In a world that's always increasing its dependence on technology, having a reliable website is essential. If your site loads slowly, users will be less likely to return to it. Consumers are also less likely to frequent websites with a history of security breaches. This problem is especially serious if your website stores consumers' personal information, such as credit card numbers or medical data, which could become vulnerable to external threats. It's important to ensure your website is always secure and operating efficiently.
image src: David Castillo Dominici
The advantages of speed
Today's consumers expect websites to load quickly and run smoothly. When websites don't meet these requirements, consumers quickly become frustrated and turn to another site. In fact, studies show that 40 percent of consumers will abandon a page that takes more than three seconds to load, and even a one-second delay in loading times can reduce conversions by up to seven percent.
Slow loading times also cause consumers to question the integrity of your business. Even if your company offers the best products or services on the market, many consumers will translate your inability to provide a reliable website as an inability to provide reliable service in any regard, and they may be less likely to trust in the quality of your products. Furthermore, slow website loading times can even lower your website rankings. Beginning in April 2010, Google began incorporating web page load times into its ranking algorithm, with slower loading times leading to lower placement in search engine results.
One of the most effective ways to improve your website load times is to use a hosted dedicated service, as opposed to a shared server, which hosts more than one company at the time with everyone sharing the server's space and bandwidth. Conversely, a dedicated server allows you access to all the space and bandwidth on the server at any given time. As a result, your load times won't be reduced because of activity on other companies' websites.
The importance of security
Websites with weak security will inevitably cause a variety of problems. When customers', patients' or clients' sensitive information becomes compromised, you could face lawsuits and legal sanctions. Security breaches also have the power to ruin your company's reputation.
In addition to preventing slow load times, choosing a dedicated server host can also reduce the chances of a security breach. When you store your information on a shared server, your data is more vulnerable due to all the other users who are able to access the server. In fact, businesses in some highly regulated industries, such as healthcare, can't consider using a shared server due to the sensitive nature of the data they store.
Because of the inherent risks of using a shared server, many businesses are making the move to dedicated server hosting. Even though it may be more expensive than a shared service, dedicated hosting reduces the risk of security breaches, speeds up your load times and may even increase your search engine rankings. If implemented correctly, switching from shared to dedicated hosting can be a wise and productive business decision.