SMEs currently responsible for 99% of the UK’s business population. As a driving force behind the corporate and commercial world, a new boom in small business has drastically increased competition within a number of industries.
In 2021 alone, the UK launched 810,316 startups, with a large majority of these operating in an online landscape. As Google search engines become overcrowded with competition for small businesses, it’s no wonder that many digital businesses struggle to stand out from the crowd.
(Image source: Startups)
In fact, new data from Business Statistics has revealed that 1 in 5 small businesses fail within their first year of operation.
One of the main causes of startup failure is poor site usability. In a digitally dominated era, an SME’s website is either their ticket to success or their path to failure. The key to keeping consumers happy in 2022 is to provide them with an accessible site experience that keeps them clicking.
The question is, what steps can SMEs take to improve their website usability in the new year? From boosting server speed to supporting post-pandemic traffic spikes, we’re here to tell you why prioritizing your web host could be the answer your online business has been looking for.
Can web hosting be the key to site success?
As defined by Hostinger, “web hosting is an online service that makes your website’s content accessible on the Internet. When you buy a hosting plan, you rent space on a physical server to store all the website’s files and data.”
With a global market that is expected to be worth an almighty $267 billion by 2028the benefits of web hosting are quickly being discovered by small businesses looking to boost their site success.
With a number of options to choose from based on your business size and budget, SMBs can choose between affordable shared hosting, a private server or even security-driven cloud hosting.
As site competition increases, here are some of the key benefits SMEs can see when investing in a site host:
- Increasing site performance: Investing in a high-quality web host can significantly increase site speed and usability. Designed to accommodate large influxes of traffic at once, your site will no longer be a victim of the content buffer.
- Domain credibility: Did you know that investing in a web host gives you the opportunity to create your own custom domain name? Not only will this make your website easier to discover, but it will also increase your business’s credibility.
- Increased website security: In an era of cybercrime peaks, website security is a must for SMEs. The foundation of your site’s data security starts with your web host. Investing in cloud hosts in particular helps end-to-end encryption of all files and adds a firewall to the server itself, all of which strengthen your defenses against data breach risks.
How is cloud hosting changing the game?
By 2025, 49% of all internet data is predicted to be stored in the cloud. Although cloud computing is still a relatively new phenomenon, its ability to both share and store unlimited amounts of data across a globally accessible platform has revolutionized the online experience.
“From a business growth perspective, the cloud brings unlimited opportunities to organizations,” asserts Evgeniy Altynpara, CEO of Cleveroad. “It’s also about the pace of digital innovation. With the technological flexibility offered by cloud providers, your development teams can optimize and accelerate workflows.”
This brings us to cloud hosting. Because of virtualization, cloud hosting differs from traditional web hosting alternatives. While a private web host can host one or a few sites on one physical server, a cloud-based host can divide a physical server into masses of virtual-powered machines called cloud servers.
(Image source: Host)
Using a decentralized approach, it’s no wonder that SMBs are flocking to this hosting option, as the end-to-end encryption across a number of virtual servers single-handedly strengthens website and data security.
The benefits of cloud hosting as an SME
As an SME, site optimization should be at the top of your list. If you want to keep conversions high, prioritizing user experience is essential, especially in the wake of a competitive boom in e-commerce.
In reality, 88% of consumers will bounce if they have a poor experience on a website. Sites with higher bounce rates are likely to see a drop in conversion potential and find themselves fading into the background.
Factors such as poor load times, inaccessibility and a lack of trust in data handling are some of the key players in site abandonment in 2022. With so many industry alternatives to choose from, it’s no wonder consumers will quickly make the switch.
Cloud hosting can be the perfect solution to a number of SME site problems. As a hassle-free method of improving site success, here are the top three reasons business leaders swear by it as a growth strategy.
Embrace infinite scalability
For a server to remain successful, it must be scalable. As businesses grow, business leaders must ensure their web host can handle new levels of traffic and data as they grow in their industry.
As the most scalable form of web hosting on the planet, business leaders can use the cloud to manage and optimize their bandwidth requirements. As a virtual-based server that can scale up and down depending on personalized site conditions, there is no need to invest heavily in physical server backup, software licensing or network equipment.
“Cloud services are also extraordinarily flexible,” says Marius Mihalec, founder and CEO of Pulseway. “They don’t tie your people down to one specific place. Any internet-enabled device, including laptops, smartphones or notebooks, can be used to access and share critical documents for strategic business decision-making.
“Businesses need this level of flexibility to grow in a crowded market,” he says.
Be safe with multi-server security
Cybercrime has increased by 600% in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. With more SMEs being hacked than ever before, data protection has become a number one priority for a company’s growth strategy moving forward.
When investing in a server hosted by the cloud, small and medium businesses can be assured that their data sharing is secure, transparent and end-to-end encrypted. Cloud hosting tends to be much less prone to physical malfunctions due to its decentralized nature, making it a perfect fit for online businesses that constantly share and store global data.
Even better, most cloud hosting platforms are equipped with a load balancing feature aimed at preventing DDoS attacks, as well as the option to perform automatic daily backups to keep your data safe and secure.
Jump on board in just a few clicks
Although cloud computing can present itself as a complicated system, getting on board with it is quite the opposite, especially if your business invests in a good hosting provider.
“The public cloud is also, in terms of users, low maintenance. The technology is managed and upgraded by the host, with users paying only for the computing and storage services they use,” claims Mark Schlesinger, CEO of Broadridge Financial Solutions.
“There is no risk in quickly purchasing and implementing a new system for a project only to see it grow faster than expected, or to have it wither, draining those resources. By outsourcing to the public cloud, IT spending can focus on other projects, allowing banks to focus on their core competency: finding ways to make their data profitable.”
By using cloud hosting platforms like Hostinger, users with little to no experience in website hosting can be set up in seconds and get instant access to a full control panel of resources. Even better, most hosting providers offer 24-hour support, ensuring business leaders feel supported in their journey to improve their site success.
