Running a travel website? Here’s what you need to know about hosting mistakes that owners of such websites usually make: The first one is, of course, that they rush for cheap hosting packages. They try to find a service provider who offers “cost-effective” plans like shared hosting. But, in the long run, it means you’re going to have to share hosting resources. The second mistake? People really ignore the “speed issues” when hosting their travel sites. They don’t really realize the fact that a slow-loading page can ruin their reputation.
The thing is, hosting is the most serious matter when it comes to travel websites. After all, you’re sharing high-quality pics and videos of different travel destinations. You also need to share detailed itineraries. Then, you've got “booking forms”, “payment gateways”, and “interactive maps”. That’s why serious processing power and bandwidth are what you really need to run your digital storefront smoothly. And a bad hosting choice? It can turn your beautiful travel site into a frustrating experience. People will visit and take no time to leave your site and contact your competitors.
This guide will explain hosting mistakes that can ruin your travel website.
5 Deadly Hosting Mistakes for a Travel Website
Picking a server that’s not near your target audience? Then be ready for your website pages to load slowly and delayed appearance of images. You’ll also be facing scalability issues if your hosting solution isn’t up to par. All those site crashes during the peak booking season will cost you potential sales. Then, there are individuals who host their travel sites on a server without checking security measures. This will expose your business’s and your customers’ data to cyberattackers.
Below are the five deadly hosting mistakes for a travel website:
Choosing Cheap Hosting
“Budget hosting” sounds like a great idea when you're just starting out. Most new travel website owners aim for decreased initial costs. They see plans for “three or four dollars per month” and jump on them. These providers use a single server to host hundreds of websites. Everyone is going to have to share the same CPU, memory, and bandwidth resources.
Your site keeps performing okay only until your neighbor's website gets hit with a flood of traffic. Everything slows down. That’s because you're all fighting for the same resources. Those “beautiful beach” photos will take forever to load on your visitors’ screens. Booking forms will timeout when your visitors are ready to pay.
Ignoring Site Speed
Site speed isn't something that just happens “on its own”. It requires proper hosting infrastructure. Though you’ll see many travel site owners focusing only on “design and content”. They upload “massive photo files” straight from their cameras without compression. They add “fancy plugins and widgets” without checking performance impact.
And the hosting plan they use? It can't handle the resource demands for this level of usage. You know, 40% of visitors abandon sites that take over three seconds. Then, there’s the Google algorithm that penalizes slow websites in search rankings. So, you’re going to pay for ignoring site speed when picking a hosting option.
Poor Server Location
Your travel website targets tourists in the UAE. Your server, however, sits in Australia. That’s a server that’s located hundreds of miles away from your users. What this distance means? Here are the consequences of poor server location:
· Pages load slowly
· Images appear delayed
· Booking forms lag
· Search results crawl
· Map features freeze
The thing is, geography matters a lot in the world of hosting. Data has to travel thousands of miles between your server and visitors. Each mile adds milliseconds that pile up into noticeable delays.
Ignoring Scalability Needs
You must have heard about all those “peaks and valleys” in a website’s traffic pattern. Sometimes, the number of users visiting a site goes up. The other times, it’s down. For instance, summer vacations and holiday seasons are peak-traffic times for a travel website. But if you don’t focus on scalability when hosting the site, you’ll be facing the following issues:
· Website crashes constantly
· Bookings get lost
· Revenue drops dramatically
· Customers leave angry
· Brand reputation tanks
Then, scalability isn’t just about handling more visitors at a time. It’s also necessary for maintaining consistent website performance. That’s why you mustn’t overlook this factor.
Weak Security Setup
When your business is in the initial phase and you’ve just launched your site, security doesn’t seem to be a big issue. Most take it as a “technical detail” only. That’s why many travel website owners opt for a hosting solution with a weak security setup. The consequences can be:
· Customer data stolen
· Payment details compromised
· Legal troubles
· Customer trust issues
· Data recovery problems
You see, even a single security breach has the potential to end your travel business. Therefore, you need to host your website on a server with robust security measures. You can contact professionals at Hosting MENA to get a reliable plan for your travel site.
Make the Switch to Reliable Hosting Today
Your travel website requires a robust hosting solution. You need to host your digital storefront on a server that can boost your site’s speed and strengthen its security. An option that you can scale whenever you need. Contact a trustworthy hosting provider now to make the switch to reliable hosting today.
