B2B commercial transactions have revolutionized the business sector. The convenience it bestows is what has made it so popular. But, do you know what is the basis of the success of B2B? It is not the kind of business you are in, but the effectiveness of web hosting provider who is hosting your B2B website!

Choosing a hosting provider, whether it is a managed WordPress hosting or otherwise, is a critical decision that can hugely impact your business. So, it is incumbent on you to take time out to re-evaluate your current website hosting company, especially if you find slow loading time, inefficient update process or increasing down time of your hosted website. 

Find out if your web hosting provider is the best fit

In web hosting, cheap is not the best, nor is the most expensive the best. However, asking your web hosting provider some questions will reveal whether the hosting provider is the best fit for your business. Here are 10 such questions: 

Q1. What is your uptime score? 

Your operating web host needs to be 24x7. In addition, it should provide a powerful server and stable network connections. It should have an uptime score of over 99.5 percent. Reject any host that offers an uptime of below 99 percent.

Q2. What is your security policy?

 It is important to know what security measures are put in place by the hosting provider to secure data. The hosting provider has to have a security policy, whether you have taken up shared hosting or cloud hosting or dedicated hosting. The provider should have proper security processes in place to protect sensitive data. Ask if your hosting provider provides malware and virus scans. If so, how often? 

Q3. What kind of hosting environments do you provide? 

Since different businesses have different web hosting requirements, you need to ask the hosting provider what kind of hosting environment it provides. It is also important to know the provider’s policy on scaling up and scaling down. Of course, the most suitable hosting provider is one that offers a range of hosting options. This is because it allows you to stay with the same hosting provider and get upgrades, as and when required.  

Q4. Do you provide SSL? 

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) technology ensures encryption of all data transmitted between the web server and browser. This is especially important if your website is e-commerce or stores sensitive customer and employee data. So, make sure that the hosting provider offers it. 

Q5. Do you provide multiple add-on domains? 

If you own more than one domain, it is important to choose a hosting provider that allows adding multiple domains that accommodates these extra domains. Usually, hosting companies allow 25 add-on domains, but some allow only one domain. Check this, before you purchase.

Q6. Do you have any downtime history? 

Downtime is the bane of B2B transactions, since this is the time when your website is inaccessible to users. Knowing the history of downtime of your hosting provider will clearly indicate whether it is reliable. Normally, there should be nil downtime, but even the best hosts encounter an occasional downtime. 

Q7. Do you have any backup policy? 

Backups save data, your precious data. An ideal hosting provider will offer a backup more than once a day. Not only will the host backup your files, but databases too on a regular basis. Be clear about the host's backup policy.

Q8. Would you own up responsibility for a power outage? 

Power outages can occur at the hosting provider’s end or are beyond their control. So, it is important to know if the hosting provider holds itself accountable for such outages. If it does, in which all instances. In case the outage is beyond the host's control, does it suspend the hosting charges due to such outages. 

Q9. Are your customer service and tech support adequately responsive? 

Although your web hosting provider will swear by the efficiency and promptness of its customer service and tech support, it is better to find out the same from other customers and their satisfaction with the quality of service. Tech support should be available 24x7 and even provided on holidays. Ask the host for their average response and resolution time. 

Q10. In case of shared hosting how many websites do you allow on each server? 

Going in for a shared hosting solution means you will be sharing the server space with other websites. Of course, more the number of websites, more it will affect the speed of the server. Knowing the number of customers who share a server will indicate the speed of the server.  

Conclusion 

There is no doubt that choosing the right hosting provider will be an asset to your business. It will not only make it profitable, but agile too. So, the key to selecting a good web hosting provider is to make it answer all these 10 questions and evaluate the responses at your end.