It’s an easy choice for the typical one or two person business to opt to go with a third party website host.
That’s not the case for most middle market businesses, especially those with an IT staff and an investment in some infrastructure. There may be an urge to use the resources at hand to handle hosting your own website and that may work fine for some offices, but it’s usually a mistake with hidden costs.
Lets look at the obvious issue first. A web server is a machine that is attached to an open internet line, all the time, in an effort to make the sites it hosts as available as possible. While there are ways to secure that and separate your other parts of the business from being accessed, hackers sometimes find workarounds- it’s one of the things they tend to be really good at. Web servers are a point of interest for everyone from the curiosity seeker to the seasoned, old-school coder with an agenda.
A good website host puts a great deal of effort into security measures, starting with good fundamentals. If you host a site on your own server, you’ll want a person who is intimately familiar with security issues, preferably on your staff.
The second issue relates to the development team, who is it comprised of, and who gives the final sign offs at various stages? You will need your marketing people and your tech people to be in communication as the site is planned and takes shape.
The hidden cost associated with doing this in house is in lost business when the site doesn’t engage it’s audience in a way that generates revenue. You may not see the revenue going elsewhere, but someone will be getting it.
The worst part is that the site can appear fine while it is a revenue sieve.
As you know if you’ve read a few of my posts, I’m a fan of Site Ground Web hosting. I’ve wasted years on bad hosts in the past. Don’t do that.
Just give SiteGround a whirl. They’ll take good care of you.
