When an individual looks to start a small business they are really putting a lot on the line taking the big steps to create something so risky. Business owners should want two things from a web host and a website. That is reliability and service. These two things can make or break your success online.
Who has the best web hosting for small business? There are really many options out there and a lot of your choice should surround how versatile you are with computers and the internet. If you look today there are many options for building a website and this can be your deciding factor, alongside your staffs and your own capabilities to build a website. Lets take a look at the deciding factors on what makes a web host a good host for a small business.
Before building a website and deciding on the proper host for your business, it is important to think about these deciding factors before you reach your final decision.
Best Web Hosting for Small Business – STAFF CAPABILITIES
WEBSITE BUILDERS
There are many web builders out there that come with hosting and are fairly easy to build a website with. These builders were developed to make web creation easy.
- Weebly
- Jimdo
- Webs
- Go Daddy
- Wix
- Our list of website builders
These are all a web based software that allow you to build, edit and create content through the companies hosting/systems. There are a number of factors you should know about before using one of these resources.
- Your content, website and business are completely at the mercy of the companies success.
- Two if you violate any of the terms of one of these builders they may hold your website or not allow you to use their service any longer. Thus you will have to start back at square one.
I have never gotten great support from these companies and you should only use them if you want all of your eggs in one basket, or you lack certain technical ability to work with more advanced builders such as Word Press.
Word Press should be your choice for a website creation tool and you can get started using Word Press, with a good hosting provider.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION
EMAIL, ECOMMERCE AND OTHER SERVICES
SPEED, RELIABILITY AND SUPPORT
It is important that the host you choose offers speed, reliability and support. These three factors will decide whether a potential customer lands on your web page and backs out, or if they land stay and you make a sale.
- Speed is important and if a web host is slowing down the speed of your website you need to make changes.
- Reliability is very important and if your website experiences any down time due to the hosting you just lost some money.
- Support is last but not least, if you do not get an immediate response from your hosting company when there is a problem, you have more than one problem. A good host will respond and find you a solution to your problem very quickly.
BUDGET AND PRICING
HOSTING OPTIONS
There are a lot of web hosts available on the market today. What I am going to focus on here is all the factors above and list the hosts off one through seven, one being the best and seven being a good choice, but not my first. Good hosting for a small business is a host that offers seo, apps, variety of web builders, speed, reliability and support. Here is my list.
- Liqui Layer: I have used this host to my utmost satisfaction every time I work with them. If you are looking for the best blend of all the factors we discussed then Liqui Layer should be your choice.
- Blue Host: every webmaster I talk to that has used blue host says they are very good to work with. They offer top quality hosting, support and features that make them top of the list in small business web hosting.
- Jaguar PC: a great choice for hosting, this company has been running for 14 years which is a good sign of reliability.
- WP Engine: while every one of the hosts in this list offer Word Press that is what these folks specialize in. They are a great choice for small business or individual hosting of Word Press. (very good service handles lots of traffic)
- Register.com: I like register.com they are very good at relating to people and showing they care. They have been around for a while and they offer a free domain name with their hosting.
- Glow Host: I have not personally worked with Glow Host, but they have been a hosting company for ten years and the reviews of there service are very good.
- Go Daddy: I put Go Daddy last even though I use their service to purchase domains, I had a bad experience with their customer service. I give them credit for the great things they have done and can do, but I did not like waiting 24 hours for a response from my hosting provider.
For a full list of these hosting providers, please visit our hosting page.
The moral of the story is if you want the best web hosting for your small business you should go with another small business. This way you get the care and nurturing that you would give your customers back from your web host.