Your business website is more than just a regular site. It reflects your brand and is the first point of contact for your business in the eyes of your potential customers. In cases of e-commerce or SaaS businesses, it is likely also your primary source of income. This makes web hosting for small business an essential decision for you to get right.
In addition to hosting your website files, such as images, videos, and content, business hosting is far more versatile. It can be used to run and store your company email accounts. You can use it to host many open-source tools and services your team will use on a daily basis. File sharing, password managers, project management tools, and internal chat software, among many other options. Applications that require a secure online environment, and are controlled and accessible only by those within or associated with the company. Web hosting for small business offers the best performance, stability, and control, with unparalleled privacy and security.
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What is web hosting for small business?
Business hosting allows companies to securely store digital files and make their content accessible via the Internet. Unlike hobby sites, business websites need round-the-clock stability, security, and redundancy. For these reasons, businesses host their sites on VPS or dedicated servers rather than using cheaper, unreliable shared hosting.
Web hosting for small business doesn’t just include storage and processing power for a business site. It allows you to run multiple websites, including staging sites and microsites such as during Christmas Sales campaigns. You can host your email, files and password managers, as well as both text, voice and video chat platforms. It’s easy to integrate an open-source CMS, CRM, web analytics, and just about any custom application or service your business requires. For business-critical tasks, you can even look into multiple levels of redundancy to ensure that even if hardware failure happens, you’re unaffected. This is a must-have feature for any business that requires 24/7 uptime.
What is the best web hosting service for small businesses?
Business hosting is your typical hosting fare, designed with business needs in mind. Nothing defines business hosting better than true fully manged business hosting providers. The best web hosting service for small businesses offers two core elements. The latest-gen enterprise-grade equipment, and true fully managed support. True fully managed support is a white-glove concierge service requiring at the very least:
- Unparalleled support service all the time. 24/7, including weekends and public holidays.
- All technical support on the servers and installations should be included in the base price – no hidden fees.
- Tierless Level 3 Support with no AI bots and no call-center outsourcing.
- Low waiting times. Like our 5-minute guarantee on tickets and 60-second or less chat support.
- A streamlined setup process for basic and repetitive tasks, so common issues are resolved quickly.
- Proactive monitoring and fixes, so that you don’t have to tell them that your site is down.
- Server migrations, backups, and fixes that are invisible to your visitors.
- Per site audits and assessments, as well as assistance with PageSpeed optimizations.
Anything that genuinely makes your life easier. If hosting companies offer automated services or limited-time migrations, their plans aren’t really managed, despite what they’re labeled as. In addition to the top-notch service, the best web hosting for small business will offer fair deals and unparalleled quality:
- Unbeatable value, including lock-in prices at renewal, no hidden or setup fees, and unchanged lifetime legacy pricing.
- Unconditional root access to your server.
- Absolutely no overprovisioning of any kind and only dedicated resources.
- An SLA Uptime Guarantee with a money-back guarantee.
- Ensuring that there are no arbitrary limitations put in place to upsell you.
- Exclusive use of the latest and fastest technology available.
Most importantly, you should look for a hosting partner that is longstanding and reputable, with your best interests in mind.
What are the benefits of fully managed support?
Setting up a VPS requires significant technical knowledge that is beyond the capabilities of most people. That’s just the start. Fixing critical issues that can happen with any update or simply over time can take hours, days, and even weeks to resolve. Especially if you’re not a technical engineer. Spending that time researching through quasi-accurate, outdated sources driving you in a loop is a luxury most businesses cannot afford.
Support you need in your time of need
Fully-managed support guarantees you’ll never be alone when you need that help the most. It entails setting up and installing everything you need and optimizing, tweaking, updating, maintaining, and troubleshooting. Essentially, for all online issues, a larger corporation would need an entire IT team to handle. With excellent managed business hosting, you don’t need to lift a finger. With DIY business hosting, you’re on your own and at the mercy of Google bots and lots of your spare time.
Better Proactive Monitoring
Most hosting companies today do a decent job of monitoring due to the security needed to protect their services. However, with the best business web hosting providers, you typically get proactive monitoring and response levels when something goes wrong. With automation systems in place, you should never have to tell your provider that your site is down. It should already be fixed and running, and you or your clients shouldn’t even notice that anything happened in the first place. That’s the power of a proactive approach.
Debugging and Troubleshooting
True fully managed providers are more hands-on when it comes to debugging and troubleshooting website issues. Not every technical issue can be resolved. However, companies that care will put in their best effort and stay with you for the duration they’re resolving the issue. It’s imperative that you’re aware of everything involved so that you can make informed decisions. If the two software packages you want installed simply aren’t compatible researching or contacting the developers of that software is something your support team should handle. You should receive all the information and be ready to make the decision that best suits your business. Simply getting told “No” just doesn’t cut it.
Working With Your Developer and Marketing Teams
The best web hosting for small business includes integration with that business. You pay for the server, so you have the right to give access to whomever you wish. Simply provide your developer or marketer access, and your managed hosting provider should collaborate with them as if you were making the request.
Quality Equipment – Not Just Branding
Sales and marketing are vital parts of business growth. Splurging on sponsorships and advertising at the expense of quality equipment will only result in frustration and client churn. This is why you need to be cautious of web hosting for small business with an overexposed brand. Unfortunately, many third-party “top” lists and reviews are pay-to-place promotions. Worse still, many Facebook groups and review platforms aren’t disingenuous with affiliates and brand ambassadors manipulating reviews for profit. Unfortunately, this adds confusion and over-represents the low-performance big marketing budget brands.
The easiest way to see through this is to look for crucial factors publicly displayed on the hosting provider’s website:
- Do they display their exact hardware specifications or performance test scores?
- Are they listed on third-party benchmark sites, and how do they compare?
- Are their customer reviews generally favorable, and what do the 2, 3, and 4-star reviews say?
- Do their past and existing customers mention them on Reddit and online forums?
- Have they ever had past issues regarding sudden price hikes, significant downtime, or performance issues?
For serious business web hosting, you should pay close attention to user reviews and double-check server equipment specifications that companies publish.
No Overselling Policy
Similar to how airlines overbook their seats, knowing that some passengers will cancel at the last minute, most hosting companies oversell their resources. This can make it appear as if you’re getting a great deal, but in reality, they sell those same resources they sold to you several times. The hope is that no one has a traffic surge, which can take down everything on that server, but the risk is at your expense. A no-overselling policy ensures that you are getting precisely what you pay for and paying strictly for what you need. With premium web hosting for small business plans, you shouldn’t be at the mercy of other clients.
Pricing Transparency
Another common industry practice is offering extreme sale discounts — far below the cost of running the actual servers for your initial payment period. This often goes hand in hand with overselling those same resources and then jacking up prices at renewal, where you are no longer eligible for a money-back guarantee. Pay close attention to the actual cost of renewal.
No Hidden/Additional Costs
Host providers might charge you for secure SSL certificates when, in most cases, they are provided to them for free. You may be given a certificate for a year for free as an included “perk” but then get stuck renewing it as an added cost. A premium SSL option does exist, which costs the provider money and will typically be passed on. However, these premium SSL certificate costs should be clearly labeled. The very best web hosting for small business will even extend any bulk savings they receive to the customer directly, giving you more value.
Server Stability
Whether large or small, business hosting stability is far more critical than with personal sites. If your site goes down, it will cost you significant money, particularly if you run an e-commerce website or have a successful campaign. A sudden surge of visitors is a rare opportunity for your business; in those times, your server stability is most important. A good business hosting service provider should be able to handle high traffic volumes so that you can take advantage of key opportunities where customers line up for you. Look not only for an uptime guarantee but some form of compensation, such as a money-back SLA, in case the worst should happen. This gives your hosting provider an additional incentive to keep everything running smoothly.
Conclusion
So, what is the best web hosting for a small business? One that’s been a small business and thinks like a small business. Understanding that migrating from one provider to another is a hassle, no one wants but goes through because of needless pain points. A hosting provider that understands that value combined with price, not just the raw cost, determines long-term client happiness. The best hosting for a small business is the latest in enterprise-server technology, with unmatched, true fully managed support.