Web hosting has continued getting better and better over the years. As new technologies and better systems emerge, new services have become available. Get to know the trends and most popular services in web hosting in 2017. Are they usably hot or simply blistering as an unsustainable fad in the tech world?
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1. Cloud Services
While “cloud anything” may have already been popular since the past couple of years, it continues to be one of the hottest services when it comes to web hosting. This is not really surprising considering the many advantages cloud systems are associated with. Cloud hosting, which roughly means a network of computers operating together to provide physically independent servers or virtual servers, offers the advantages of improved speed, performance, and reliability. Additionally, cloud hosting services are known to be cheaper compared to traditional web hosting. Cloud hosting is of course not a perfect solution for addressing all web hosting needs but it’s an option that creates more advantages than drawbacks, suitable to the needs of most sites and blogs at present.
2. Managed WordPress Hosting
WordPress remains to be the world’s most popular content management system and most preferred method for publishing content online. It’s not surprising that managed WordPress hosting is on the rise with extensive offers from common web hosting providers. This special hosting package is different as it is specifically designed to ensure high performance and reliable WordPress sites or blogs. It usually included features such as performance-boosting caching, enhanced security, automatic installation of the latest WordPress version into the root directory, a set of free WordPress plugins, as well as a blacklist of plugins that are known to be potentially harmful. Managed WordPress hosting emphasizes the point that customers should be spending most of their time building their site, not managing a web server.
3. Do-It-Yourself Website Building with Hosting
Online services for creating sites or blogs on the fly have been in existence for several years now. However, despite the ease and convenience they offer, they still fail to pose a significant threat to CMS or web content publishing leaders such as WordPress and Blogger. This is not to say they are not worth anything. These DIY website building solutions certainly provide something worthwhile. In particular, they have somewhat inspired more web hosts to offer a way that allows customers to build their sites through a drag-and-drop WYSIWYG interface and not worry about the hosting as it is automatically set up. In 2017, more companies are expected to make website publishing significantly easier through DIY website builders that are mostly free-to-use. These DIY website builders are mainly intended to attract customers to the web hosting services being offered. It’s a commendably enticing idea—allowing anyone to build attractive websites for free and just offer the hosting or other features as the paid service.
4. Emphasis on Security or Protection from Online Threats
With the growing number of threats on web properties in recent years, web hosting service providers are trying to attract customers with packages that emphasize security and reliability. They know website owners or even bloggers are already becoming wary of online threats so it’s only logical to offer something relevant. Instead of letting website owners get third party protection from online threats, they will try to convince these website owners that it would be more cost-efficient to just get the protection directly from the web host.
Some web hosts may also emphasize their security and dependability by touting their vetting process for the customers they serve. Instead of simply bragging that they count some major company as a customer, they may also emphasize that they maintain a system that ensures that their web servers don’t get associated with anomalous, malicious, and criminal activities. They can highlight their policy of being strict in monitoring their customers’ activities without necessarily infringing on their privacy.
On the other hand, more and more web hosts will likely include in their services solutions for addressing DDoS. The number of DDoS attacks in 2017 continued rising and is only expected to grow more in the years to come. Web hosts that can’t address DDoS attacks can’t entice website owners who value continuous uptime or reliability in general.
5. Reselling and Partnerships
Companies that offer web hosting services are no different from other businesses. They will exploit any marketing or sales strategy to get more customers. In 2017, reselling and partnership are expected to continue as a trend in the web hosting business. With tech giants such as Amazon and Apple entering the web hosting business, the smaller ones are bound to be disadvantaged. They need to form networks with other online entities to compete with the massive marketing resources of known tech giants with extremely popular brand names and reputability to boot.
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Essentially, it can be said that the trends from a year or two ago remain to be the same trends prevailing in 2017. There might be minor differences but for the most part they are almost the same. There haven’t been breakthrough technologies or business models yet that are creating a major disturbance in the web hosting business. The trends listed above are arguably hot and viable albeit far from being positively disruptive and noteworthy.