The decision to choose a web host provider isn’t as clear-cut as you might think.
If you’re serious about your website’s performance, (and as a business owner you should be) there’s a whole lot you need to consider.
Unfortunately, for many outside of the United States the options can be limited. It is highly likely that you have to spend more for the comparable service. There is also a chance you’re going to be paying more and getting less.
So let’s take a look at some of the things you need to consider and allow me to give you some insight into my experience.
It’s A Matter Of Speed
Did you know that almost half of us expect a website to load within two seconds and will abandon the site if it doesn’t load within three seconds?
Are we really in that much of a rush? Apparently we are. These are the figures from a survey conducted by Akamai, who handle 20% of the world’s total web traffic.
The numbers get even scarier; 79% of web shoppers claim that if they have difficulty with a site they won’t return to it.
Amazon has calculated that if their pages were to load just one second slower they would lose $1.6 billion in sales on an annual basis. Google has realised that if their page load speed fell by four-tenths of a second they would lose 8 million searches per day.
We’re not Amazon or Google, but I suggest you check out some of the research; there are a couple of great articles from the guys at Kissmetrics.
Did I mention it is also super important for your search performance?
Website Uptime
Don’t be fooled by 99.9% uptime guarantees. These guarantees are often nothing more than a lame offer of compensation should the host provide you anything less than 99.9%. For example, if they have issues with their servers during any given month and only provide 95% uptime for your website, they may refund you 4.9% of your monthly fee. Peanuts.
Think about the most inopportune moments that your site could go down; during a tradeshow, just after you’ve sent out a press release, or after you’ve spent a fortune on a daily print ad. This would make for a really bad day.
Trust Me, It’s Also About The Service
So you’ve gone through the exhaustive process of getting your website just right, then when you need it most it is down and out for the count. You call your hosting provider and they’re not even answering their 1300 number, let alone returning emails. Eventually they get back to you with a useless 140 character Twitter explanation…but your website is still down.
For the business owner, this is simply not acceptable. It might take some research but believe me, there are options out there; hosts who will maintain uptime and talk to you if there is a problem. In fact, they are likely to likely tell you a problem was fixed before you were even aware of it.
My Opinion
You’ve got this far so I assume you’re interested in my opinion….
The thing is, we want the perfect website host, but at the right price, and unless you have a massive site and a massive budget, you may just have to consider a U.S. provider.
I do say this with some reservation; some in the SEO community are of the opinion that a local hosting provider is taken into account in search algorithms. So for those with websites which have a primary audience outside of the U.S. you should at least be aware of this. But as long as you have a local domain and have set your geographic target within Google Webmaster Tools, you should be fine.
I always bring it back to speed. If your overseas host delivers your site to your audience faster than the local option, you’re better off.
Web Hosting Recommendations
It would be poor form not to provide some real suggestions and with WordPress being such a popular platform let me highlight a couple of super-fast U.S. based hosts.
Synthesis and WP Engine are two hosting providers who specialise in delivering super-fast WordPress websites. In fact, both of them only deal with WordPress sites, so you know they’re going to be helpful. You will also be happy to know that their basic packages both come under $30 per month may offer better features and services than your local providers. Neither will handle your email hosting, but that shouldn’t be a concern.
Synthesis are the guys behind Copyblogger and the Genesis WordPress sites. They take on WordPress sites with clean code to ensure they provide only the best service. Of course, this includes all Genesis themes. I love the fact that they can offer in-house migration services, which means they take care of getting your site across and configure everything for optimal performance. Synthesis is also spruiked by Yoast, a rock star to many in WordPress circles.
WP Engine is backed by Automattic. Who is Automattic, you ask? They’re the guys who created and maintain WordPress itself. If you’re not impressed by that, you may be impressed by the fact that WP Engine declares they are between 2-4 times faster than their competitors. To give them credit this came from independent analysis by Pingdom and Webpagetest.org. Even Foursquare, Soundcloud and HTC use WP Engine. Oh, and I should point out that WP Engine also have migration services but they refer you to a third party.
All the best choosing your web hosting provider, it’s a bit of fun. (Not really.) Don’t just trust the sales talk on hosts’ own sites; look for testimonials, reviews and discussions in forums.
But remember it’s not forever, if they don’t provide you with fast speeds and excellent service, move on.
P.S. We were so impressed with WP Engine that they now power our own hosting solution. Switch now and we’ll migrate your site FREE.