwhelm the resource limits of a shared hosting plan. To avoid downtime and upsetting your customers, you should properly gauge how much traffic your site will receive so that you can pick a hosting plan that will be able to handle it.

Another important feature that you need in a hosting plan is quality technical support. When comparing hosting companies, you must examine their technical support offerings. How much downtime does the company have on average? How reliable is their technical support? Will you be able to obtain support whenever you need it? Since your website is an extension of your business, not being able to get support when your site is down or otherwise malfunctioning can result in lost sales. Cheap web hosting is not worth it if you can’t obtain assistance when your site is not working. Ideally, you want a small business web hosting provider that will provide you with technical assistance 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. In general, more expensive hosting plans provide superior technical support; for example, VPS and dedicated plans will have more extensive tech support options than shared hosting plans. Since your business is important, this is one area where you can’t afford to skimp.

Quality small business web hosting will also have extensive email features. Email is the primary means by which you communicate online, and your web host needs to be able to make your online experience as smooth as possible. In particular, you want a hosting provider that offers catch-all email: a feature whereby any email sent to any address on your business’ domain (regardless of whether the address even exists) is rerouted to a catch-all inbox. This is helpful for you because it allows you to see all emails that prospective customers and clients send to you, even if they don’t know the exact address you use. Catch-all inboxes are one of the most important features a web host has to be able to provide you.

Additionally, you also want a web host that has email autoresponders. Because you don’t have time to respond to every email you receive individually (nor do your employees), you need to automate some of the functions of your business. Autoresponders will automatically respond to emails that are sent to a particular address, with no input required on your part. By allowing computers to automate the more monotonous aspects of your business, you can focus your energies on more important parts.

Another important aspect of web hosting is storage space. As your business grows and technology advances, your website will need room to expand. A cheap web hosting plan might not cost you very much, but if it only provides you with a limited amount of storage space, it may become a liability as your online presence expands. To ensure that your business can grow without problems, look for a hosting plan that provides you with a good deal of storage space. VPS and dedicated hosting plans usually allot more storage space than shared ones. While storage space alone isn’t a good enough reason to upgrade from a shared hosting plan, it’s nonetheless an important factor to consider.

Finally, a very significant factor in CheapWeb Hosting is domain names. While some small business owners might be tempted to use free web hosts for their websites, these web hosts restrict your control over your website in ways large and small. In addition to having very tight bandwidth and resource limits, these free web hosting services also restrict you from using custom domain names. You need a web host that will allow you to register and use a custom domain name such as www.yourbusinesshere.com. Without the ability to use a .com (or .org or .net) domain, your business’ credibility will suffer in your customers’ eyes. Additionally, .com domains are ranked higher in Google search listings, meaning that not using one will hurt your visibility there as well. In order to protect your business’ reputation, you need to use a web hosting provider that allows custom .com domain names.

Being a small business owner is a big responsibility, and having an effective, attractive-looking website is an integral part of your business strategy. An ugly or poorly-optimized website will drive away customers and hurt your bottom line. In order to maximize your earnings and grow your business, you need to take your website—and web hosting—seriously. By carefully assessing web hosts and determining what your needs are, you can choose the type of hosting plan that will best help you. While web hosting may seem complicated, once you’ve gotten a little experience with it, you’ll see how a strong web presence can help your business succeed.