One of the major advantages of the internet is that it can quickly link people from all over the world. You can be in New York and speak with friends in London, shop at a Tokyo-based online business or conduct research at a German-based learning facility. In the digital age, the world has suddenly become much smaller. Communicating, connecting, and sharing with individuals from all over the world has never been easier.
There are some activities however that are simply better and easier to perform when they are done near to where you are. If you are hunger and want to eat a well-cooked meal, for example, you are more likely to go to a nearby restaurant or grocery store rather than one on the highway. The same thinking could be applied to web hosting. Although web hosting services are available from organizations all over the world, there are some advantages to be found in dealing with local providers rather than those on various other locations.
You might be wondering why a local web host is preferable. After all, web hosting companies effectively provide the same service, do they not? While this is mostly true, and although web hosting services provide very similar services, there are marked differences which emanate from location. We would like to enumerate a few, and remind domain owners that there are unique benefits to using a local web hosting company.
- Speed
One of the most notable advantages of having your website hosted on a server in your very own region is that it will enable your website load faster. Although the disparity in loading times between a local server and one located halfway around the world is mostly a fraction of a second, it could have a massive effect on how consumers engage with your site. Many users will only wait a few seconds for a website to load before hitting the back button and moving on to some other site. If you want to give all visitors to your site a prompt experience, then page loading time could make a big difference.
- Support
Even with top-ranking companies in the world, things can go wrong with web hosting. Servers could go down or even crash for a variety of reasons, causing a lot of issues with how data is delivered from your service to your users. A local hosting company will almost always provide a more prompt and personalized solution. Customer service personnel located on other continents for example, could delay access to the solution required, due to time zone differences.
- Data Privacy Laws
Data security is more crucial now than it has ever been. Most individuals are at least vaguely aware of the need for data privacy and security. However, data protection entails much more than simply adhering to regulations. Each jurisdiction would have its own set of rules and regulations concerning different practices and this also applies to data protection policies. Choosing a local hosting provider therefore makes far more sense from a compliance standpoint, as they will be familiar with your specific regulatory situation.
- Technical and Local Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Search Engine Optimization and hosting are strongly intertwined. Load speed has a significant role in this. This is where local hosting shines the brightest. The closer a person is to your servers, the faster your website will load, for obvious reasons. If all other factors are equal, a local server will always be speedier and hence more SEO friendly than an overseas counterpart.
Local hosting also has advantages in terms of local search. For example any query in which a search engine such as Google concludes that the user is seeking for anything in their nearby neighborhood, whether this is indicated in the search phrase, is referred to as a local search.
The IP address of the server is crucial. This is a piece of information that indicates where a server is located. Search Engines will prioritize local searches.
- Local Economy Boosting
According to Civic Economics, every dollar spent at a local business returns three times as much to the local economy as a dollar spent at a foreign franchise. When money is spent locally, this increases the overall economic activity, paying higher salaries, and expanding the tax base. Local hosting is paid in local currency and directly boosts the economy.
- Currency Payment
Each country is subject to its own legal tender which varies from country to country. Seeking local hosting would help eliminate the tediousness of the foreign conversion and bank processes it would take to purchase hosting in a foreign currency.
Although buying local products may not necessarily boost the value of our domestic currency, we can be assured that buying foreign products will devalue it. This is because in order to buy foreign products, you first must buy foreign currency. Thus, all other things being equal, a shift in demand from foreign goods to domestic goods should cause the domestic currency (Naira) to strengthen.