In our previous post, we provided an overview of the new hosting, maintenance and security service we now offer our clients. At Blue Zenith, we are dedicated to providing our clients with the services, tools and support they need to establish a great online presence. This includes a powerful and versatile website and blog, a compelling digital brand and engaging online marketing, all of which can be used to bolster and empower your core brand. The completed package is designed specifically to attract, funnel and convert online users into new customers and build on the relationships you’ve established with your existing customers. At the core of your online presence is your website and blog, and when it comes to website hosting, maintenance and security, your business essentially has two choices: you can opt to manage your own website and these core responsibilities in-house, or you can choose to outsource it. We’re not interested in pushing a “hard sell” of our new hosting and maintenance services, but we do feel it is important to understand the responsibilities that come with managing these functions yourself, empowering you to make the right decision for you and your business.
We previously discussed the importance of upgrading the Content Management System (CMS) and other related components of your website to both expand the core functionality of your site and patch any bugs or vulnerabilities that can put your site at risk. In this post, we will be discussing the importance of choosing the right hosting plan for your website and actively monitoring your website for uptime, hacks and intrusions.
Choosing The Right Web Hosting Service
If you’ve owned and operated a website, you understand that web hosting in an integral part of keeping your website functional and accessible. Websites don’t exist in a vacuum or cloud – they exist or are “hosted” on web servers, which are computers designed to provide content and services to users over the Internet. As it is difficult and expensive to maintain your own web server, most small to medium-sized businesses contract a web hosting provider to host their website, blog and other internet-based services for their clients and customers. While all web hosts provide essentially the same services, not all web hosting is created equal. Shared web hosting, which means your website shares space with other websites on the same server, is usually cheaper, but can be less reliable and less secure.
Dedicated web hosting, which means that your website has its own dedicated server, can be more expensive and more difficult to maintain but is usually much more reliable and secure. When you choose Blue Zenith to host your website or blog, we host and manage your website on a dedicated server, which provides an elevated level of reliability and security.
Monitoring Your Website For Uptime, Hacks and Intrusions
In a more perfect world, you wouldn’t have to worry about individuals and automated programs hacking into your website. In fact, you may already believe that your business is small enough that no one would be interested in hacking into your website – after all, shouldn’t hackers be more interested in larger and more lucrative targets? The unfortunate fact is that smaller, less-prominent websites are often ideal targets for hackers, as they require less effort to crack and can be the perfect “Trojan horse” for infecting unsuspecting users with malware and viruses. Chances are if your website is hacked, it wasn’t even a real person doing the hacking, but instead an automated program that sought out vulnerable websites on the Internet. While ensuring that your website upgraded and choosing competent web hosting service can help alleviate the risk of your site being hacked, it’s still vitally important to monitor your website on an ongoing basis and know what to do to fix the problem if you do end up getting hacked. If you lack the technical expertise and experience to adequately address a website hack, you can count on the team at Blue Zenith to fix the problem for you quickly and competently, bringing your website back online quickly and helping to alleviate the risk that a hack can pose to you and your customers.