As it has often been said, the best designed website is of little use to the owner without visitors. This is why every webmaster or business owner seeking to have a prominent online presence invests time and money to drive traffic to his or her site. One of the key factors that may have a significant impact on the amount of visitors a website gets, besides common factors such as SEO and web design, is the web host that hosts the site. Here are a few reasons why you should only chose a reliable web host to increase your website traffic.
Uptime reliability
One of the most essential requirements of a website that seeks to gain more visitors on a daily basis is accessibility. A good website should not only run smoothly but be accessible at all times too. Accessibility is one of the core needs that a reliable web host should address. Accessibility in this case refers to having the website live at all times without interruptions. A website hosted on a company with close to 100% uptime gets more visitors since it reflects reliability and trust. Visitors to the website should have full access to the content posted on a 24/7 basis without interruptions. Not many people would trust a site that is on today and off tomorrow. A good host should therefore provide 99.9% uptime guarantee to ensure business transactions and other critical functions of the site are not interrupted. Uptime reliability can make a big difference in whether people can be turned into returning visitors or be lost forever. Besides the website’s overall online presence, reliability should also address other critical issues such as website loading speed to avoid having customers click away to your competitors due to slow page loading and frequent downtimes.
Bandwidth
This is one of the most critical issues in selecting a reliable web host. Bandwidth in web hosting actually refers to the amount of storage provided to the website and the amount of data visitors can download from a website. A small business website may not think much about bandwidth but as the site grows and gains more visitors in time, the amount of bandwidth allocated to it has the potential to either make or break it. Most companies provide either monthly or yearly bandwidth allocations depending on the hosting plan a customer chooses. The Internet is full of thousands of web host companies promising megabytes and even terabytes of bandwidth. It is however, important to find a reliable company that will provide more bandwidth than you currently need to cater for the future growth of your website traffic. Having a dedicated server provides extra bandwidth which comes with extra storage. This provides visitors with optimum experience when they land on the site and a reason to visit again. Happy visitors will always return for more, tell their friends and colleagues about your site, and increase your customer base.
Security concerns
Security has become a major concern for everyone in the online environment. A site that looks solid and secure appears more secure than one without any form of online security. This is especially important for businesses handling critical transactions online that require clients to submit either personal or financial information. A reliable host can enhance your site’s security by providing good secure server certificates (SSL) to make your site not only reliable but trustworthy too. Increased trust means better search engine ranking and more visitors.
Support system
An effective support system is critical in times of crisis, such as when the website goes down without notice or when the owner wants to upgrade to another plan with the least interruption of his or her site’s online presence. A web host with 24/7 support and excellent communication will ensure that the website remains uninterrupted and accessible to new and existing visitors at all times.
