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Poor website performance has a detrimental impact on a brand's reputation, and its ability to convert consumers effectively. While a modern website will help to drive conversions and keep visitors coming back to a website, the quality of the web host, in terms of uptime, performance and security, will also determine the success of a website. Here are five signs that you need new web host.

1. Frequent downtime. If your site crashes frequently, your web host may be a big part of the problem. While a badly built website may also contribute to downtime, a server environment that was not designed to meet the needs of a particular website, such as built in redundancies, will result in your website being offline more often than when hosted on a suitably designed hosting environment. If downtime is negatively impacting your online business, it may be time to move on.

2. Poor performance. In addition to downtime, general performance, in terms of page load times or web pages timing out, can drive interested visitors away from a website. Poor performance can often be attributed to lack of capacity, or bandwidth available within the hosting environment. For example, cheaper hosting options often utilize a shared environment, where multiple websites are hosted together. The performance of a shared environment is tied to the needs of all websites in the environment, not your website. If poor performance is negatively impacting your website, moving to an environment that supports your particular needs may be the answer.

3. Security breaches. Quality hosting companies make security a centerpiece of their hosting products. Firewalls, encryption, security scans, and DDoS protection should be standard security features, not optional. If these basic security features are not a guaranteed part of your hosting solution, look elsewhere.

4. Insufficient management. Hosting management, a hosting service which provides additional features such as monitoring, alerts, security patch, and software updates, varies considerably across hosting products and packages. For example, in a shared environment, a standardized set of management features comes automatically with the purchase of the shared hosting plan. But they may or may not include management features your website needs. Some hosting solutions offer management features, while others include comprehensive management, 24/7. A sufficient level of management should be one of the main drivers behind your choice of hosting providers for your website.

5. Backups: Is your website backed up? It’s a good question. Even if the answer is “Yes”, it is important to know how and where it is backed up as well as how often and how long? Backing up a website is extremely simple and economical, if such a feature is built into a host’s server environment. There is no reason why your website should not be backed up as an insurance against disaster, and your choice of hosting providers should reflect this.

Avatar New York is an innovating, award-winning web design New York firm dedicated to providing clients with responsive websites that help grow brands and convert visitors to customers. With an expertise in web development, branding, cloud hosting, mobile app development, and CMS and e-commerce solutions, Avatar New York's top tier designers have the ability to create intelligent websites for any type of business.