Different people are going to have different prerogatives when it comes to their website and why exactly they’ve chosen to take themselves online. This is going to be just as true in Canada’s capital city as it is anywhere else, and more important than being the location of Capital Hill is the fact that Ottawa is a bustling major metropolis in the same way Canada’s other biggest cities are. One of the realities that comes with being a dense spot is that business is even more competitive, so if expanding the reach of your business is why you’re online then the matter of website hosting in Ottawa takes on a whole lot more importance.
The interests are a lot more serious – and a lot more inflexible – if it is webhosting for an ecommerce site or something similar. The reason that web hosting providers in Canada strive to offer website uptime guarantees is because for a business owner with a website having this guarantee is pretty much the be all / end all of what will convince them to stay with a reliable host. You’ll hear talk of ‘99% uptime guarantees’ with Ottawa web hosting benefits and that’s what we have here at 4GoodHosting. It means that only 1% of the time there be the possibility that your website is ‘down’ and not available on the Internet.
That’s exactly what the business owner there is going to want to hear, and it may well be the barometer for whether reliable hosting in Ottawa makes the grade. They’re going to evaluate any choice of a host based on this offering more than anything else, although they’ll be looking for other gains too – potentially everything from free domain name transfers or a website builder that they can use to create a better website for themselves.
All of that will depend on the individual and their type of business, and quite possibly how well their website is performing for them. The most important criteria for that is going to be greater numbers of new orders from first-time buyers online, and that expands the conversation around website hosting in Ottawa to include SEO services. That’s something you can expect from a better web host provider too, and as you’d expect it’s something we have for you as well.
What will follow in this blog entry here is our look at 5 reasons to host your website in Ottawa with a reputable and reliable provider. We’re not the only one, but we may have the best mix of reliability, features, and affordable pricing. But you can determine that on your own, so let’s not waste any more time getting right to the topic. You can discover reliable hosting in Ottawa today!
Why Server Location Matters for Hosting
Website hosting is a service that allows organizations and individuals to post a website or web pages onto the Internet. A website hosting service provider takes the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed by the public and makes them available as a paid service. Websites are hosted or stored on servers, and internet users that want to view your website will type your website address or domain into their browser. Their computer will then connect to your server and with the server request your webpages are presented to them through the browser.
We feel that by this point that there’s a very clear answer for ‘does it really matter where my website is hosted?’ and that it’s an emphatic yes. If you have a website only because you have a blog on personal interests or want to share your poetry online then you will probably be fine going with the most inexpensive web hosting. That’s because if your site is down for a day or too – or longer in some cases – it’s really not going to be that big a deal and not a deal breaker at all when it comes to Ottawa web hosting benefits.
Keep in mind as well that with the provider you choose to host your website you are also choosing where your website’s data is going to be stored. Data that may be quite sensitive in nature and the type that you are going want to be kept secure and entirely private. Having SSL certificates for eCommerce websites is a default choice for business sites of this type, but having the right type of security baked into your web hosting needs to be a primary need too.
But back to importance of website data security, as a customer you should be asking where your data is going to be stored at all times. Privacy and security are going to be forefront considerations when someone is evaluating whether or not to have a website hosted in Canada through a specific web hosting provider. Let’s move to discuss the first of our 5 reasons now:
Privacy
Being able to store data in the cloud is such a huge convenience for all of us that wasn’t even possible only a short while ago. However, where the server is located is going to be a big deal with reliable hosting in Ottawa. It’s good to understand that websites, databases and emails are governed by the laws of where the server is located. So if that’s Canada and Ottawa then they are under the control of the Canadian legal system, and specifically the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). It strictly regulates private information on hosted servers with laws designed to protect sensitive and personal data.
It's different for our US neighbors, because web servers in the USA are under the control of the Patriot Act. This means the US government can legally access any data, block you from your data, and monitor your communications if your activity is deemed suspicious. They may even send burly men in suits to your home to rough you up a bit. It’s important that Canadians who have their website hosted in the USA are aware of this.
The absence of such potential overreach is a part of why it’s better to have your website hosted in Canada. For starters it is among the strictest countries in the world when it comes to managing personal data and information. Compared to other countries, Canada places personal security as a higher priority and it is regarded as an essential right.
Pricing
It’s understandable if any business owner in Ottawa or elsewhere in Canada is drawn to having their site hosted in the USA because of the lower prices on web hosting there. Nowadays though the prices are fairly even with each other, and many hosts here like us at 4GoodHosting have both Western and Eastern Canada data centers. This is hugely beneficial too, because being located closer to the data center is also advantageous. This is especially true for sites enjoying VPS hosting in Canada.
Keep as mind as well with this that when choosing a Canadian based hosting provider, you will likely be billed in Canadian dollars and this may well be saving youseveral currency conversion fees.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Enabling better SEO is also integral to better website hosting in Ottawa. You can have all of your content optimized and the right keywords incorporated at the right densities, but your web hosting provider is going to factor into how well your site ranks too and DIY webmasters will do well to be fully aware of this when choosing a host. Plus by choosing a hosting provider where your information is stored in Canada you will then be receiving a Canadian IP address.
The relevance of this is in the fact that when someone in Canada goes on google to search for whatever it is you offer with your business. When this happens it will automatically load Canadian IP addresses that are near to where they’re searching from, and this will positively affecting your local Google rankings if your data is kept in a data center that is nearby. This is a massive boost to local SEO, and it’s something that comes built in with Ottawa web hosting here. Plus with a website hosted in Canada you will be enjoying better search relevancy within Canadian-based search results and increased Canadian traffic. Being hosted with a provider in Canada means will have a much greater chance of being found on google
Improved Performance
Keeping with this theme and looking at Ottawa web hosting benefits, we can also tell you that the distance between the server and the computer loading the website can make a similar difference. If your target audience is Canada then the advantage of a Canadian- based service provider is shorter website page load times and the real likelihood of visitors spending more time at your website for a whole host of other connected reasons.
This is also quite a big deal, as the longer a person waits for your website to load the greater chance they ‘bounce’ from the website (leave) and possibly never return to it. Page load speed time is very important for SEO, and even more with the faster web technologies that are seemingly arriving on the scene at all times. The general consensus is that it can’t take longer than 3 seconds for a page to load, and if it’s anything longer than that you’re probably going to see your site’s bounce rates explode.
So the closer your data and online information is to you and your customers, the faster your site is going to load. It’s increasingly true that speed is one of the most important attributes for a website and we will always stress that as you discover reliable hosting in Ottawa today
Security
We’re going to wrap this up by circling around to what we started with, and that’s quite legit as website security is always going to be bigger than just site data security. This is going to factor into decisions about web hosting in Ottawa nine times out of 10, and we think that’s quite natural as it’s important to feel secure about where your information is stored and to know that your host’s data centers are equally secure too.
The best advice we have is before picking a hosting provider it’s good to ask any of the potential candidates about daily backups & restore points, continuous uptime, and whether or not they have valid Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates for customers being reassured of the safety of entering credit card or other financial information online. If they have that and they have a data server that’s physically near you in Ottawa then that should be a huge plus for them.
Also look to see if they have distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, and a business continuity plan that will be put in place right away in the unlikely event those servers fail.
We’ll conclude by saying you should choose a Canadian web hosting provider very carefully, and taking all 5 of these considerations into account as you make your decision. If your website is a valuable extension of your business you absolutely have to be evaluating your choice with a lot of seriousness. It may well be that you need to check all of the boxes instead of just some of them as you weigh Ottawa web hosting benefits.
It will always be true that choosing to go with the inexpensive option is going to be something you might regret if it means your website is not going to be hosted in the same country, or with the best web hosting for Ottawa in this instance. Better and more local hosting will mean better targeting of your customers, less need to be concerned about privacy & security concerns.
And don’t forget that better SEO and enhanced website performance is also likely going to be among the benefits you gain from going with better web hosting. Discover reliable hosting in Ottawa today and we’re ready to set you up with the most affordable and reliable option when you’re set to get started.
