A quick Google Search for “free web hosting” or “cheap web hosting” yields hundreds, if not thousands, of results. There is certainly no short supply of budget website hosting companies out there, making it tempting to save a few dollars by going with one of those options. But this is one instance where the phrase, “you get what you pay for,” comes into play. And in this case, you’re paying for protection.

Your website is an asset, and like any other asset you want to ensure that it is safe. With the number of security threats on the web, choosing a budget host is the equivalent of stashing your earnings under the mattress instead of a bank vault. Even worse if you collect customer data on your website. Unpaid or low cost web hosting services often leave you vulnerable to password breaches, DDoS attacks and malware. Not only are these issues stressful and resource intensive to fix, they can cost you customers!

In the end, think of this as a “pay now or pay later” situation: you can pay for the protection upfront or deal with the headache and cost of cleaning house after an attack later.

Additional Benefits of Investing in Your Web Host

While security is the main benefit of investing in a trusted, higher cost web host, there are several additional upsides:

• Support:

  Paid web hosts are there to support you. At TTG, we’re always just a phone call away, ready to discuss any issue or question you may have. Can you say the same about Joe Schmo at HostWithMeForFree.com? Probably not?

• SEO:

  Investing in your web hosting pays off in the eyes of Google as well. Websites with free or budget hosts often have slower loading speeds – sometimes due to the ads put on your site to cover the cost of hosting – knocking these sites down in the Google Search Rankings. What’s more, websites with free hosts are known to have more downtime – another one of Google’s pet peeves that can get your site flagged as unreliable.

Ready to upgrade your hosting? Reach out to us to discuss your SECURE options.