3 Reasons to Switch Website Hosts

By Kerry Pivovar:

I never buy the low-cost option for shoes. Shoes and website hosting.

When you chose a website host, you put faith in a platform to keep your site secure, fast and performing. Unfortunately, not all hosts are made the same. While some offer great discounts and gimmicky add-ons, one must be on guard to what is sacrificed at the low low price. Ensure your host is not the weakest link in your online presence. There are a lot of other technical reasons for switching to a more modern host including server-side caching, daily backups, malware scanning and more. But to keep it simple, here are our top 3 reasons to switch web hosts.

“SSL, http protocols, hosting...can someone just handle this for me?” Yes, , we can! Read the latest from @KerryPivovar on website hosting: Share on X

Your Current Host Doesn’t Support HTTP/2.0

Your current website host doesn’t support http/2. Http/2.0 is a major revision of the http protocol. The short version is this: websites load much, much faster on http/2.0 because they can load the assets all at once instead of one and then the next. Not only will this greatly help the user experience, but it will also lead to more conversions. Additionally, site speed is a ranking factor for SEO and it’s roadmapped that http/2.0 will be too.

Read what google says about all of this.

Your Current Site Doesn’t Have an SSL Certificate Installed

Your current site doesn’t have an SSL certificate installed. There’s a reason why Google favors HTTPS—they want to achieve the safest web experience for their users. A cyber attack occurs every 39 seconds and 43% of those cyber attacks target small businesses.

Browsers have started warning users when they are browsing a site without a certificate. We expect to see a decrease in conversions when users are warned that they’re submitting information that is not secure. Additionally, this is a ranking factor for SEO.

What is an SSL certificate and how do I get one?

Your Website is Slow

“Website without visitors is like a ship lost in the horizon.”

― Dr. Christopher Dayagdag

47% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds or less. Google has also added page load speed to its ranking algorithms. Good website hosts ensure robust caching, a CDN and other protocols to get the page up fast.

What is CDN? CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a collection of servers all over the world that hold a copy of your site’s files. When a user visits your site, they are served the files closest to them.

Tell me more, I don’t understand.

Where to Go?

We recommend looking to a website host like WP Engine or Flywheel. They are both built from the ground up and optimized to host WordPress sites. They both support http/2 and offer a free SSL certificate. They also both do malware scanning, daily backups, caching and more. They’re both pretty equal as far as quality goes. We use Flywheel hosting for redbranchmedia.com. Flywheel is also offering a deal now where you can get 3 months free with an annual subscription. Prices are reasonable and customer services are top notch.

Hate your #website host? Check out @RedBranch’s reasons why it may be time to switch and what you can do about it! Share on X

How Would it Work?

If you decide to go ahead with this, we can help you through the process. It’s pretty simple and there’s no site downtime.

Here are the steps:

1. We would set up your new account and transfer to one of your team to enter the billing information/credit card.
2. We would copy your website over to the new host
3. We would verify everything is transferred and working well
4. Someone on your team would either need to make a DNS change to point futuretalentcouncil.org to the new host, or we could do it with the login information.
5. The host installs the SSL certificate and you’re good to go!

Read: The 5 commandments of a B2B website that actually sells

Convinced?

Your website is only as strong as the host it sits on. Cutting corners is acceptable on occasion, but for your websites’ security, speed and functionality, it’s not. Not ready to overhaul your website design, but want to increase conversions? Start here.