A great website is paramount for any business to be productive and prosperous. Hence, in the present age of competition, organizations always consider opting for a good web hosting service. Here are the reasons.
A good web hosting service would result in a faster website and offer users/customers a great user experience. It simplifies the buying experience of customers and increases their chances of converting. It helps garner online traffic and generate business revenue. By having a professional web hosting service, an owner faces less hassles or disruptions while using the website. It also means that the website is more secure where sensitive information is secured, and data backup is easily accessible. Investing in a reputed web hosting service also helps businesses to get accurate and the best search engine rankings.
Different Types of Web Hosting Services
- Various web hosting services are available such as shared hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated hosting, collocation hosting, cheap web hosting, managed hosting, and virtual private servers (VPS).
- Shared hosting service is cheaper and works well on small and medium size websites. It is great for website owners who do not require an enormous web traffic.
- Cloud hosting offers a great scalability and allows one to customize his server. It is more budget-friendly as it eliminates the need for physical servers.
- Dedicated hosting allows one to get a complete server and upgrade the website and resources according to his needs. This hosting service is ideal for website owners who need a large amount of web traffic.
- Colocation hosting is similar to dedicated hosting. It allows owners to configure the website. However, instead of using the hosting company’s servers, owners own the servers, and buy or rent all hardware and software.
- In managed web hosting, the service provider takes care of basic maintenance tasks for the owner and may optimize website performance. The maintenance tasks include backups, security tracking, software updates, and more.
- With VPS, one gets fully dedicated resources for his website and may be able to configure the VPS to his specific needs.
Recent Trends and Market Insights
With more businesses going digital, there is an intrusion of more websites on the internet, which is one of the prime factors driving the web hosting services market. A growing number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and their desire to have an online presence, an influx of mobile marketing platforms, and wide availability of web hosting services with excellent server performance and features at affordable costs are catalyzing the growth of the market.
According to a recent report by the market research firm Allied Market Research, the global web hosting services market stood at a value of $57.46 billion in 2019 and would garner a sum of $183.05 billion by 2027, thereby growing at a CAGR of 15.2% during the forecast period, 2020 – 2027.
Related: Emerging Web Hosting Technology Trends
Other Web Hosting Services Trends
Web hosting is a rapid field that is highly competitive. To survive, it must remain flexible to adapt to an ever-changing digital landscape while keeping up with every type of requirement for a well-wired world. Here are some web hosting trends that are likely to drive the industry in the years ahead.
Green Web Hosting Service
Like any other business, the web hosting service industry is widely adopting the sustainability trend. Green web hosting services has gained popularity in recent years, and the trend is likely to continue in the coming years. The web hosting industry negatively impacts the environment, owing to the high levels of carbon dioxide emissions from the internet. The data centers are home to all the website information and comprise many hardware devices which carry out a lot of work. Therefore, they need a chilled and controlled environment for their maintenance.
However, this facilitates the need for a tremendous amount of energy for maintenance, which results in a significant amount of carbon dioxide output. This factor makes them less than optimal for our environment. Hence, it is no wonder that a growing number of companies in the web hosting landscape now consider investing in carbon offsetting schemes.
They are becoming environmentally aware and participating in initiatives regarding environmental protection to alleviate the harmful effects on the environment. Green web hosting service providers gain Renewable energy certificates (REC) or carbon offset certificates (VER) issued by renewable energy companies. REC certificate means that the energy used by a web hosting company is provided by low or zero-emission electricity sources and the VER certificate indicates the levels of greenhouse gases reduced by web hosting platforms.
Security in Web Hosting
Internet security has become crucial in the web hosting services market in 2022 and is likely to be in future. The reason for this is the pandemic which has complicated the security domain by bringing novel threats and vulnerabilities. Scams associated with the pandemic are becoming grave threats to personal and commercial information. Hence, concerns over information security and growing cyberattacks are only increasing every day.
As the awareness regarding cybersecurity and its significance grows, web hosting service companies will require to make security an essential element of their business. Besides this, web hosting providers emphasize hosting the best security protocols within the organization, such as two-factor authentication, standard SSL certification, unified protection, compliance checks for CMS (Content Management System) vulnerabilities, and encrypted data storage. Many web hosting companies also provide domain privacy services, which ensure that the domain data is maintained privately.
Another essential security offering is the Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), which has become paramount for organizations in recent years. It is because HTTPS can enhance the security status of websites, build trust of customers, and help websites achieve a top ranking on search engines such as Google.
Emerging Technologies in the Web Hosting Service Industry
– Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) in web hosting and greater adoption of cloud-based gaming solutions are likely to offer prolific growth opportunities for the market. AI can automate several routine tasks such as customer service, website maintenance and monitoring, and marketing, allowing businesses to save time and money. It can also offer enhanced security from hackers and malware, the correct domain names, improved uptime by preventing hardware failure, automated maintenance, and repair of the systems where the website operates. Artificial intelligence software helps to scan data center systems, find out the potential issues with hardware or the network and perform tasks to stop disasters from taking place.
– Multi-cloud hosting is another trend achieving popularity in recent years and is expected to continue in 2022. Owing to the need of organizations to have an extensive online experience for their customers, it has become crucial to implement systems that fill up that online presence across several cloud providers. Multi-cloud involves the distribution of many cloud assets, such as files and software, across multiple cloud environments. It is a way through which an organization uses cloud computing platforms to perform various jobs and relieves a company from solely depending on a single cloud host. With this option, companies can opt for the best-of-breed services from each cloud host. The multi-cloud hosting service offers many advantages, such as scalability, flexibility, and simplified usage. In addition, the service is becoming more affordable.
Related: Fostering Your Business Growth With Customized Web Hosting Solutions
Managed Web Hosting
Managed web hosting is another web hosting service trend that would surely gain popularity in 2022. It is a good solution for growing websites or online platforms. The service refers to one where the web host manages website operations such as backups, help desk services, and system updates at their end, which means that the customer purchasing the service need not have to take care of the management and administration of the website.
They also need not worry about the rate of hiring system administrators, database administrators, and so on. Many managed web hosts rent out computer servers, which are soley run by the service provider, allowing web owners to concentrate on developing their business goals and competencies. Managed web hosting providers also manage website security through advanced server monitoring and proactive detection of vulnerabilities and other irregularities.
Some factors driving the managed hosting service include the increasing need for organizations to keep up with technological advancements, their need to cater to the demands for regulatory compliance, and the lack of internal and technical knowledge.
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Website Builders
In the past, making and maintaining a professional website required technical knowledge in coding or programming. The process was difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. Therefore, do-it-yourself (DIY) website builders have become immensely popular in recent years. Thanks to website building services. These builders allow owners to create their websites without requiring any other prior knowledge of website development.
Users can easily drag and drop various icons into their web pages, creating regular functioning websites. These services often have a freemium, meaning that the website owners can develop their websites without paying any cost. However, they need to pay for exclusive or unique domain names.
Competitive Pricing in Web Hosting
The web hosting services industry has become highly competitive as numerous companies are looking to make the most of the augmented demand for hosting services. Due to this, service providers compete with tools and services as well as pricing. They offer more attractive hosting packages at cheap and discounted deals to tempt and attract new customers.
The costs of developing a website greatly depend on the complexity or simplicity of the owner’s requirements. It is associated with several elements, including domain name, the type of web hosting service chosen, content generation, graphic designing and more. In web hosting, various pricing plans are available that offer several options. Shared web hosting services are usually the most affordable options.
Covid-19 Impact on the Web Hosting Industry
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic had a low impact on the growth of the web hosting services market. Here are a few of the consequences of the pandemic, and it is safe to say that they all work in favor of the web hosting services industry.
– The imposition of social distancing and other norms laid down by governments across the globe led retailers to shut down their physical stores. Hence, having an online platform was not only a source of revenue and a means of reaching out to a large customer base but also the feasible choice of monetization. Therefore, it is no wonder that the e-commerce industry grew significantly in 2020.
– The pandemic period saw an increased demand for web hosting services. Many business owners started seeking online platforms to sell their products and services, and web hosting services enabled the businesses to exhibit their products on their websites.
– Moreover, companies in the web hosting space offered hosting services for free for a few months to help businesses recover and uplift them during the pandemic.
– The pandemic era also witnessed a surge in demand for new online projects. It also allowed entrepreneurs to begin implementing ideas they had for a while but could not manage the time to bring to reality.
– Playing video games became a great way to spend time during the pandemic as it helped connect people living in different parts of the world. There was a significant upsurge in the number of active online gamers. Many web hosting service providers saw this as an opportunity to incorporate gaming servers as part of their services.
Hence, the web hosting services market was impacted by the pandemic positively. Enormous market growth is evident in the future, and it is bound to attract more new businesses. This factor will lead to greater competition, and as a result, both new and existing providers will have to ensure that they provide high-quality service and support to businesses.
In conclusion, there is no doubt that there are great opportunities for the web hosting industry in the coming times. The popularity of services, such as do-it-yourself (DIY) website builders and managed hosting, brings new opportunities for web hosting organizations to succeed. However, players in the field need to optimize their resources and keep consumer needs in mind to stay at the forefront of the business.
