Most business owners fully acknowledge the power of a solid online presence, recognising it as the easiest way to reach their target audience.
One survey showed that as many as 71% of small businesses were represented online in the first quarter of 2017. This can be achieved without the need for a website, given that social media channels are very easy to set up.
Consequently, many startups still don’t know if a website is essential to help reach their revenue goals.
This brings us to the all-important question; if a business can have a successful online presence without a website or using web hosting, what is the need for it? In short, if your small business doesn’t have a dedicated website, you’re unquestionably missing out on opportunities that offer exposure to millions of people. You could even be leaving your target market wide open to be dominated by your competitors.
Free hosting is not suitable for a business’s brand image
Branding, online presence and your business’s perceived image count a lot towards how reputable it is perceived. A company’s image is a major contributor in its success. If you present your company online using cheap, messy, ‘spammy’ or dull websites, you can be sure that your target audience will pass you over when it comes to making a decision.
Small businesses often experience budget constraints. If they don’t envisage website hosting as being important, they could consider using free hosting. While this might seem like a great idea, you’ll need to consider all the other constraints of using free hosting services to realise that it’s almost impossible to maintain an acceptable level of professionalism on your website via this method. Attracting high-end clients will be very difficult for your business.
Websites with brandable Domain Names that are hosted on a trusted web hosting service not only have access to more advanced hardware, but also gain the benefits of speed, efficiency, and reliability. These are all attributes you should want your business to be associated with.
Poor exposure will limit your revenue
Currently, the economy is highly dependent on technology, with the internet a major part of almost everything we do. The web has revolutionised the way we carry out even the most mundane activities and has brought major changes to nearly every industry. Digital marketing and online sales have become an integral part of all businesses, no matter their size. It stands to reason that being able to reach a large number of people online will only result in a jump in revenue for your business.
Your choice of web hosting is a direct contributor to this potential increase in profits. The right web hosting service doesn’t just give you a strong online footing, but also allows you to build a website with endless potential for your brand’s online exposure. It will enable your business to grab and maintain the attention of your target audience more effectively . In addition to proven SEO professional services from reputable agencies such as Digital Hothouse, your website will be better prepared for high organic traffic flow and better reader-to-customer conversion rates.
Also, incorporating advertising campaigns with your website from creation to hosting means that you can adequately compete with other businesses for the attention of your target audience. Certainly, not having web hosting can jeopardise your ad campaigns.
Branding affects your revenue
Many big name companies spend as much as 20% of their revenue on marketing, with some allowing up to 50%. That’s because the importance of branding cannot be overemphasised. Company branding and logos have always played a significant part in any business. Failing to brand effectively could lead to revenue losses. If you’re competing with rival businesses that have the right approach to branding, you could be fighting a losing battle.
Without web hosting, you’ll be unable to effectively establish yourself online as a brand to contend with. In turn, the popularity of your business could diminish and this will directly affect its capability to create revenue.
A website of optimal quality might well be the key to outperforming your competitors and is a great way to let target clients know about your business. A high-end website will be automatically associated with a high-end brand in the same way that a shoddy website will be dismissed. Attracting high-end clients will be made easier for your business with prime website hosting.
Unreliable web hosting will cost you
If you run an e-commerce site that provides your business with its main source of revenue, unreliable website hosting will cost you dear in terms of revenue. While poor web hosting might be cheap, the effect on your turnover could be huge. In 2013, e-commerce giant Amazon lost $4.8 million due to a server downtime that lasted 40 minutes. Though losses registered by an average e-commerce store in similar circumstances might not be as substantial, they’ll be just as significant to their business revenue.
Web hosting that features frequent downtimes will make your e-commerce website unreliable and plant doubts in the minds of customers, which will most certainly drive them towards your competitors.
Top quality web hosting might not seem like it has any obvious advantages for your business, especially when you are on a tight budget. However, given its potential and what it can do for your business, spending money on procuring the best quality of web hosting available is well worth it – both for the online reputation of your business and its revenue stream.
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