Let’s be honest—user expectations are at an all-time high. If your website doesn’t load within a couple of seconds, more than half of your visitors will just… Hop off to a site that does, even if it takes them longer to jump through 3 or 4 websites before they find one that loads fast.
This weird psychological issue of not being able to wait more than a few seconds for a website to load isn’t to be taken lightly! If you want to be successful online, THIS should be your first port of call—keeping your visitors on your site when they land there.
There’s plenty you can do to speed up your site, but it all starts with choosing a great web host. Yes, your web hosting and user experience are more closely linked than you think… Keep reading to find out all the details and learn how to use them to your advantage.
The Impact of Web Hosting on Digital Marketing
Web hosting tends to be one of those “set it and forget it” kind of things. But it’s really more than just a place on the internet to store your website’s files. It has a pretty huge impact on your digital marketing, too… And if you don’t pay enough attention to it, you could be shooting yourself (and your website) in the foot.
A good web host is more than just an easy landlord for your site. If they do their job well, they’ll give your site performance a nice boost. A bad web host can end up damaging your site (both in performance and reputation). Here’s an overview of how your hosting affects things:
Site Speed and User Experience
Did you know that your users expect your website to load within 2 to 3 seconds? If it takes longer than that, you start losing them… Yes, attention spans are THAT short these days!
High bounce rates basically tell Google that people don’t enjoy being on your site. Google then acts accordingly and pushes you down the rankings, so it’s a pretty big problem. Plus, you don’t want something as silly as a slow-loading site to be sending people off to your competitors… So, choosing your web host wisely is something you should be thinking about from the start.
Uptime and Reliability
If your site is up, it’s accessible. If it’s down, nobody will be able to get onto it. And if someone does try, it could leave a bad impression so… Choose a web host with a high uptime guarantee (99.9%+).
A lot of downtime also makes Google think that your site won’t be worth showing high in the rankings. So the more your site is offline, the harder it’ll be to rank, no matter how good your SEO is.
Security and Data Protection
Don’t underestimate how common cyber attacks are. You don’t want your site taken down by an attack because your security wasn’t good enough—it disrupts ALL your marketing, it can be a huge mission to fix, and is totally preventable with an excellent web host.
Security is about more than just firewalls and malware, though. Your host should also back up your data regularly and have an easy recovery process just in case. Rather have it and not need it than leave it and discover that you actually need it.
SEO Optimization
The faster your site loads and the more reliable it is, the more Google likes it. If you’re doing great on-page and technical SEO but your hosting is working against you, you’ll never be as successful as you want when it comes to ranking.
If you want to drive organic traffic, let your web host be your SEO foundation. It’s easier to build on a strong base with on-page and tech SEO and see real results. This could push you past your competition in the rankings, even.
Web Hosting Features That Influence Site Performance
All web hosts have the same core features. Here’s how they can influence the way your website performs. Be aware of these so you know how to optimize your web hosting to really boost your marketing.
Server Location and Performance
There are servers all over the world, and if you want your site to perform at its best, choose a server that’s close to where your target audience lives. If you sell mainly to an American audience, you want your website to be on an American server. For European audiences, European servers are the better idea.
The closer your user is to the server, the faster the data travels from the server to the user’s device. Another choice is to choose a host that offers a CDN (content delivery network), which distributes your website’s data across a whole bunch of servers globally.
Server Resources and Scalability
Things like RAM, CPU power, and storage space make a big difference to how well your website handles traffic. Not enough resources is a one-way road to slow loading times or even full crashes. Shared hosting plans are notorious for resource problems, so go for dedicated or VPS instead.
It’s also a good idea to choose a host that gives you an option to scale easily. Flexible plans or cloud-based plans are a good choice because they’re simple to grow as your business expands.
Bandwidth and Traffic Limits
Bandwidth is how much data your site can transfer in a specific period of time. If you have limited bandwidth, you might only be able to handle a certain number of visitors before your site slows down or crashes completely.
If you’re running marketing campaigns, you want your site to be up and running smoothly throughout so you don’t miss or annoy any potential customers. Choose a host with high (or unlimited) bandwidth.
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider
A reliable hosting provider should offer everything you need to keep your website visitors happy—high uptime, fast server response times, and mobile-friendly platforms. Shared hosting might be affordable, but for better performance, consider VPS or dedicated hosting.
Aside from what we’ve already mentioned, here’s what to look into to make sure you’re getting a web host that’s going to help your business grow.
Customer Support
A web host with anything less than 24/7 support shouldn’t even be a consideration. You never know when you might need help… And the longer you have to wait for it, the more your marketing, and in turn, your sales could end up suffering.
Scalability and Growth Support
Every business wants to grow. But being with a poor web host can stop that from happening. If you aren’t already with a web host that makes it easy to scale up your resources as you need to, consider finding a new host. Cloud hosting is actually your best choice here, because it’s highly flexible.
Security Protocols and Automatic Backups
The LAST thing you want is for sensitive customer data to be leaked because your security isn’t good enough. No business comes back from that kind of breach of trust. Do your research on security, and make sure your chosen host offers more than what you need.
These should include DDoS protection, SSL certificates, security patches, automatic updates, auto backups, and encryption.
How the Right Web Host Can Boost Your Business
Let’s take a quick look at the real difference a good web host can make to not just your website, but to your business overall.
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
A high conversion rate is a pretty big thing. The more people you can get to stick around on your site, the more likely they are to convert… And the higher your conversion rate, the more successful your marketing is in the end.
You might be shocked to learn that a delay of just ONE second in web page loading time can smash your conversion rate down by around 7%! That’s a big number when your livelihood depends on it.
Hosts that use features like CDNs, caching, and lazy loading naturally give their users higher conversion rates. It’s a good idea to choose a host with these things built into their plan.
Mobile Responsiveness and Website Speed
More than half of website traffic comes from mobile these days, so you really can’t afford to ignore it. Your site needs to be good-looking and fast on ALL devices, but especially smartphones.
Choose a host that understands and puts emphasis on mobile responsiveness. You may be surprised at how much this particular factor can impact the success of your marketing.
Brand Reputation and Website Performance
A web host’s performance usually informs its brand reputation. DO your research here, and don’t just limit it to each web host’s website—they may be a little biased. Check out forums, Q&A sites like Reddit and Quora, and social media. They’ll give you more honest insight into each host’s true character.
Tools for Improving Website Speed
Getting yourself on a good web host is priority number 1. But once you are, we highly recommend investing in some of these website speed tools to make sure your site is always performing at its best (and keeping your customers happy).
Google PageSpeed Insights
The best thing about PageSpeed insights is that it’s free. It’ll analyze each web page’s content and give you real insights into why it might be slower than usual, along with practical suggestions to speed it up.
Another excellent feature is that it gives you separate desktop and mobile scores, so you know exactly where you need to improve. And it integrates easily with other Google tools, just to streamline things even more.
GTmetrix
GTmetrix is a great tool to have in your stash. It gives you detailed reports on how well your website performs in terms of both speed and overall performance. You’ll get a performance score and specific suggestions for improving it.
Pingdom Tools
Pingdom Tools is a user-friendly tool that’s great for people who are new to this. You’ll be able to see a detailed breakdown of things like page loading times, page sizes, and more. Based on these numbers, it’ll give you a list of practical actions to take to bump up your score.
Conclusion
Don’t underestimate the power of choosing a good web host. You can’t build a powerhouse of a business on a weak hosting system, especially because bad hosts are a recipe for slow, frustrating websites.
Choose your host wisely and you’ll be on good solid ground. And if you’ve already got an established business but aren’t quite seeing the results you want, assess your web host before anything else—and don’t be afraid to change if you spot cracks.
Strong web host = solid foundation for a strong business. And when you’ve got a good footing, everything else you do from there on is just that much more effective. Try it and see for yourself.
About the Author
Paul Wheeler runs a web design agency that helps small businesses optimize their websites for business success. He aims to educate business owners on all things website-related, at his own website, Reviews for Website Hosting.
