The ‘buy local, support local’ movements are ones that are well entrenched across Canada and it is indeed good if you can see to it the money stays in the local community and supports the people who live there. If this is seen strictly in the consumerist sense then there is a lot to be said for it and this is why many people will shop at Mom & Pop shops rather than a big box store. But admirable altruistic intentions aside there is also a lot to be said about getting your website hosted via a data centre that’s local too. The gains there have nothing to do with the health of the local economy, however, and so there’s no connection between that and local web hosting solutions for Canadian businesses.
The gain here is going to have nothing to do with dollars at all, although in a roundabout way you could make the argument it does if you have an eCommerce website hosted on one of those local web hosting packages. That will be true if you’re selling more of whatever it is you sell online because the local data centres are delivering loaded web pages more readily for customers who are ready to buy. There are definitely SEO benefits of hosting a site locally too, and between the ability to have pages loading faster and getting better SEO it’s a pretty convincing argument to go with local web hosting if possible.
More often than not the price you’re going to pay for web hosting is going to be very similar to what you’d pay for more nationwide providers anyways. Stronger data privacy is also part of the advantages you get when your web hosting provider has your site hosted locally and server requests are being handled and responded to via a local data centre. This makes it an even better choice for secure hosting options for city-focused websites.
Here at 4GoodHosting we have 2 state-of-the-art data centres in both B.C. and Ontario and this allows us to have optimized local web hosting for all cities and areas in the Greater Vancouver and Greater Toronto areas. Folks just outside either of those areas can also get the benefits of having their site hosted reasonably close by too, and so what we’ll do with this week’s blog entry here is go into greater detail about all the reasons why local hosting boosts trust for city-based business
Sites with More Roar
Most people will already be aware that when a webpage is delivered in response to a server request it’s going to be loading that much more quickly if the servers are relatively near to where the request sender is located. So if you’re a business owner in Vancouver then you’re going to want to have that for yourself as the majority of people who will be ordering from you will live in or around the city. It may be that some are in an area of business or an industry where customers aren’t found locally to the same extent, and if so then all of this is going to be less relevant for you.
Local web hosting solutions for Canadian businesses become instantly more important if they are found near to you for the most part, and then doubly so if those potential customers are also going to be inclined to find a local retailer or service provider online for whatever it is they need. ALL businesses need a a well-designed and informative website in today’s digital ere and with the right web hosting services they’re more able to establish a strong online presence across the web.
Going with a local provider sets you up to be operating within the same geographic region. If you’re in Scarborough or North York then a local Toronto web hosting provider will be the one that has all your website data stored on servers located in the GTA. It’s very advantageous to have this, and so let’s get right to pointing out every exact reason why that’s the case.
The first one is the one we’ve already been harping on here so far in this entry - faster page load speeds. A very favourable impression is created with a potential customer when he or she has your site’s homepage pop up complete very shortly after they click-through to it.
We can list them out here
- Faster Loads
First and foremost among reasons to choose local web hosting is for the improvements with your website’s loading time. Your site will experience much lower latency with local hosting, and so there’s far fewer delays with data transmission, and for simple sites without many elements to load there’s usually no delay ever. A website that loads faster is always going to be better for you because it means greater numbers of visitors staying on the site and many of them coming to eventually make purchases.
- Enhanced Security
Another big plus with local hosting is that it can greatly reduce the risk of security threats. This also pushes the superiority of secure hosting options for city-focused websites, and especially if the site handles transactions and needs to keep sensitive data secure for customers. Obviously that’s going to be a huge priority and failing to do it can means the end of your online business fairly quickly if you’re not careful and do what’s needed to improve website security.
Local providers are familiar with regional security issues, they can respond quickly to threats and take necessary security measures. In general, local hosting is less likely to face security breaches because it stores only regional data.
- Compliance with Local Regulations
Local providers are going to be more familiar with local regulations and laws because of the proximity of their data centres. This helps them ensure your website complies with data protection laws and then there’s also the way local hosting stays updated with changes and upgrades in these laws. Your website will be better set up to adapt to those changes.
- Better Customer Support & Communication
Local hosting can offer better communication and customer support based on the fact no ins going to operating in different time zones. There’s little to no likelihood of a language barrier with local providers. You’ll be able communicate in your preferred language and there’s very little chance of their being any level of miscommunication between you and the CS support team at your hosting provider.
- Personalized Solutions
Local host providers will have local data centers where they store data within that same region. For this reason they have more control over their operations compared to global providers and are usually more willing to make their service more customizable and flexible to meet your business needs. This also contributes to SEO benefits of hosting a site locally, as your provider will be more knowledgeable with keyword optimization for targeting the local market more specifically.
- Support for the Local Economy
At the start here we did allude to this part of it, but we did so saying that it’s not the same primary focus. However, supporting local providers of ANY sort is still a smaller part of the picture here. Choose a local web hosting provider and you will be contributing and boosting the local economy by choosing local providers. This leads you to support small businesses and create job opportunities that give you a strong connection with local communities.
- Cultural and Market Understanding
We tend to see that local providers usually have a better understanding of the regional market, culture, and audience needs. This means that when you choose local hosting you’ll be in line to get those insights, and eventually they may help you target customers better in that given region of whatever Province it is you’re operating in.
- Networking Opportunities
Don’t be surprised if there’s great networking opportunities to be had too when you go with the best local choice for web hosting. Local hosting providers have strong connections with other networking businesses and professionals. This leads to potential collaboration with other businesses and expands your market reach.
- Easier Access to Additional Services
What we often see as well are local providers offering additional services such as web development, SEO, or digital marketing in order to improve the performance of client’s websites. You may also find additional services you can utilize to enhance your online presence.
- Environmental Impact
The last consideration here is the eco-friendly one that will resonate with a lot of people nowadays. Choosing local web hosting solutions for Canadian businesses can impact the environment positively in some ways. The overall carbon footprint of the hosting can be lessened by data transfer occurring over shorter distances.
Many local providers also try to use environmentally-friendly practices and will be aiming to minimize power consumption with their data centres. Hosting ever-greater numbers of local websites for local businesses helps them do that.
Local hosting really is best if you are a business that is primarily targeting a local market. Letting local providers host your website can help you target those audiences and also impact your website’s performance and security in advantageous ways. Most people who choose to go this way also find themselves experiencing better support, solutions, and feel they have a host that is contributing to the success of their business in non-standard ways. All the solutions are readily available to you and can be customized based on your specific needs.
Get in touch with us if you’re site isn’t ranking as highly as you like and you’d like to know more about the SEO benefits of hosting a site locally. People are often surprised with how easy it is to use Google Adwords or a similar SEO-keyword research tool and ongoing keyword optimization revisiting is something that even the most layman of people can do for their small business website.
