If you own a growing business, you need your own private email server. A private server will not only give you somewhere secure to store business correspondence but also a more professional image.
A lot of people make the mistake of partnering with the wrong email hosting providers, however. Your main priority as a business owner should be finding the right hosting provider for you. There are many different considerations you must make to do this effectively.
This article’s intention is to tell you how you can find the right email hosting provider once and for all.
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Reliability and Uptime
Reliability and consistent uptime are two important qualities you need to look for in an email hosting provider. As well as that, you also need scalable email hosting so you can increase or decrease your email server’s size on demand. To find out if a host does offer scalable solutions, get in touch with them via email or over the phone. Most reliable hosts will offer scalability, so you shouldn’t have a hard time finding one that does.
The reason consistent uptime is so important is that the last thing you want is to end up with an email server that is constantly crashing. When your email server is down, you can’t reply to customer enquiries, which could lose you money and damage your reputation with your business’s clientele.
Positive Reviews
Positive reviews are one of the main signs that you can trust a business. A lot of people make the mistake of skipping reviews when they are searching for email hosting providers, but this is a mistake you need to avoid making. By reading a hosting provider’s reviews, you will get a good sense of what they are like to work with, how trustworthy they are, and most importantly, what their customers actually think of them.
Make sure you read reviews on a range of different platforms, from the actual hosting provider’s website to Google Review and even Trustpilot. As well as reviews, take a look at the company’s star rating. Their star rating can tell you a lot about them, even if reviews haven’t been left. Bear in mind that some new companies have no reviews at all, but an absence of reviews doesn’t mean a company can’t be trusted.
Robust Security
Robust security is something else you need to look for. The last thing you want is to partner with an email host that has lackluster security measures in place. The internet is a very dangerous place, and if you run a business, you are at the top of the list of targets on most hackers’ lists. Cybercriminals hack business owners because they can steal both customer data and money from them, which makes them lucrative.
A good way to find out how seriously an email hosting provider takes security is to get in touch with them and ask directly. Asking directly will furnish you with all of the information you need to know, and help you to quickly determine whether they are the right choice for you or not. Make sure that you invest in antivirus software and other cybersecurity defences on your business’s devices for further protection, too.
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Responsive Support
The next thing you need to look for is responsive customer support. The more responsive, amicable, and reliable a company’s support department is, the better. A lot of people make the mistake of skipping customer support when it comes to searching for hosting providers. However, if there are any problems with your business’s email server, your first point of contact will be the host’s support desk, which is why you need them to be responsive and reliable. A good way to assess a company’s customer support is to send them an email or call them and see how quickly they get back to you.
You can also find out about a business’s customer support desk by reading its reviews. If it has unreliable or awkward support procedures in place, the chances are that people will have left reviews attesting to this on its website, so you should be able to quickly decide whether a business can be trusted to help you with your email server.
Regulatory Compliance
Regulatory compliance is something else you need to think about. The last thing you want to do is partner with an email host who doesn’t take regulatory compliance seriously. The reason regulatory compliance is so important is that if an email provider does not adhere to policies introduced by regulators, they might not take your business’s data privacy very seriously. You need to make sure customer data is protected at all times because if it is not, not only could you get into trouble, but customers could also come to distrust your business.
To find out how seriously an email host provider takes regulatory compliance, get in touch with them and ask directly. Asking direct is, as stated above, the best way to find out about a business’s policies and the processes they have in place.
Value for Money
Finally, try and find a company that offers good value for money. There are many email hosting providers operating on the web today, so you should not have a hard time finding one. Your main priority should always be getting good value for money. You need to make sure that the host you partner with is somebody with affordable rates, so you do not end up paying more than you can afford on email hosting. While email hosting is important, it shouldn’t be your business’s largest expense.
The good thing about email hosting is that most providers offer their services as part of subscription programs, which means you can pay toward the cost of email hosting monthly rather than having to pay everything upfront. Make sure you are in a good enough financial position to make each and every hosting payment on time so your service isn’t canceled.
Finding the right email host isn’t an easy thing to do if you are new to entrepreneurship. If you are interested in hiring an email host, consider the guidance given above. This post’s advice will hopefully help you find the right host for your organization.
