When engaging in a web design project, particularly if you’re not an expert on the subject, it’s easy to forget about what happens once the new site is complete. But it still needs to live somewhere, and just where that is can have a major impact on the success of your site.
In fact, the host of your website will determine a number of factors that will be crucial to keeping your online presence both secure and effective in the eyes of your audience. If you’re not paying attention, cheap website hosting could ruin your small business SEO.
Is Cheap Business Website Hosting Ruining Your SEO?
The Importance of Website Loading Speed
The speed at which your website loads has long had a major impact on how well it performs on search engines. In fact, Google, which is famously secretive about the algorithm it uses to rank websites in search results, has openly stated that loading speed is one variable that makes a difference. That lines up with multiple studies, which show that your bounce rate significantly increases and e-commerce sales drastically decrease for every second your website takes to load.
As we’re getting deeper into the age of mobile internet usage, website loading speed is becoming even more important. Slower internet connections and processors means pages tend to load more slowly on mobile devices, which can have a significant, negative impact on your brand. Just last month, Facebook announced that it in the name of user experience, it would stop showing ads that link to websites that load slowly on mobile devices.
Slow loading times, in other words, can kill any positive momentum you gain through SEO or other digital methods. Not paying attention to your website host may mean ending up with one that causes consistently slow load times, negatively affecting your business as a result.
For more reading, check out why your website speed really does matter.
Keeping Security Issues in Mind
In addition to loading speed, a web host that you have not properly vetted can also invite security issues that will at best become an SEO headache and, at worst turn into a major business problem.
These problems become especially important for overseas hosting companies. They may be cheaper, but will also invite security concerns that are worth considering. Even if you never run into security issues yourself, a company that Google considers unsafe will negatively impact your SEO as much as your page load speed.
Of course, we also have to discuss the tangible negative impact of keeping your data in a location that is not secure. Especially if you collect personal or financial information from your customers, you need to make sure that it will be stored somewhere safe from any hacks or leaks. That’s why the National Archives of Australia strongly recommend against storing your data outside the country.
One of the key recommendations for ensuring that your website is not compromised is to ensure you have an ongoing maintenance plan worked out.
Finding a Quality Web Host to Maximize Website Success
When you focus all of your web design and development efforts on the initial process, it’s easy to forget about web hosting. But once that happens, you run the risk of ending up with a cheap, overseas host that invites nothing but trouble both immediately and down the road.
That’s why, even at the very beginning of your web design project, you need to start thinking about the host. Ideally, you should work with professionals who can not only advise you about this important topic, but also help you find a host that will reliably hold your company’s website both now and in the long-term future.
At Pixel Fish, we know about the importance of quality hosting. That’s why we only use reputable hosts who are based in Australia, ensuring that none of our clients run into any of the issues outlined above. To ensure your website performs to its highest ability thanks to a quality host, contact us.
Let Pixel Fish take your business to the next level with a Stunning Business Website.
Check out some of our latest Website Design projects and Testimonials.
• Real Estate and Property Projects
• Not-For-Profit Projects
• Northern Beaches Projects
• IT and Technology Projects
• Medical and Health Projects
