Think of the web as one big chain of storage units. Before your website can live online, you have to buy a storage unit to have somewhere to hold it. That’s where a website host comes in. A website host is the link that connects your website to the rest of the internet so everyone can see it.
Not all hosts offer the exact same services. Use this infographic to help know what to look for in a host.
(Psst – is your website not delivering the results you want? Download our free Inbound Marketing checklist to see how to improve your website traffic and conversions.)
Security
An unsecure site puts both you and your visitors at risk of malware or data theft. There are some steps you can take to secure your website yourself, but the easiest way is to invest in a web host with reliable security measures. Part of our web hosting includes constant monitoring, security updates and malware scanning so that your site is never at risk. We also regularly back up your site, so if a security threat comes along we can restore an old site.
Speed
On average our customers’ sites see 120,000 visitors a day and about 43.8 million visits per year. As visitors overlap and engage with the site, it’s important that they don’t notice any lag. Considering that visitors will only wait 6-10 seconds for a page to load, a speedy site is key. Our web hosting routinely tracks your site’s speed and makes tweaks to keep speed up – resizing large files, compressing images, updating plugins, etc.
Monitoring
Do you have time to watch your website every second of the day? Unless you’ve found a way to time travel (if so, please let us in on the secret) you can’t keep track of your website and your business a the same time. A good web host monitors your site 24/7. With our monitoring, we know most of the time before our clients do if their site has a problem and have restored it before they’re even aware of an issue.
Our team is all Midwest-based and on call 24 x 7 x 365 for all emergency needs and requests. You will speak to a US-based team member who probably knows the inner workings of your site better than you do and can fix it faster than just about anyone out there. With most down sites, we can have them up and running within 15 minutes of becoming aware of the issue.
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Take Control of Your Website
Our Buzz Builders Online Marketing programs will get you found online. And if you’re looking at a new website, our Minneapolis Web Design programs create beautiful and functional websites that get results.