In my previous post I talked about Why Reliable Web Hosting is worth your Money and the difference between SEO friendly Web Hosting Linux vs Windows. Today, I’m talking about the Requirements for SEO friendly Web Hosting. If you are choosing your Web Hosting you should watch out for the following things included in your package to make sure you don’t road block your SEO efforts.
Minimum Requirements on your Hosting Package
- PHP: the most commonly used Internet Program Language
- MySQL: the most commonly used Internet Database
- e-Mail: e-Mail Marketing and customer support over email is important; make sure the ISP mail server is not blacklisted or use applications like Google Apps
- Web space: you need to have enough space to grow, you don’t want to end up moving when you run out of space
- Include Traffic: nowadays, traffic is cheap but make sure that you don’t pay a fortune when you are slightly over the included traffic, you don’t want to end up on the first page of digg.com and pay a few hundred dollars in traffic bill after
- URL rewrite: Make sure that the ISP you want to partner up with allows url rewrites on their server. All Linux packages should have that included but some windows server providers don’t have the extension, so watch out
- Directory Protection: You should make sure that your ISP has a simple directory protection in place
- SSL ability: The ISP of your choice should be able to provide you with SSL certifications or let you use your own
- Cronjob: Good ISP’s let you run your own cronjob on your shared Web hosting
- SSH: Most of the big ISP’s allow you access via Secure Shell, that comes in quite handy if you are faster with doing things on command line then via click and drop
What can help you to rank better in your target marketplace?
Knowing your target market place will help you rank better since you can focus your efforts into this marketplace and increase your revenue. Depending on where your marketplace is located, you should localize your Server. The principle is that you want to keep the connection time between your customer and your e-Business as short as possible. Also the domain extension, the tone and language you use are very important to focus your e-Business for your target marketplace.
PeterD made a post about SEO for Regional Domains which should give you some hints what you should watch out for. If you are planning to work on a global scale it is useful to generate multiple sites fitting exactly to the needs of the marketplace you are targeting.
When you forget to Target your Marketplace you miss out on Business.
Let’s say you are a global provider for hotel accommodation and you are spending thousands of dollars every month on PPC Campaigns and spending a lot of effort on organic SEO but you only have your server localized in USA. The prospective customer might come to your site and it is taking him 30 seconds to load your site, guess what happens, he leaves as there are hundreds of other websites offering reservation for the same hotels. So why should he wait for your website?
But if you spend the time and effort to create regional sites for different major markets like .de, .fr, .co.uk, co.au etc., focus on the tone your customer will use as well as the convenience to reach your site, that includes localized hosting in your prospective marketplace, you can achieve much higher organic ranking in this marketplace, increase the quality score of your PPC campaigns and most likely increase your conversion rate as well as your return on investment.
So what helps you really to rank higher in your marketplace? Localizing your marketplace will help you the most if you try to rank well. So please think about this whether you are thinking of procuring a Web Hosting package in New York or you are a Restaurant in San Francisco. Ask yourself, would this really help you to focus on your marketplace?
Recommendations for Web Hosting Companies
I can recommend to you a few of the companies I worked with and as such, I would be happy to recommend them to other people.
Separation of Domains and Hosting
You should always try to separate your hosting from your domain provider. In the event of complete failure of your web host, such as the data center burned down, you can quickly point your domains to another server. As well as being able to move hosting without the hassle of transferring your domains between providers is very convenient. I use GoDaddy.com for most of my domains, they do a great job with providing you with all the tools as well as products you need for any kind of domain hosting. The support is excellent and you always feel welcome if you have questions. GoDaddy.com also provides you with hosting.
Web host company recommendations
As I described before, choosing the right web hosting company is a difficult process and a lot of factors need to be considered. If you are planning to work in a marketplace like New York, you should try to find a local hoster who can provide you with all the features you need, that may be a bit more pricey but a good business relationship with a small business web hoster who really cares about the service and server could make a difference when you are starting out. Smaller hosting companies are providing you often with information and services for free that cost at big companies.
1&1 Internet Inc. – is regarded as leader in web hosting, with over 10 million registered domains they are the leader in their market. 1&1 is founded in the 90’s and provides services around the world. Their services almost never fail, in close to the 10 years I have used 1&1 for hosting, I had never once a server failure. While the customer support back in Germany was not the greatest 10 years ago, now their customer service is solid, the Company is going with Internet trends and is one of the leading companies in the development of Internet services.
DreamHost.com – Dreamhost is providing their services from the USA, these guys really care about what they do and the support is great. The hosting package that they offer with all the different functionality and optional features are beyond crazy cheap pricing for such a reliable web hosting company. With their 1 click installation from popular Internet applications, they can make life easier for a lot of new e-Business owners. I had a great experience with DreamHost.com and could never complain about their services. I got answers on problems within minutes rather than waiting around for days and the knowledge the DreamHost staff has is solid and that’s why I would always recommend them to others.
Summary
Know your facts, if you are just starting out or thinking about changing your hosting. Research, locate your marketplace and don’t be afraid to contact multiple hosting companies to get a quote. A lot of companies will also offer you a test for a few months to show you how good their servers are. Don’t waste your money on cheap unreliable web hosting, try not to mix your domains with your hosting and also think about which Server OS would best fit your web hosting needs. If you take factors like the ones pointed out by myself in account, your e-Business should have the basics needed to succeed in your marketplace.
Posted in Hosting. Permalink for this post: permalink.
If you are a Digg user, please 
Digg this post. | 
Stumble It If you use use Del.icio.us, then add us in: 
Del.icio.us
