Social Networks: No Substitute for Web Hosting!
By Joseph R. Ellisi
By Joseph R. Ellisi
With the popularity of social networking, one might ask, “Do I really need a website for my business?” The answer is: "Absolultely!"
To fully understand the relationship between social networks and web hosting, we must first examine the typical web hosting customer of the typical web hosting company. The typical web hosting customer is not a huge corporation. Why? Large corporations usually host their own corporate websites in their own data centers, supported by their own IT staff. So we’re mostly talking about small businesses, clubs, special interest groups and individuals. Unfortunately, these are often the very people who are the most tempted to forego traditional web hosting in favor of a social networking site.
What is Wrong with Social Networking?
There is nothing wrong with social networking, per se. It can be a great marketing tool, if used correctly. But it should not take the place of a traditional website. Your website and your domain name are part of your organization’s online identity - part of your brand. You need to have ownership of something so important. Social networking sites do not give you this ownership.
Here are 10 things wrong with using social networking sites instead of a hosted website:
| 1. | Social networking sites are often blocked by company IT departments. If your company depends on any business-to-business interaction, you need to be sure your customers can access your information from their work computers. |
| 2. | Most companies equate social networking activity by employees with huge losses of productivity. Do you want your company’s main online venue to be associated with an activity that many employers ban, outright? |
| 3. | Social networking sites are often the source of malware. In 2010, a third of small and medium businesses surveyed by Panda Security reported being hit by malware from social networks: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20016517-83.html |
| 4. | Social networking sites are often the target of hackers. Elements of hacker / activist (hactivist) group, “Anonymous,” once vowed to destroy Facebook: http://www.businessinsider.com/anonymous-facebook-2011-8. Do you want your business to go down with them? |
| 5. | Social networking sites are subject to being bought and sold. Sites come and go. What happens to your business when the new "owner" decides to change all the rules - or pull the plug altogether? Don’t put all of your company’s virtual eggs in one virtual basket! |
| 6. | With social networks, you are bound by their Terms Of Service. If their TOS says they can use your content as they see fit, there is nothing you can do to stop them. At one time, Facebook’s TOS allowed them full control of your content - even after you closed your account! |
| 7. | You have no control over a social network’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) as it relates to your page. Your company’s social networking page may be found by search engines - or it may not. If not, there is not much you can do about it. |
| 8. | You don’t have access to details about who is visiting your site and what they are viewing. Your only hope is to use 3rd party add-ons or pay for premium accounts, such as those offered by Linkedin. Even then, you probably won't get the details you need. |
| 9. | Social networking sites often limit how much of your content can be viewed by casual visitors. You may have some control over this, but many social networking sites have an ulterior motive to sign up new members. A potential customer wanting to learn more about your business might be forced to create a membership. This could result in the customers going to your competition’s website. |
| 10. | Yes, your competition already has a website! Why don’t you??? |
What is Right with Web Hosting?
The biggest argument in favor of traditional web hosting is this: You have complete control of your online identity. You are not at the whim of some flaky college dropout prodigy or eccentric Silicon Valley billionaire. You have complete control of what goes on your site and how it will look when it gets there.
Here are 10 things right about hosting with a traditional web hosting company:
| 1. | A company website projects a much more professional image. If you are looking for a good lawyer, would you be more likely to pick one who only has a Facebook page, or one who has a professional website? |
| 2. | A hosted website with matching domain email accounts creates much more company credibility. Would you feel comfortable sharing tax and financial information with an accountant using a Yahoo or Gmail email address, or one using an email address that matches his or her company’s website? Spammers use free email, therefore free email accounts are viewed with much greater scrutiny and more likely to get flagged as spam. Always use email that matches your company’s domain name! |
| 3. | Your hosted website is not likely to be blocked by other businesses’ IT departments. Of course, that might depend on the nature of your business. |
| 4. | Your website is less likely to get an employee in trouble for goofing off. Again, that could depend on the nature of your business and your website’s content. But if some or all of your customers are other businesses, they will have a much easier time accessing your content if you use a hosted website instead of a social network. |
| 5. | Your site is not likely to be a source of malware. Unless you put it there yourself, and you’d never do that, would you? |
| 6. | Your site is far less likely to be the target of hackers. No site is completely immune to hacker attempts, but if you are a small business (and that is who we are talking about), you are not likely to be a very big blip on the hackers’ radar screens. |
| 7. | You have access to great details about who visits your site. Most web hosts include utilities such as Webalizer and Awstats that allow you to see who visited your site, what they viewed, which search engines brought them there and which keywords they used to find your site. |
| 8. | Your site is freely available to all of your potential customers. If you need private “members only” sections, that is easy enough to implement. But you don’t want to turn away potential new customers by making them sign up for some membership before they can see what your business is all about! |
| 9. | Your website is fully searchable by search engines. Just posting your company’s products and information is enough to be found by most search engines. But you can take things further by entering searchable keywords and meta tags in your html headers. There is an entire industry built around Search Engine Optimization. With a hosted website, you can take advantage of these services. |
| 10. | Your data is yours - you can take it with you when you move. Any web host worth using will back up your data, although some charge extra for this service. Many allow you to download your backups to your own computer for an extra measure of safe keeping. The main point here is that your site should not be totally lost if your web host suffers a catastrophe, or if your business grows to the point where you’ve outgrown the web host’s capabilities (a nice problem to have). Point your domain to a new host and upload your existing data and you are good to go! |
What is Right with Social Networking
Like we said, there is nothing wrong with social networking, per se. It is an excellent way for companies to interact with their customers and potential customers. We highly recommend placing links to all of you company’s social networking sites prominently on your website - preferably on the home page, and for sure on the “contact us” and support pages.
Just remember that social networking is a tool that is best used in conjunction with - not instead of - your website.
See you online!
iJoseph R. Ellis is owner and administrator of the web hosting company, www.VolcanoHost.com and domain sales & services site, www.DomainOfficials.com.
Copyright © 2011 Joseph R. Ellis
