The task of setting up a high quality website has a number of contributing factors, from the design to usability, there are a wide range of things to consider for an effective website and having the right website hosting package is one of them.

A good website should have quick page loading, simple navigation and attractive content of high quality (further details on website evaluation is available from The University of Washington). These are just the starting points of what website users have come to expect when they are browsing a website.

If a website is slow or has out of date, inaccurate content then straight away it will lose credibility. Many would say that it is better to have no website at all than a poor website, as it can massively impact the reputation of a business. Take a look at this article for some pointers on website quality. If you don’t get the basic website right, then you are likely to lose customers at a fast rate.

Choosing a website comes down to more than just which platform to use, another important consideration is which web host to choose. You can have a website that looks great to the end user but there really is no point investing lots of time on the design and content if you have selected a web host that dictates that your website runs frustratingly slowly.

So which web hosts will ensure that you don’t have these problems? We’ve researched the top ranking web hosts and have compiled a top five list of web hosts that score well in terms of reliability, which includes speed and Uptime and support:

  1. DreamHost-We rank the host in the top five due to a combination of it’s near perfect Uptime (99.97%), page speed (3.07 seconds) and reasonably fast support response time.
  2. InMotion–Another great performer for Uptime (99.96%), page speed of 3.36 seconds and rapid customer support (0.9 hours).
  3. HostGator–Fantastic Uptime (99.97%), high speed pages (2.98 seconds) but scores less favourably for support, with a rather long 53.4 hours on average.
  4. GoDaddy– This host is the King of customer support, with a mere 0.1 hours response time on average. Uptime is fairly standard at 99.95% and page speed slightly slower at 3.25 seconds.
  5. Bluehost– Scoring well for page speed (3.08 seconds), lower on Uptime (99.93%) and with longer support response time (34.7 hours), Bluehost still makes the top five.

These are the top five web hosts that we have selected based on reliability and support alone. If you are looking for other factors such as cost, ease of installation, flexibility and other features then you should shop around before you make a decision. We rate the five hosts above as high performers but if they don’t match your own specific requirements then the performance is irrelevant to you.

Selecting a web host can be difficult but there is plenty of information and support available from experts, either from reputable technology websites or by contacting a dedicated web host specialist to help you assess which host complements your own specific requirements.

Whichever host you choose, you will always have the option of moving to a new host in the future but be mindful that this can be a painstaking task if you have a large website with multiple features that aren’t available through other hosts.

By Kar

Dr. Kar works in the interface of digital transformation and data science. Professionally a professor in one of the top B-Schools of Asia and an alumni of XLRI, he has extensive experience in teaching, training, consultancy and research in reputed institutes. He is a regular contributor of Business Fundas and a frequent author in research platforms. He is widely cited as a researcher. Note: The articles authored in this blog are his personal views and does not reflect that of his affiliations.