Introduction
If you aren’t familiar with web hosting, then have a look at our previous article on webhosting, what it is and how it impacts your business.
When it comes to choosing a hosting option, especially when it is for the first time, you may be tempted to go with the cheapest option. After all, you have probably rationalised it by thinking that your business is just starting and what can really go wrong, but you will be surprised!
Security – don't neglect it!
Security is not the first thing that springs to mind when choosing a hosting option. Cheap web hosting plans often have no security or a marginal amount. You may initially be under the impression that you are saving money, but it may land up costing you far more than you imagine.
Website attacks have a lot more frequently than you think, and just because your website is new, don’t be under the illusion that you’re less likely to be attacked.
Millions of sites are impacted by malware, and because you are on a shared server, you may be more susceptible to cyber attacks than you realise. Security is crucial to you and your customer, especially if your site intends to store personal information or facilitate payments.
An attack on your website can lead to a loss of all your data, and as a result, your business will have been compromised and your credibility ruined. Imagine as a new business having to call a client and advise them that their information has been compromised. The time that you have spent forming a relationship with your client will immediately be irrelevant due to the lack of trust they will have in you and your business.
A more expensive hosting plan costs more for a reason. They are far more secure due to the various layers of protection and will inevitably save you in the long run.
Backing up your site
A more expensive plan is more likely to also provide daily back-ups, which are crucial, especially if your website goes down but more about that later. And on a side note, you need to stop looking at web hosting plans from a cost perspective and rather view them as a provider offering you a quality solution integral to keeping your business up and running.
As mentioned, backups are crucial, especially when the server crashes or your website goes offline for other reasons. Cheap hosting plans rarely offer daily backups. Their backups tend to be on a monthly basis which is fine if your website goes down on the last day of the month; any earlier than that, and you are in trouble.
Back-ups ensure that your content is protected and, most importantly, safe even when your website goes offline. These cheaper options will probably keep your backups on the same server, which won’t help if their server crashes, as you will lose all of your backups and your website. All the hard work and costs that have gone into designing and creating the perfect website will be for nothing, as you will have lost it all.
Some cheaper plans keep your backups on a separate server which sounds like the perfect solution. But this is where potential hidden costs come through, and in these types of situations, you have no choice but to pay up. They may be backing up your site, and your data and content will still be accessible, but they generally require an additional fee to restore your site.
The ‘premium’ options include this service in their price – there are no hidden or unexpected costs that will occur during a crisis situation.
Performance – or the lack of it
Cheaper hosting sites are cheaper for a reason, and you will pay for that with a lack of performance. In other words, your website will be slow. If you have read any of our previous articles, you will know that 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load. Think about that; you could potentially lose out on just under 40% of your potential clients due to your website’s performance.
So why do cheaper hosting plans lead to poor performance? You need to remember that you are sharing the server with other websites, and you have no control over who you share the server with. Nor do you have control over their traffic or activities. This can lead to a decrease in bandwidth and even a crash if various sites sharing the server end up unexpectedly with high traffic levels. In other words, your website could experience poor performance due to no fault of your own, and there is nothing you can do about it.
Poor performance will also negatively impact your Google rankings, and as a new website, you want to increase your organic traffic as much as possible; Google rankings are the one way you can do that. Your objective is to ensure that your site is up and running 24/7 and provide your current and potential customers with the best user experience.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) side effects
As you well know, SEO is key to your website’s rankings. Optimising your site is a task in itself and is the one aspect you have control over. When it comes to rankings, some of the most important factors that search engines take into account are security and performance.
If Google, for example, decides that your website is not secure, your site will be flagged as a security risk and won’t feature in their rankings. One simple decision based on “cost saving” has negated any SEO work you performed on your site, and basically, you won’t feature in any searches.
Back to performance – poor performance will impact your Google rankings. Sites that take too long to load lose users. This means that your potential customers leave your site, increasing your bounce rate. Google interprets high bounce rates as unsatisfied customers, and therefore, Google won’t show your site to other customers as it ‘obviously’ didn’t produce the results they were searching for.
To put it in perspective, most users will wait about 5 seconds for a page to load before getting frustrated and moving on – yes, that’s the 40%!
Support
Support is one of those things that you don’t need until you do. And let’s be honest, it’s normally during a crisis when you need support. At the precise time, you can’t afford to wait. Cheaper plans are not renowned for their service, and the ones that do, well, their support staff are not highly skilled and likely won’t be able to resolve your issue immediately or at all.
Some plans do have highly skilled support staff, but then due to your plan option, they only assist with certain requests (which are generally basic), for anything more complex, they won’t be able to help, or you may need to pay an additional fee for them to resolve your problem.
Conclusion
You may be under the impression that a cheaper plan will save you money, but is it worth it and really cheaper in the long run? Aside from the potential pitfalls discussed above, the hidden costs that come in the form of additional payments you never anticipated can push up that cost much above what you would have paid for a “premium” plan.
Let’s relook at some of these hidden costs,
- Enhanced website security measures
- Increased website performance
- Data/website back-ups
- Technical support
So, your initial perception of cost saving might as well get thrown out. The other challenge with cheaper hosting plans is that you are basically being held captive, as the problem with hidden costs is that you only find out about them when you have no option but to pay them.
Not all cheap hosting plans are created equal; the quality of who is hosting your site is also very important. If a cheap plan is your only option, make sure to research the provider to ensure they are reputable. There are many reputable web hosting providers that offer various packages, including a more budget-friendly option. One of the advantages of going with this type of provider is that they have the capacity to grow with your business. As your website’s requirements change, you can easily upgrade to the next plan without having to find a new provider.
And finally, can you afford to have a poorly performing, unsecured site where you are more likely to lose potential customers, your credibility, your data, and, worst-case scenario, your entire site?
