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High-performance WordPress hosting: Why do we choose Raidboxes?
There are numerous web hosting providers in Germany. For this reason, it’s not at all easy for customers to get a good overview. As a web agency, we deal with numerous web hosting providers almost daily through our clients and are familiar with their pros and cons. Today, we’d like to introduce you to the German web hosting provider Raidboxes, based in Münster, which we also use for our own websites. In this article, you’ll find out why we host our websites with Raidboxes and what benefits good web hosting can offer when it comes to marketing.
Why do we host our website and our clients’ websites with Raidboxes?
There are essentially five reasons why we have so far chosen to host our websites with Raidboxes:
#1 Lightning-fast hosting provider
Compared with other hosting providers, an average WordPress site runs up to four times faster than with other hosting providers. Speed is crucial, as user-friendliness, conversion rates and even Google rankings all depend on loading speed.
#2 Reliability
As well as ensuring websites load quickly, you naturally also want the website to be as stable as possible and available 365 days a year without interruption. The risk of a server outage is particularly serious when the website attracts a very high number of visitors each day. However, Raidboxes is one of those providers where, apart from scheduled technical maintenance, there have been no significant website outages to date.
#3 Security and Data Protection
If, for example, a company runs an online shop, sensitive personal data such as the customer’s telephone number, email address, etc. is stored with every purchase. Customers expect this data to be handled responsibly and for the new GDPR standards to be complied with. German web hosting providers in particular are generally ahead of the game in this respect, simply because high standards are set in this country. For example, all websites in Germany are operated in accordance with the latest security requirements of ISO 27001 certification.
#4 Personalised and prompt support
Any business owner who has ever set up a WordPress site on a new server knows that questions can crop up time and again. If, for example, the contact form on the website stops working, potential customers will no longer be able to get in touch with the company. It’s clear that the longer the contact form remains out of action, the more potential customer enquiries are lost. The knowledgeable staff at Raidboxes often respond via live chat within seconds, even on Sundays and public holidays. This allows you to react quickly and resolve the issue.
#5 Climate-friendly company
In general, it is worth supporting every company making its own personal contribution to the fight against climate change. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and convert it into the vital oxygen we need to breathe. However, the number of trees is declining due to increasing deforestation, so it is very important to plant new trees. If you host your website with Raidboxes, a new tree is planted for every website. Furthermore, 100 per cent of the energy used to power Raidboxes’ offices comes from hydropower and is therefore sourced from renewable energy.
What services and benefits does Raidboxes offer (compared to other web hosting providers)?
Fast, secure and high-performance WordPress hosting is offered by a number of providers on the market, but there are a few services that are truly unique.
Free removal service
Many companies would like to move their website to a different web hosting provider to take advantage of better terms. However, the move usually incurs additional costs until the company or website is running smoothly again on the new server. This is where Raidboxes offers a free migration service. As part of this, a copy of the website is made from the old server within two working days and placed on a temporary domain for 14 days. This allows you to check whether the website works on Raidboxes and actually runs faster. If the website then works as desired, you can activate it for a fee and complete the move. This means you’re taking no risk. What’s unique is that Raidboxes offers this free migration service and ensures your website runs smoothly on the new server.
Specialising in WordPress
Another truly new feature is that Raidboxes hosts exclusively WordPress websites and specialises in them. This is also evident from the dashboard interface, which is specifically optimised to meet the needs of WordPress users. Which other hosting provider allows you to update plugins directly within the hosting software and even set up automatic updates via Raidboxes? Another particularly successful feature is that you’ll no longer need WordPress caching plugins, as Raidboxes handles the caching for you.
Staging and Live Website
We’ve all been there: you want to install a new WordPress plugin or a new custom-built feature, and suddenly the website stops working properly; you have to restore a backup and, in some cases, you end up losing important customers. This can’t happen to you with Raidboxes, as it’s possible to create a copy of your website in what’s known as ‘staging’ and make changes to it there. This way, you can see exactly whether the change is working as intended. Only once you’ve thoroughly tested the new feature or plugin do you simply go live with the staging site, thereby overwriting the previous one.
Mobile use of the hosting software
Generally speaking, people want to be able to manage their business with just a few taps on their smartphone. The design software can be used in landscape mode on a mobile phone, which also makes it easier to communicate with a web designer or an online marketing agency whilst on the move.
One server per website
With other low-cost providers, several domains are usually hosted on a single server. Whilst this saves money, it also results in slower loading times. As well as reduced performance, there are also security issues. If a website on the server is hacked, this can affect the other websites on the server. This is why business owners with high-traffic websites and strict security requirements are switching to Raidboxes.
Webseite bei Raidboxes hosten?
Why is the website’s loading speed so important?
Your website’s loading time is a crucial factor in your business’s online success, as we’d like to demonstrate with the following points:
More and more people are browsing the internet on mobile devices
In 2021, the proportion of mobile internet users stood at 82 per cent, which is 23 per cent higher than five years ago. Browsing on a smartphone is particularly popular amongst the advertising-relevant target group of 14- to 25-year-olds, with almost 96 per cent of people in this age group accessing the internet exclusively via a tablet or smartphone. However, to date, no mobile phone has as much processing power as a PC, so websites need to load faster and use fewer resources. Likewise, the web design and menu navigation must be adapted for mobile use and be clear and straightforward. The rule here is: ‘The faster a website loads, the better the user experience!’ It is therefore important to have a good web hosting provider that enables the website to load quickly.
Fast loading times have an impact on search engine optimisation
For some time now, a website’s loading speed has been one of the most important ranking factors for websites in search engines. Its importance has even increased due to the widespread use of mobile devices. Google, for example, introduced the so-called Core Update in 2018, which measures various factors known as Core Web Vitals. However, in detail, these Core Web Vitals are nothing more than website performance metrics, which are predominantly influenced by web hosting. Any websites that load slowly will not fare well in Core Updates and will lose both their search engine rankings and visitors in the long term.
Fast page loading speeds lead to longer visit durations
Only 2 per cent of visitors make a purchase on a website during their first visit. If you track your traffic figures using analytics software, you’ll know for a fact that a fast page speed is linked to higher visitor numbers and longer session durations. As the number of returning visitors increases, so does the number of times potential customers engage with your business. Statistics show that the more customers have come into contact with your business, the more likely they are to buy from you. Consequently, your website’s speed is directly linked to your sales figures and must therefore not be neglected.
Du möchtest deine Website auf Geschwindigkeit optimieren?
Why does it actually cost me money if I host my website or online shop with a budget provider?
Well, we’ve already talked about the importance of loading times, but what does it actually mean to host a website with a budget provider?
A 100 ms increase in loading time costs 1% of turnover
Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has found that even a 100 ms increase in the website’s loading time can result in a loss of around 1 per cent in turnover. So let’s say your business generates €100,000 a year through your online shop; in that case, even a slight increase in the website’s loading time of just one second would lead to a loss of €10,000 in annual revenue. Raidboxes has measured the loading speeds of various websites before and after moving to Raidboxes, and almost all providers saw an increase in loading speed. This means that moving to a better web host usually also means more revenue for your business.
Less downtime
Unfortunately, the cheaper a web hosting provider is, the more likely your website is to experience downtime. The website WebhosterWissen.de has compared the downtime figures of various providers. Unfortunately, it’s also clear from this that very cheap providers, in particular, experience more downtime on average than more expensive web hosting providers. The more visitors a website has and the more complex it is, the more likely it is to experience downtime. For this reason, larger companies in particular should be advised to switch to a more expensive provider that can handle high levels of website traffic.
Reduced maintenance and security
The lower the hosting price, the less frequently the website is usually maintained and updated. At Raidboxes, a backup is carried out every 24 hours and a comprehensive backup of all data is performed every 14 days. With cheaper providers, you’ll be lucky if any sort of backup of the website data is carried out every 14 days. If a hacker attack does occur or data is lost during an update, it’s difficult to recover the data with budget providers.
Hundreds of customers on a single server
It is clear that a server costs money for any hosting company. If you add up the costs of the necessary hardware, such as hard drives, CPU power, etc., you quickly reach 5,000 euros per server. Added to this are the costs of electricity, which, in the current climate of the energy crisis, has not become any cheaper. Costs for cooling the servers using air-conditioning systems must also be factored in. Every large server is housed in a data centre, which also charges rent. Finally, there are costs for data transfer, which are also paid to the data centre. As a result, you can expect total server costs of between 50 and 200 euros per month. With budget hosting providers, these costs are passed on to the customers, and before you know it, you have a few hundred customers on a single server. The consequences are poor loading times, as well as support and server overloads.
Conclusion
A good hosting provider ensures that your website runs smoothly 365 days a year with fast loading times. As a web agency, we understand that loading speed is directly linked to our turnover and that of our clients. That’s why we host our websites and those of our clients with Raidboxes, one of the best providers in Germany. If you’d also like to take your business to the next level in terms of hosting and revenue, simply get in touch with us. We’d also be happy to help you transfer your domain to a new hosting provider that’s the perfect fit for your business, or with your website relaunch.
