As the Founder and CEO of Accentuate Web Design and Marketing, and as a web designer myself, I have hosted countless numbers of websites for my clients over about 13 years. What I love about my job is being able to provide services to my clients where I have a bit of control over the server configuration, and I am not dependent on somebody else’s lack of specifications, features, or poor customer service.
Over the last 3 or 4 years, hosting a business website and email together has turned out to be somewhat challenging. Email has become even more significant and ever-increasing as the firm grows, the number of employees increases, and sellers are contracted.
That being said, it is not that the amount of email has increased, or the email structure has completely altered, but it is that the technology that surrounds it has changed. We have seen email being utilised more often, particularly in the business industry. As the demand for the use of business-grade email increases, user expectations are also on the rise.
There was a time when we were secure in the idea of buying a domain name and a hosting plan, and alongside it, we would get our included branded email accounts attached to the hosting. To an untrained eye, business owners were almost made to believe that email and website hosting were the same. I am sorry to burst your bubble, but this is entirely untrue.
The fact is, having your website hosted on the hosting server with your email storage is a massive security risk, and is a surefire pathway for hackers and scammers to take control of your business from a communications level.
At the end of this article, you will be aware of several reasons why your email should never be hosted on a web server with your website. Here are five (5) reasons why:
1. Insecure
If your website stops working, whether it’s hacked or the website crashed, all of your email accounts will stop working as well. This possibly can bring in hours or even days of downtime. I’m sure you have heard of the idiom, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” The same principle applies to your web and email hosting. Keeping them separate is the best way to go to secure your businesses. This reason as a matter of fact should be enough to separate the two.
2. Deliverability
Hosting on web server such as cPanel, Plesk, or hPanel are not as reliable as compared to dedicated email system providers. When your email is hosted on a web server with your website, there is a bigger possibility of your emails ending up in spam, or perhaps not even arriving at all.
3. Spam
Unsuspectingly, web hosts send 80% of the world’s spam. You might be sending from a temporarily blocked IP address when you send emails from your host. Web hosts are not as equipped or as speedy in comparison to dedicated email services in terms of protecting the sender’s reputation. Hence, it is less resistant to spam
4. Security
Dedicated email system providers have better security features, such as Two-Factor Authentication, or ‘2FA’. This system can PREVENT scammers FROM getting access to your email, which can give them a direct line to send fraudulent email communications, including those phishing emails that request money from customers using their payment details on your invoice – a very common scam we hear from companies we talk to. As stated earlier, if your website and email belong to the same server, and that server unfortunately goes down, it all goes down. If your email is hosted on a different server and if your website goes down, you can at least run your day-to-day business email. This goes a long way in handling what could be a major disaster on both your brand perception and your ability to do day-to-day business!
5. Flexibility + Features
Services including G Suite, Zoho, and Office 365 offer business-grade email solution systems at very cost-effective pricing. Moreover, GoDaddy – one of the biggest budget shared hosting providers also recognises the concern for this kind of shared email/web hosting, so they are now also offering dedicated email hosting through the office as a separate service. Office and Gsuite also include tools you use every day for business alongside the subscription such as Word docs, excel and spreadsheets, this makes it a no-brainer when you consider that paying for just your usual Office 365 subscription actually can get you access to a business email as well.
What Can Accentuate Help You With?
Imagine a business day when you cannot send emails to your customers and your clients can’t get emails out to you. Your website traffic might be small, and the downtime may also not be a huge deal, but how much could the loss of just one big deal or several sales cost your company?
Don’t you worry, our talented team at Accentuate Web Design and Marketing is here to provide Quality Australian and International hosting options that will have your website offering lighting fast responses and added security. We also can recommend trusted IT partners to help support you with all your email needs. For more information, you can click this link: https://accentuate.com.au/hosting-domain/
