Business Web Hosting
Any business worth its salt is expected to have a website nowadays. A Business Web Hosting plan will enable you to build an online presence whatever size your enterprise - take a look at our pick of the best options below, and scroll further to learn more about Business Web Hosting.
Our list of hosting providers is based on:
- Usability
- Customer reviews
- Price value
Why Get Business Web Hosting?
Almost all businesses benefit from having a strong online presence. It makes you available to a huge market of potential buyers searching the Internet for your services. Your choice of Business Web Hosting plan is crucial to the process of publishing your website to the Internet and accessing that market.
A solid business website is a very useful tool for interacting with, and making your service available to, potential customers. Your site should be the go-to place for information about your business, and how you can be contacted. Having a reliable Business Web Hosting plan is vital to this as it ensures your website is available and accessible 99.9% of the time.
The cheap Business Web Hosting plans are a solid choice for small or medium sized business. The price is low because they utilize the concept of Shared Server Hosting by running multiple on a single server without compromising hosting quality or package options.
Business Hosting plans usually have extra features on top of the standard, such as forewarning you if your business starts outgrowing its hosting plan or providing that extra professional touch to help you with specific business needs.
Pros and Cons of Business Web Hosting
Pros
- Affordable and professional
- No hardware maintenance required
- Daily backups and top security
- Administer your site via simple control panel
Cons
- Inflexible plans can restrict your website's growth
- Uptime is dependent on the hosting company properly maintaining the server
Further Information
Choosing a Business Web Hosting Plan
A crucial consideration when deciding which plan offers the best Web Hosting for your small business is what your needs will be in 2-5 years time. Although many Business Hosting plans are flexible and offer the opportunity to upgrade when you need it, you stand to save significant amounts of time and money if you can secure a deal that will be appropriate to your needs from beginning to end.
Choosing an Operating System (OS) depends on your preference, although if you already have the website code you should choose the relevant option - for example, if the code is written specifically for Linux, don't get a Windows server.
The most important feature to look for is a powerful, customizable control panel - the main interface by which you’ll access the system. Secure Shell (SSH) access is desirable as it is very useful in resolving technical support issues, and one-click deployment of common software packages such as WordPress are useful too.
What Does 'Unlimited' Really Mean?
It is important to understand precisely the amount of resources that the Web Hosting company is committed to providing you. Marketing claims like 'unlimited bandwidth' or 'unlimited disk space' should not be taken literally.
There is always a point at which you start exceeding your allotted usage - look for the plan's Fair Usage Policy to get a truer representation of your plan's constraints.
Why do I need an 'Online Presence'?
The short answer? Your customers - the people seeking, purchasing and hopefully recommending your services - are online. Whether you are an international conglomerate worth billions of dollars or a small business trying to carve out a niche, there is immense value in making yourself accessible via the Internet because that is where most people first turn when they need something.
Google, the world's largest and most used search engine, processes over 3.5 billion queries every day. Someone, somewhere, is searching for something that you can provide. Turning away from this gargantuan audience when it is now so simple to get yourself online (some of the Business Hosting plans above even offer website builder tools), simply doesn't make business sense.
Your online presence also grants priceless opportunities for you to engage with past, present and future customers. There are so many virtual platforms upon which you can build a relationship with your customer base, and everyone prefers to use something different - be it email, Facebook, Twitter, or simply a listed phone number for them to call you on. Social media also offers you fantastic insight into the mindset of your customer base.
5 Steps to Starting a Business Website
1. Design it, with your target audience in mind
Design your website thoughtfully, considering your target audience and what they will expect from the site. At the very least, ensure that important information is displayed clearly on the home page and that your contact information is easily located.
Related articles: Creating a Website | Who is visiting my website?
2. Choose a domain and get your site online
Your domain name (www.yourdomain.com) creates a strong first impression of who you are, what your website does, and how professional it is. Once you have one you are happy with, use one of the Business Web Hosting plans listed above to get your website online. Some hosting providers even include free domains with their plans.
Related article: Choosing a domain name
3. Add high quality content
Perhaps the most important component of your business website is the content within it. Good quality content helps you rank highly in search engine results, increase traffic to your website and retain your visitors' attention. Creating keyword-rich, useful content that will make people want to stay on your site is the cornerstone of good SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Do this, and your organic search rankings will rise swiftly.
Related article: Implementing SEO on your website
4. Create social media accounts
Social media enables you to engage with your customers and learn what makes them tick. This kind of information, used the right way, is invaluable to any kind of business. There are so many different platforms available to your customers, and your business is missing opportunities if it neglects even one of them.
Related article: Promote your business with social media
5. Continuously update
Far too many websites have outdated information, which inevitably causes visitors to immediately lose faith in its integrity. Website stagnancy is a common reason for search engine rankings to drop. Make sure to regularly update your website as well as regularly posting to social media and sending email newsletters.
Example of a Good Business Web Hosting plan
The goal of every business is to grow, and your Business Web Hosting solution should grow with you. Use our list of providers above to find a flexible service that scales with the business, makes it easy to upgrade, and lets you know in advance if you are starting to outgrow your plan.
Most Business Web Hosts provide a 99.9% uptime guarantee. For a business, any downtime is potential lost profit, so we made it easy for you to verify that the host has a track record of living up to that guarantee.
We have uptime monitoring for the Business Hosting companies on the list above; you can view their recent statistics by clicking 'Read Reviews'.
It is also crucial to determine what the guarantee entails. If uptime drops below 99.9%, does the provider compensate you? And if so, how?
What to look for in a Business Web Hosting plan
Reliability - look for 99.9% uptime
Server and network speed
Strong technical support
User-friendly control panel
SSL Security
Bandwidth
eCommerce shopping carts
One-click software installers
Is Business Web Hosting right for me?
Business Hosting plans ensure that your enterprise website can be found, is swift and secure, and allow you to administer your site without having to maintain the server itself.
The majority of our top choices offer a Shared Server solution which give you immense affordability combined with all the little extras you need to provide your business website with a professional and effective online presence.
If you are looking for a reliable, secure, and efficient Web Hosting solution that is worthy of your business, the options listed at the top of the page represent fine choices.
Get your Business Web Hosting plan today!
If you are still unsure you can use our Hosting Wizard and Knowledge Base for more ideas, or Compare Hosting plans side by side - whatever you decide, Web Hosting Search is here to help you find the best deal!
