Check out the latest top web hosting services for business. I’ve included a range of services that cater for everything from a small blog all the way up to an enterprise level eCommerce site.
I’ll talk about how to choose the right web hosting service for you and your business at the end of this article.
It’s also important to note that I have included a few companies that aren’t necessarily dedicated website hosting services. For example, some companies offer eCommerce web software that is hosted by them, others offer file hosting service via the cloud. Since these services are often a good fit for small businesses, I’ve included them in the list for completeness.
Let’s look at the world’s best web hosting companies for 2012:
GoDaddy Virtual Dedicated Hosting
GoDaddyis really known as a domain registrar, but they offer plenty of hosting options – and they’ve done a good job too.
I chose to include their virtual dedicated server planbecause it is seriously cost effective and comes with plenty of support and value added features.
You can choose from a range of operating systems, their network has a 99.9% uptime guarantee, they offer 24/7 support, with network monitoring and security and a generous server resource package.
Plus you get a few hundred dollars worth of advertising on the various search and social networks. Nice!
How much you can expect to pay
Between $30 and $120 per month depending on your requirements.
myhosting business VPS
I included myhosting business VPSbecause they offer a simpler, more straightforward hosting service. There are far less frills and add-ons, but they’re fundamentally good value hosting.
What’s nice about myhosting is that they offer real-time scalability. This basically means that if your business blog starts driving real traffic, you can upgrade the server resources quickly and easily to meet the demands of larger traffic volumes.
Despite being a more cost-effective solution, myhosting still offers 24/7 support so they don’t skimp out on the essentials.
How much you can expect to pay
Between $19 and $60 per month depending on your requirements.
Yahoo! Web Hosting
Yahoo! Web Hosting offers 50% off for the first 3 months. Considering their value offering to start with, this is a great deal.
Yahoo’s web hosting offer should only be considered if you are looking for something really basic. They offer great tools to design and create your website, and they handle most of the technical issues that you might face when hosting a site yourself.
If you want to get online quickly and cheaply as possible then this is the solution for you.
How much you can expect to pay
Around $10 per month.
ServerPronto dedicated servers
ServerPronto dedicated serversare a serious business offering. These guys don’t fool around with a 99.9% guarantee – they go that extra 0.1%. That’s right, a 100% uptime guarantee.
The guarantee is just part of a service that is dedicated to providing the highest performance with the most power and reliability.
They provide fault tolerant redundant connectivity that makes it really, really unlikely that your servers will ever be unavailable. Combine this with a super high speed 100 Mbps Internet connection and you’ve got the making of a business website server platform that should handle everything you need until you reach IPO.
How much you can expect to pay
$50 to $200 per month, depending on resource requirements.
InMotionHosting
I’ve included InMotionHostingbecause these are the guys I use. In the five years I’ve been with them, there has only been a single problem, which was swiftly deal with.
InMotion offers robust and high performance business servers (both VPS and Dedicated) and backs them up with good support. They’re included here because I’m personally happy to recommend them.
How much you can expect to pay
$40 to $320 per month depending on server requirements
BigCommerce
BigCommerceoffers both a cart for eCommerce and hosting of that cart all in one package.
They already host 20 000 eCommerce stores and are growing fairly quickly. No doubt their success has something to do with the easy-to-use drag and drop website builder. It’s eCommerce made easy.
One of the really great things about BigCommerce is that they are mobile compatible. Since tablets and smartphones will soon outsell PCs, it makes sense to go with an eCommerce store that can sell to customers using these devices.
They have a free trial, and you really have nothing to lose by trying them out – if it’s an eCommerce store you’re after.
How much you can expect to pay
Between $25 and $300 per month depending on the size of your eCommerce store.
Yola
Yolatakes a slightly different approach to web hosting. It’s a simplified offering that is suitable for smaller websites and caters for non tech-savvy business people.
To get started with Yola, you simply choose a domain name and then customize your site using their design interface and professional website templates. Yola takes care of all the backend details, so you can focus on growing your business via the website.
Yola is the right option for you if you value ease-of-use above all else. It also has a free account so you can try it out with no cash put down.
How much you can expect to pay
Free to $10 per month.
Just Cloud
Just Cloudis a cloud based file hosting service that provides lightning quick web access to files.
It works by using a small desktop app that integrates with its cloud service to backup any and all files you want. These files are then accessible at any time on any device, and can also be shared with friends and colleagues.
Naturally, since the nature of the files you backup to the cloud might be sensitive, all communications between your computers and the file storage cloud servers is seriously encrypted.
A great solution for business people who have to travel a lot and would rather not lose their documents by forgetting their flash drive on the plane. Provided you have Internet access, you will always have access to your files with Just Cloud.
How much you can expect to pay
Around $4.95 per month.
What to look for when choosing a web hosting service
With all the different options available, making a decision can be as much about dealing with information overload as it is about choosing a web hosting service.
Focus on your requirements, and what you anticipate your needs will be as you grow. Armed with that information you can make choices about the amount of resources you need.
Here are some attributes that are common to all good web hosting services:
Up-time guarantee
Reliable and affordable web hosting is of fundamental importance to startups, entrepreneurs, small and large businesses alike. If your website has ever gone down on a regular basis, you’ll appreciate what it’s like to enjoy hassle free, reliable hosting.
A good measure of the reliability of a web hosting company is its up-time and up-time guarantee. An up-time guarantee is important because it means that the web hosting company is confident of their performance and is prepared to put their money where their mouth is.
Support
Using a great web hosting service should mean that you almost never need support. In reality, on the rare occasion you do need support urgently, it pays to have a web hoster who provides it 24/7.
Providing support is fairly resource intensive in terms of human labour, so you might find that web hosting companies that offer great support are slightly more expensive. My advice is to value support as one of the most important components of web hosting.
You hope you’ll never need it, but you’re glad when it’s there.
Other notable web hosting services for small business
I know that there are thousands of web hosting companies out there. Many of whom are very good. It’s simply not possible for me to cover all of them in this list, but I’ll include suggestions here and update the above list with any that I think are deserving:
- design-a-webpage.com provides landing page design and hosting services. It’s the world’s first webpage designer and hosting service that focuses exclusively on creating high converting landing pages to drive online sales and conversions.
If you think there is one that is particularly deserving of a place amongst the best hosting services in the world, 2012, then let me know. In particular, I will consider services that offer something different, unique, innovative and generally out of the ordinary.