There are many factors involved in developing and maintaining a website for your business. From its design to its code, everything needs to be thought through to improve its performance and user experience. One of the most important factors, but one that is not always put in the foreground, is choosing a host.
This choice depends on the type of website you want to create and the size of your business. Its impact on browsing quality and customer shopping experience is quite high. That’s why it’s worth investing a little more to have high quality hosting.
Continue reading and we’ll explain what a website host is, the types and how it impacts the company. Track.
What is the host?
The website host, also called hosting, is the physical server where your website data are stored. When a user tries to visit your page, the server receives the contact and sends all the data necessary for access.
Currently, there are many third-party website hosting services. In other words, you don’t need to build your own infrastructure to create a website and make it accessible to your audience.
What are the types of hosts?
Choosing the type of server to host your website is very important to define its quality and also the best cost-benefit ratio. There are three main types of hosts you can choose from.
Shared Server
This is the most common and lowest-investment option. In this case, you host your site on a server and share your processing with all other users who host their sites on the same hardware. This means that you have a lower cost, but if other sites had very high traffic, yours performance may drop.
Dedicated Server
On the other side of the spectrum, dedicated hosting is a dedicated server for your website. Thus, you guarantee maximum use of storage and maximum performance. On the other hand, the cost to acquire and maintain an exclusive server is much higher.
Virtual Private Server
A middle ground between both is the creation of a Virtual Private Server, or VPS. Essentially, it consists of creating a virtual machine inside the server, leaving at least some of the local storage and processing power to a single site. Ideal if you want dedicated service but don’t need an entire server.
How important is the host for your company’s website?
Choosing the best hosting has a big impact on your website and your brand’s performance, even if you don’t see it right away. Some of the main examples are below.
Data Backup
A good web host service also includes some form of backup for all the information on your site. There is always the risk of an accident or internal error leading to the loss of important data, in addition to the risk of improper modification. In these cases, having a backup allows you to recover this data, even partially, instead of giving the company website a total loss.
Storage capacity
Every site has a series of files and data stored, whether in images, customer information, lines of code, among other things. And, to support all this content, the server must be able to store all these files.
By signing a contract with a hosting service, you also establish the size of storage that you seek. The biggest advantage of this outsourcing is that, if necessary, it is possible to hire more storage in the future.
Number of simultaneous accesses
This point concerns the total operating capacity of the server. If you expect to receive an average of 100 simultaneous visitors, for example, it is important that the service handles all these accesses and a few more, as a margin of error.
When the host does not have the capacity to monitor the number of requests, a server “crash” occurs, where it stops responding to new requests. This can lead to some vulnerabilities on the server, in addition to costing several sales and services.
Quality of support and service
If you use a technology service for a long time, it is inevitable that you will have a problem or doubts about its operation. And to solve these problems, you’ll need the help of the hosting provider’s support team.
Choosing a company with a good support process is also critical to the performance of your website. If a problem takes too long to solve, you tend to miss sales opportunities and public interest.
Data Security
Information is one of the most valuable resources today. Therefore, there are also many people and groups interested in stealing data and using it to commit fraud or even sell it to other people.
Your provider also has a responsibility for the security of the data included. on your website. This includes the use of complex passwords, access monitoring, firewall, antivirus, among other tools that reduce the risk of an attacker getting your data.
In the last case, it is also possible to delete the information before let her be leaked. Something very useful when combined with backup.
Load speed
If a website takes more than a few seconds to load, you will lose the vast majority of your users. After all, the public doesn’t have time to wait when other solutions and products are available. This is why server access speed is so important.
First, consider the host’s processing power. Second, its location, as this affects the path between the host and the user. A dedicated server also usually has higher speed, as its processing is focused only on your website.
Understanding what a host is and choosing the best type for your company is essential for your growth. Having a specialized company makes this task much easier.
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