How to Optimize Web Hosting for Digital Marketing Success

Digital marketing is generally all about getting people to visit your website. Your site is your business’s personal domain, where you can show off your capabilities and lead visitors by the hand to becoming customers. And once you understand that, it’s easy to understand why you need an excellent web host on your side. 

If your website isn’t performing well, visitors aren’t going to follow your carefully planned sales funnels. They’re going to bounce as soon as they can… So it’s in your best interest to choose a great web host and optimize your hosting to help make your digital marketing a success. 

Why Is Web Hosting Important in Digital Marketing? 

You don’t truly need a website to build your brand reputation or make sales. But being successful is much easier when you do have a great site. Part and parcel of every website is a web host… And yours can either be helping you bring in more customers or chasing them away without you even realizing it. 

You can advertise on social media, pay for Google ads, and SEO your blog posts to a T. But if people are landing on your website and dealing with slow loading speeds or a hard-to-navigate layout, they’re not going to stick around and see what you have to offer. 

Your web host could be the reason your site is slow or not user-friendly. Choose a good one, and you won’t have to worry about any of these things. But choose a poor one… Well, you’ll never be as successful as you could be. 

Best Practices for Optimizing Web Hosting 

Want to use your web hosting to attract paying customers, instead of allowing it to chase them away? Here’s how to optimize your hosting to work for you. 

Choose the Right Hosting Type 

This is the foundation of your hosting experience. Pick the wrong type of hosting and you’ll struggle to build anything substantial on it. But choose the right kind of web hosting and you’ll have a strong base to scale your business on. 

• Shared Hosting: Affordable option, but has limited resources. It’s suitable for small websites with low traffic, as long as they don’t plan to scale. 
• VPS Hosting: Offers more control and resources than shared hosting. It’s ideal for growing websites, but isn’t a long-term solution if you’re planning on growing substantially. 
• Dedicated Hosting: Provides the most resources and control. Best for high-traffic websites with specific requirements, but costs more. 
• Cloud Hosting: Scalable and flexible, cloud hosting is suitable for websites with fluctuating traffic. It’s also pay-as-you-use, so you never pay for resources you don’t absolutely need. 

Prioritize Speed and Performance 

Choose a web host that has an excellent reputation for speed and high performance. Check out the features of the web host you’re eyeing before settling. Here are some features you want to see if you’re looking for a high-performance host and some actions you can take to speed your site up. 

• Content Delivery Network (CDN): Distributes your website’s content across many different servers worldwide, making load times faster for users in different locations. 
• Caching: Stores copies of your website’s pages on each user’s browser, so there’s no need to generate them from scratch for each request. 
• Image Optimization: Compress images to make files smaller, but make sure not to compromise quality. Poor images can make you look like an untrustworthy business. 
• Minify CSS and JavaScript: Remove unnecessary characters and whitespace from code files to reduce their size. 

Security and Reliability 

A secure site is a must. Not only does it give you peace of mind against cyber threats, but it subtly makes your customers trust you more. Things like the “s” at the end of https might be small, but they’re noticed. Look for these features in your host: 

• SSL Certificate: Encrypts data moving between your website and your users, protecting sensitive information and boosting SEO. 
• Regular Backups: Your host should be creating and storing backups of your website’s files and databases in case of data loss or corruption. 
• Security Monitoring: Your host should use various layers of security, even though you can add plugins to buff it up. 
• Firewall: Protects your website from unauthorized access and malicious traffic. 

Mobile Responsiveness 

A mobile-friendly website is no longer optional—you won’t be successful without one. More than half of all web traffic comes from mobile devices, so your site has to be able to adapt to different screen sizes (and still look good). Look for these features in your host:

• Responsive Templates or Themes: Not all pre-designed templates automatically adjust to fit various screen sizes. Make sure to choose a host that offers these, if you still need to design your website (or need to redesign). 
• Mobile-First Design: Prioritize a design approach that focuses on mobile users first, then scales up for larger screens. 
• Touchscreen Optimization: Double-check with your host that your site’s navigation, buttons, and links will be easy to use on touchscreens. 
• Fast Loading Times: Your host needs to prioritize speed. Optimize images and code on your end so your site loads quickly on mobile devices with slower connections. 

A mobile responsive site makes your customers happy. But, it also improves your search engine visibility, so this step can help bring new customers to your business. 

Conclusion 

Your website is like your digital handshake with the world. Make it a firm, confident, and inviting one by partnering with a web host that actually works for you and not against you. Don’t underestimate the power of a well-optimized website and a web host that empowers you. It could be the difference between a one-time visitor and a loyal customer. 

By carefully choosing the right host and doing your bit to optimize your website, you can transform your business’s digital home into a powerful marketing tool. 

About the Author: 

Paul Wheeler runs a web design agency that helps small businesses optimize their websites for business success. He aims to educate business owners on all things website-related at his own website, Reviews for Website Hosting.