Ho Ho … hosting…

Sigh.

Look, we hate to sound like a Grinch during the most wonderful time of the year. So, consider the following bit of web hosting advice an early holiday gift, not a cantankerous “get off my lawn” style groan.

IMPACT WON’T WORK WITH CLIENTS WHO INSIST ON CHEAP WEBSITE HOSTING.

(Guess that did sound sorta Grinch-y, didn’t it?)

Sorry, but cheap hosting just isn’t good business. And it’s not safe. Not for the client, not for their customers, and (frankly) not for us when we need to come in and clean up the mess it creates. Now, before you get the wrong idea and think we are somehow being self-serving, we do not actually do hosting at IMPACT*. So, consider this a public service announcement with pure intents!

We get it. Hosting is a significant (and recurring) expense, and the urge to save a few dollars wherever and whenever possible is strong. But your business’s website is the first impression you will make with potential leads. You must make sure it’s in good hands.

Here are the three biggest reasons cheap website hosting will cost you a fortune in the long run:

1. Bargain bin apathy: While it should come as absolutely no surprise – far too many companies are flabbergasted when their fly-by-night web hosting service isn’t answering the phone or email or text when the website goes down (and good luck if you can’t access your email in the first place!)

Customer service should be your web host’s top priority, and with the top-notch, albeit slightly more expensive, services – it typically is. But if you’re waiting hours on end for any kind of response from your web host, particularly when your site has pulled a no-show, you’re losing money by the minute. And those costs are hard to recoup – even when you ultimately switch to a more reputable provider.

2. Lag time and other limitations: Slow loading speeds and sporadic crashing will tank your ability to attract new leads. You may have designed the best, most informative site your industry has ever seen, but if it’s a slog for visitors to navigate – they’ll soon be seeking assistance elsewhere, resulting in lost opportunities (and sales) for you. Not only that, but Google’s algorithm also docks you for slow loading times, jeopardizing your website’s position on the search engine results pages.

Additionally, cheap website hosting is notorious for lackluster bandwidth, which you hopefully will find yourself needing as your company grows and expands. Switching to a seasoned provider will boost your scalability, sure – but starting from scratch at that point in the game is never ideal. Or cheap. Hosting with a proven vendor from the word ‘GO’ saves you time, money, and aggravation in the long run.

3. Subpar – or nonexistent – security: This is a big one. Perhaps the biggest one.

Cheap website hosting providers tend to skimp on security – if they offer it at all. This makes your site vulnerable to cyber-attacks or malicious software, all of which put customer data (and your reputation) at risk, while potentially leading to hefty fines and penalties.

Our friend Randy Goldstein at BizMarquee.com says it best:

“You can NEVER let your guard down with web security,” Randy says. “If the FBI and SEC can get hacked, so can your website. And if you’re hosted by a cheap host… there’s a 99% chance your site is infected, and the longer it goes on, the more chance you have of losing your site completely or infecting someone else and facing a liability.”

Going the economy route always seems like an attractive option initially. But as we’ve seen time and time again, the only thing that rivals the slow loading times of cheap website hosting is the lightning speed at which the decision comes back to bite business owners in the – ahem – assets. Reliable performance and peace of mind should be your guiding principles. Investing in a quality web host is more than half the battle.

So, if you’re a new client with IMPACT, we will recommend an appropriate hosting service that will not be the bargain-basement. And, if you can’t or won’t switch hosting to one of our vetted providers, we will need to refer you to a different marketing company. It’s simply not worth the hassles and risks that you…and ultimately we…would face going forward.

Questions? We’re always here to chat.

*In fact, most marketing companies don’t “do” hosting. Instead, they provide a hosting service to their clients, collect the money, and then outsource the work to a hosting company – usually a cheap one. So, their clients’ websites are another step removed from their clients. We, on the other hand, think the hosting should be contracted directly with the hosting service so that the client can go directly to source when something goes wrong. Do we forego a certain amount of money each year by doing it this way? Heck yeah. But it’s in our clients’ best interests, and that’s what matters!