Choosing the ‘right’ web hoster for your site is generally down to a variety of factors, amongst them price, reliability and reputation. It might not (on the surface) seem like an important decision, but which host you choose for your site can significantly affect the way its users see it and (by extension) you. If (for example) your host is not used to working with clients who have your own personal needs, they might not be adequately equipped to handle them.
In the infographic below we’ve taken the hosting site ‘HostGator’ as an example and examined (by taking a sample of 300 of it’s users) what HostGators customers do to promote and manage their websites. Hopefully in doing so, we should be able to give potential users some idea as to wether or not HostGator is the right hosting platform for your site.
Behind the scenes
Through our samples, we found that HostGator users are keen users of SEO services, with 12% of users taking advantage of the ‘Yoast’ SEO plugin. SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimisation’, with the basic idea behind it being that through the use of specific keywords and links, a websites search engine rankings can be improved in a deceptively organic fashion. ‘Yoast’ is a plugin for the WordPress content management system (a system that a whopping 81% of HostGator customers use) and is one of the leading SEO plugins on the market, doing most of the ‘behind the scenes’ work for you.
Marketing
We also discovered that HostGator users are around 7 times more likely than customers of other web hosts to use the email marketing tool ‘AWeber’. Email marketing is a focused, intelligent tool that allows website owners to email their website visitors with specifically targeted newsletters, auto responders and information by converting RSS feeds to email. AWeber communications has been in the business of email marketing for more than 15 years now and the fact that HostGator users are fond of their bespoke, respected services, proves that HostGator customers are well aware of the importance of expert communication.
WordPress
We also found that the majority of HostGator users tended to use the WordPress content management system. WordPress is the industry leader for a reason. It’s interface is slick, familiar and simple to learn and the flexibility of the available plugins means that WordPress users have just as many options at their disposal as users of more technical systems only without the hassle of having to learn how to understand ‘HTML’ or ‘Flash’. What have we deduced that using HostGator says about you as an individual then? Well we’ve come to the conclusion that HostGator users tend to be intelligent and ambitious site owners who value ease-of-use and customisation above everything else. It might not necessarily be the host for you though, and whilst we recommend HostGator wholeheartedly, it is just one of the hosting sites that we compare, contrast and review at WhoIsHostingThis as there are so many different companies that can suit to your requirements.
Chris Hoole is a freelance copywriter from the UK who used WhoIsHostingThis.com to source his own web host. HostGator has been hosting his own personal site for 2 years now and he couldn’t be happier with the service.