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When building an online presence, most business owners tend to put their focus primarily on design and content. Although these factors are highly important, people tend to treat hosting as an afterthought. Although a site's design and content play a primary role in impacting the user experience of customers, hosting also has its role and should not be forgotten.

It is true that content and design are highly important to every website. However, hosting can also be a determining factor in whether your online business is successful or not. Consider your web hosting as the backbone of your website, while the design and content make up the rest of your site's body. If your web hosting company is experiencing problems, this will directly impact your site as well. Some of the most important factors to look for in a web hosting company are reliability or uptime, customer service, the page load speed, and any other technical features that the hosting company provides. All these factors will contribute greatly to your site's performance.


Reliability-

The most important factor in choosing web hosting would have to be reliability. Any downtime your site experiences translates to less traffic and a poor customer experience. Sites experiencing poor uptimes may also suffer with search engine rankings, as your site can not be crawled by the search engines if it is down. Customers who visit a site while it is down tend to conclude that the company may be unreliable or not credible. You will want to be sure that whatever company you choose to go with for your hosting needs, they have an uptime of at least 99.9% such as Host Gator, and offer some sort of guarantee to back up that promise. You can also find programs to monitor the downtime your site experiences, to make sure that your hosting service is delivering on their promise.


Customer Service-

In the case you run into any problems with your site, you will want to be sure that your hosting company provides excellent customer service and technical support. Hosting services that lack good support can make it difficult for webmasters to modify and upgrade features of their site or address the concerns of customers. Most of the best hosting providers offer 24/7 customer support. You can test out the customer service of a company by sending them an email and checking response times. Try calling at odd hours to see if their support is available at all times. Be sure to ask questions and make sure that support technicians are able to answer them competently. Also be sure to search for hosting reviews online.


Page Load Speed-

One factor that is often overlooked, but highly important is page load speed. Slow page load speeds can even cause visitors to leave your site and potential customers may be lost. With the increasing popularity of high speed and broadband internet with users, problems with slow page load speeds are likely associated with the hosting company. If you are curious to test the speeds of your hosting service, simply ping them from your personal computer. Long response times should lead you to look for a different hosting service. Page load speeds also play a part in your search engine ranking positions, so be sure to check the speed of your hosting service before committing to a provider long-term.


Additional Features-

Hosting services will often provide additional services and features that can be accessed by contacting their customer support or through a control panel or dashboard online. A few key features to look for may be SLL or secure server and some sort of shopping cart option. You want to be sure your site can grow and new features can be added to your site without much hassle. Do not simply think about what your site is currently doing, but rather consider what your site may be capable of in the future.


If you have an established site with a good deal of content, it can be quite a hassle to change your web hosting. To avoid this, be sure to have a good hosting provider to begin with. Do your research in advance and read reviews, as there are plenty of resources to be found online. Consider what your site can become and plan for the future. Choose a good reliable hosting service, as it can provide a better experience for your customers. Currently I use Host Gator for all my hosting needs. However, be sure to do your own research and find the best solution for your own needs.