Why Do You Need Business Website Hosting?

Your hosting solution could have a great effect on the success of your business.

Website hosting is one of the internet’s less tangible services, yet it’s also one of the most critical. Without web hosting services, none of the sites you visit – including this one – would be accessible. More importantly, companies would be unable to promote their products and services, accept online sales, and so forth.

At its core, web hosting provides space on a large server for web pages and their contents to be stored, while allocating sufficient bandwidth resources for the general public to log on without delay. Small-scale web page hosting can be uploaded via file transfer protocol (FTP), or through an online interface, and represents an ideal solution for private individuals wanting to create a blog or a family website. However, corporate clients will typically need more resources than this, and this is where the choice of hosting solution begins to make a difference.

Companies may have databases to manage product stock levels, or interactive forms enabling customers to get in touch with them in a variety of ways. Depending on the site’s coding, there may be a requirement for application platforms such as Java or PHP. Any sites handling transactions will need secure connections (formerly known as SSL but now referred to as TLS), and companies wishing to regularly update online content will need a control panel or interface through which they can modify text and images, manage email accounts, and so forth.

Since every successful company expands over time to offer more products and services, it’s clear that hosting solutions also need to grow. Choosing your first web hosting company is therefore critical, yet many people are seduced by whichever firm offers the lowest annual hosting costs. This is a common and understandable mistake, but it can be a serious one – the process of migrating from one host to another sometimes seems daunting despite the relative simplicity of actually doing so. A combination of inertia and fear may prevent someone with limited IT savvy from having the confidence to leave behind a limited (and limiting) hosting company, so consider from the outset whether a prospective hosting service can expand to accommodate ecommerce and multiple domains. You may only need a WordPress account today, but your company will hopefully expand to cover new markets or adopt multiple brand/trading names.

Cheaper hosting companies may be unable to offer guarantees about the amount of downtime their client sites may experience. An offline website will drive visitors into the welcoming arms of competitors, so don’t accept anything less than a 99.99% service level agreement. It’s also crucial to look for a company with multiple servers, offering reassurance that an unforeseen failure at one location won’t affect the wider service, and 24-hour expert support should be included in any hosting package for peace of mind.

Don’t be tempted to register your domain name in one place. Instead, pay another company to design a website and then seek a third provider to host it. Industry leaders like UK2 can undertake all these services under one roof, with a single customer account and no hidden charges. We don’t bamboozle customers with unnecessary technical jargon, which is possibly why we’ve attracted clients in over 200 global destinations during the last two decades. Web hosting may be crucial to any company’s long-term success, but it certainly doesn’t have to be complicated…

Visit UK2.net today to get started on your business website.