In order to get a website active and live on the internet, you need to host the website. If you are seeking to build a website without web hosting services, registering domain names will serve no purpose. When you purchase a website hosting service, you basically rent server space on a server where your web files will be placed. Our share hosting services cost approximately $20/month. Since all of our clients MUST purchase our maintenance service. The charge depends on the type of website that you purchase. Your monthly cost varies from $30/mo. to $67/mo. See our Web Design Rates for detailed information as to what your monthly website maintenance cost

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Business owners know they need a website. Even if you’re a two-man operation, you’re not in sales, per se, or you only cater to locals, you still need a virtual storefront to bolster the success of your business physical location. Having a website means exposure to a broader pool of potential customers; it helps you establish credibility, and people trust businesses with an online presence other than a Facebook page and a Yelp listing. The follow-up to that tip is the often understated importance of keeping your website online consistently once you’ve built it. While your brick-and-mortar may have a routine 9-to-5 hours of operation, your virtual store is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 day a year (no holidays off).

Anything short of 100% not only means a drop in traffic, but revenue loss as well. You would not randomly close your doors during peak business hours, would you? Of course not. Downtime costs you, so web hosting providers offer uptime guarantees to provide assurance of their service and reliability.

Uptime is the amount of time that a server has stayed up and running. This is usually listed as a percentage, like “99.9% uptime.”… If a hosting provider has a high uptime percentage, then that means that their servers stay up and running and so any site you host with them should stay up and running too.

Bringing it back to the basics, uptime is the amount of time your website is online and accessible to the public.Naturally, you want this rate as close to 100% as possible. As such, hosting providers ofter offer an uptime guarantee to distinguish their service from that of their competitors.

An uptime guarantee is your web host’s assurance your site will be online a certain percentage of a year. You can calculate how much cumulative downtime to expect for your site given a certain uptime rate, or see the highlights below. It’s generally understood that 99.9% uptime is a hosting industry standard, whereas five nines or better (99.999% and up) is the ideal percentage.

• 99.9% uptime means your website may be down for a total of 8 hours, 45 minutes, and 57 seconds each year.
• 99.99% uptime means your website may be down for a total of 52 minutes and 35.7 seconds each year.
• 99.999% uptime means your website may be down for a total of 5 minutes and 15.6 seconds each year.
• 100% uptime means your website is always online (be sure to read any SLA fine print.)

Some hosts offer a service-level agreement (SLA) with their promise of availability. In short, an SLA commits the host to a refund should a customer experience downtime in excess of the uptime guarantee. An SLA typically defines a minimum outage period to give the host time to detect the error, and the a host may credit you a certain percentage of your monthly fees for a month in which you experience more downtime than normal.

Even if your website doesn’t collect sensitive information like credit cards or social security numbers, having an SSL Certificate is now essential. Modern browsers alert visitors when websites are not secured with SSL, potentially affecting user trust and engagement.

SSL Certificates encrypt the data exchanged between your website and its visitors, ensuring that personal information such as usernames, passwords, and payment details remain secure from cybercriminals. This encryption is crucial not just for protecting your visitors but also for building trust. A secured website makes users feel safe enough to submit sensitive information.

Beyond security, SSL Certificates are vital for SEO. Since July 2018, Google has been marking non-HTTPS sites as “Not Secure,” influencing user perceptions and potentially decreasing site credibility. Google’s emphasis on security means that HTTPS sites now receive a ranking boost, making SSL essential for better search engine visibility.

For more information on the benefits of SSL certificates, visit Google’s Security Blog.

Today, over 80% of websites have moved to HTTPS, highlighting its importance in the current digital landscape. If you’ve noticed the ‘Not Secure’ warning in Chrome, it’s a clear sign to upgrade to HTTPS.

At Local Digital Works, we provide top-tier SSL/TLS encryption for just $70/year, installation included. Secure your site within 24-48 hours by contacting us at 703-408-1411. Ensure your website meets today’s security standards and enhances user confidence while navigating your content.