From corporations to corner stores, it seems like everybody and their grandmother has a website these days. The need for a business to maintain an online presence was only exasperated by the pandemic when those brick-and-mortar-only businesses were left behind.
Companies, independent contractors, freelancers, artists, pretty much everyone and anyone who depends on customers to make a living can benefit from a personal website. A website can reach a global audience unlike anything else, not to mention adding a serious level of professionalism to your brand.
However, it is not enough just to build a website. In such a competitive market, that website needs to be good. It needs to be easy to navigate, filled with engaging content, and, perhaps most importantly (though often overlooked), it needs to work as it should.
Think about how many similar sites yours will be competing with. If there is even the slightest problem - if your site takes too long to load or crashes - your potential customers/viewers are simply going to close your site and move on to the next search, likely never to return.
With that in mind, let's take a look at some of the most common website issues that you need to anticipate when building your site:
All of these can sabotage your website's performance and hurt your ability to expand your reach, and convert website visitors.
Remember that blog you made when you were in high school? You probably spent so much time coming up with a name, choosing your theme, and writing your first blog post. Once it went live, however, you suddenly realized how much time and expertise it requires to manage a website. So you never got into publishing your second post, and your blog faded into oblivion. But hey, you were young, and you can afford such trials and errors.
It's different when you're trying to build your own personal brand or get your products and services online. Your website has to be in tip-top shape. It needs to be intuitive, contain vibrant images and engaging content, and should seamlessly guide your visitors through every page. It must look good on desktops and mobile devices and should load within 2 to 5 seconds. It should be optimized for search, and the social web and have clear calls to action. Too much for a single person? Definitely. Fortunately, there are web services that can help you with every component that goes into building a successful website. Check out the following:
Ionos has perhaps the best introductory offer out of all the web services we’ve reviewed. At just $1 per month for the first year, you get unlimited websites, unlimited storage, unlimited databases, daily backup and recovery, and enhanced CPU and MEM resources. You also get tons of freebies: domain, Wildcard SSL certificate, professional email, and 24/7 support.
Ionos isn’t just easy on the pocket. They also tick the speed, security, and infrastructure boxes. Ionos is pretty fast and efficient, thanks to its dual platform technology, scalable performance, and web servers that run on an HTTP/2 network protocol. Ionos also has robust security measures in place to protect you against hacking, malware attacks, data breaches, and other security incidents. Ionos boast of security features like malware protection, SSL certificate with powerful 256 bit encryption, two-factor authentication, DDoS protection, Site Scan, email security, firewalls, anti-spam, regular backups, and more.
Get Ionos - The Leading Web Service!
HostPapa is a hosting company based in Canada that offers shared, WordPress, VPS, and reseller hosting. It was founded by Jamie Opalchuck in 2006 and currently hosts over 500,000 websites globally. In addition to providing hosting services, HostPapa goes above and beyond to ensure the online success of its customers. HostPapa offers a variety of fully-featured hosting packages at affordable prices. Want assistance with domain registration? Website migration? Site-building tools? Email services? HostPapa has everything.
If you run into any problems, HostPapa's PapaSquad Support Team is there 24/7/365. In fact, out of all the hosting services we've looked at, they're the only ones that offer phone support in 18 countries. You can also get in touch with them by email, live chat, or even fax! One thing that makes HostPapa stand out from its competitors is that it offers one-on-one sessions with web hosting experts. If you sign up for one of their New, Plus, or Ultra plans, you get a free 30-minute one-on-one session over the phone or via Skype. This is a big help, especially for those building their first site and lacking technical expertise.
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HostGator is one of the largest and most reputable online hosting companies. Since 2002 (or since the Jurassic period, as the company likes to joke), they have grown to host more than five million domains. That's roughly 1 per cent of global Internet traffic! HostGator provides various products and services to bloggers, web designers, developers, e-commerce site owners, and Fortune 500 businesses.
If you have lofty goals—and who doesn't?— HostGator is the perfect web host. They will lay the groundwork for your website's future growth. Each tool is intended to grow with you so you don't wake up feeling like a big fish in a small pond one day. HostGator provides an easy-to-use website builder, allowing you to get your website up and running quickly. Choose from any shared hosting plans and scale up with their VPS or dedicated hosting plans as your needs change. All web hosting plans include unlimited bandwidth, an SSL certificate, domain registration, and other features.
Get Hostgator - The Leading Web Service!
Web services refer to a broad category of services delivered over the internet. This includes cloud computing services, web hosting, website builders, CDN, and domain registrars, just to name a few. If that already makes your head spin, just wait until you have to choose the best one for your company. With so many options available on the internet, how do you know which one is best for you? As luck would have it, we have a team of experts whose job is to research and evaluate these platforms. Typically, they consider the following criteria when deciding which brands to include on our top 10 lists:
Shared hosting is suitable for the average user, for example, a small-mid-sized e-commerce store or blog. If you are intending to scale rapidly or anticipate a considerable influx of visitors then a dedicated server may serve your needs better.
Not necessarily. For example, a website builder is not really the same as a web design service. While the former is more of a DIY option, the latter usually means hiring a web design agency. They typically help not only with web development but also with digital marketing and branding. That being said, many of these web design services also come with a website builder should you wish to give it a go yourself.
Many website builders offer pre-made templates designed specifically for artists, photographers, musicians, florists, coaches, and other professional creatives. You can create stunning, fully customizable websites with just a few clicks. However, if you plan on taking payments, selling tickets, displaying products, or managing an inventory, it would be best to use an eCommerce site builder.
Some hosting services have a site builder option while others are integrated into popular site builders such as WordPress. This is typically an added extra and site-building functionality is a separate tool from web hosting.