You need a web hosting provider if you want a website for your practice. Law firm web hosting is a critical requirement for having a place where your potential clients can find you online.
Here's everything you need to know about hosting so you can pick a provider and plan that's right for you.
What is Web Hosting?
Web hosts provide storage and management of your website's files and data. That means all of your webpages, images, videos, and any other website file lives on their server. When people access your website through the internet, they’re viewing the files stored on your host’s server.
But web hosting companies provide more than storage space.
Web hosting is one part of the technology that makes your site run. Your web host has some responsibility for the speed and security of your site. Some hosts provide things like server maintenance and malware protection and removal to keep your site in good shape.
Why is Choosing the Right Host Important?
A good website host makes for a streamlined and smooth experience for your visitors. But a bad host leads to a range of problems with website performance.
You need your website to function and highlight your law firm's unique value proposition as much as possible. Picking a good host is a critical part of reaching and converting potential law firm clients. A solid website host ensures that people can access your site whenever they need to.
Any good website host should share their uptime percentage so you'll know that your website will be your round-the-clock calling card.
Your choice of hosting provider will also impact site speed. That means that hosting has an impact on your law firm’s search engine optimization results. A slower site is much less likely to appear in search engine rankings than one that loads quickly.
There's only so much your technical SEO efforts can do if you build your site on a bad host.
What to Look for in a Hosting Provider
The quality and services of hosting providers vary from company to company. Knowing what features to pay attention to will help you create a shortlist of the best hosting options for your law firm.
Here are the most important things to evaluate in any hosting provider.
1. A Track Record of Excellent Customer Support
You're paying for web hosting and deserve great support. Your attorney website is the central hub of your digital marketing and online presence. A quick response time from your hosting provider is crucial if there's an issue causing bugs or crashing your website.
Comb through reviews from past and present customers to see what they have to say about the host's support capabilities.
You also need to know what kind of support to expect. Some basic hosting plans only allow for support through email queues. But other services provide subscribers with help over the phone or through online chat. This kind of support provides for more urgent assistance.
Checking out the host's support documents or tutorials is another way to gauge the service’s customer friendliness.
Documentation that is clear and easy to follow means your web team will be able to troubleshoot without support. It also shows that the provider pays attention to taking care of its customers.
2. Speed and Reliability
Your entire website relies on your host. A bad user experience on your legal website will cause you to miss case opportunities or irritate potential clients. A great web design will not make up for a host with too much downtime.
Bottom line: steer clear of any companies with a poor track record in terms of speed and reliability.
Look for the following metrics for each hosting provider on your shortlist:
- Uptime: the percentage of time your website is working properly: aim for 99.97% and up
- Connection time: how long it takes a browser to connect with a website: 30 seconds or less
- Bandwidth: how much data a server can share with a viewer, which depends on page weight and page views
- Storage space: your capability to store things like images, content, and videos (aim for 25 GB+)
Another thing to look for from your host that affects speed is whether or not they offer a content delivery network (CDN).
Hosts that use CDNs distribute your site’s files across servers around the world. Someone who searches for your site in one location accesses your site from the server closest to them. This means faster response times since the visitor doesn’t have to try reaching a server in a distant location.
3. Security Measures
Your site’s security is vital.
An insecure site puts your data and your visitors’ data at risk. The last thing you want to deal with is having a site that’s crippled by malware. Your hosting provider should do everything they can to keep your site safe.
Your law firm website needs an SSL certificate for site security, for one thing.
An SSL certificate encrypts data sent between your site and visitors. This ensures that visitors’ personal data is safe when they come to your site. Most hosting plans roll this feature in with your subscription for free.
But an SSL is just the beginning.
Look into other security features that may come with your plan. Web hosting providers offer features like virus scanning or DDoS protection. A good provider will offer basic security features at a minimum in their entry-level plans.
4. Backup Features
Errors will crop up on your website at some point, and you’ll want to roll the code back.
Check to see if your hosting service offers free site backups or if you have to pay for an additional subscription to back up your site. This feature is important and recommended.
5. Migration Services and Options
Check out whether your potential host helps with site migration. Moving your site’s content is a real hassle to try to do on your own. Having a host that’s willing to help you is a big bonus.
You won’t need to worry about this factor if you’re planning on building a new website, though.
Also, investigate whether or not it will be easy for you to migrate away from the new host to another one in the future. GoDaddy, for example, has a reputation for being easy to set up with but difficult to leave. This is another place where real customer reviews can tell you a lot.
6. Pricing that Fits Your Budget
Verify that your law firm website hosting package fits into your overall legal marketing budget. Beware of cheap hosting providers, especially since these tend to have issues with reliability, bandwidth, and other features.
Keep in mind these pro tips for choosing a good pricing and hosting plan:
- The kind of hosting you select will also influence the price, with dedicated hosting being the most expensive of all.
- Pay special attention to the actual price, not the promo price. Plenty of web hosts draw in new customers with affordable discounts. Then, the fees start adding up when you renew a year later.
- Verify the subscription length you choose since the lowest per-period price is also the longest term in most cases. That locks you in for a long period you may not want or need.
- Check to see if the company carries a money-back guarantee.
- Review what's included for free with a hosting plan. A free SSL, for example, is an obvious one that you should expect in most packages.
7. No Hidden Fees
Hosting plans are complicated, and some unscrupulous hosts will try to make things worse by hiding fees.
Look at both the upfront costs and the renewal costs to start with. Many lawyers jump on a cheap introductory hosting plan without looking at how the add-ons push the monthly or annual rate up. And some of these paid add-ons (like your SSL) are free with other providers.
The 5 Best Hosting Services for Law Firm Websites
There are plenty of website hosting services out there, but some stand out from the crowd. Here are five of the top website hosting companies for law firms.
1. Kinsta
Kinsta has many plan options available, so it's important to know exactly what's important to you and what you need. The starter plan costs $35/month and comes with:
- 10 GB storage
- 100 GB CDN
- 25,000 site visits
- 1 premium migration
- 14-day backup
Their more expensive plans allow for more site visits, additional storage, and migrations while keeping the 14-day backup.
2. WP Engine
Plans with WP Engine start at $15/month as an introductory rate for basic WordPress hosting. That comes with 10 GB of storage and 50GB of bandwidth, but the prices to scale up with this provider are costly.
Be aware of add-on fees for things like automatic plugin updating, page speed boosting, and site monitoring. They do have a 60-day money-back guarantee and 24/7 chat support for WordPress assistance.
3. SiteGround
SiteGround is a standout among hosting providers since it offers competitive pricing for new users. Be aware, though, that the renewal rates are costly.
For example, the service lets you start at an affordable $2.99/month. But when that expires, you'll pay $17.99/month for their Grow Big mid-tier plan.
That plan covers 20GB of web space and up to 100,000 monthly visits of managed WordPress hosting. You'll also get:
- An unlimited number of sites
- Free SSL
- Enhanced security
- Daily backups
- Free email
- Free CDN
- Unlimited databases
4. Flywheel
Flywheel is another managed WordPress website host that comes with a nice dashboard and easy-to-use features.
The basic plan won't suffice for most law firms intent on growth, so expect to pay at least $20/month for their starter plan. That includes up to 25,000 page visits a month, 10GB of storage, and 50 GB of bandwidth.
Bonus points: Flywheel's lower-level plans still come with free SSL, free migrations, and 24/7 chat support. But over-the-phone help is only available on their most expensive plans.
5. Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the most popular and highly reviewed hosting providers out there, making it a great choice for lawyers. Their plans start out very affordable, with basic options at $11.99/month, with regular discounts for new subscribers.
The service comes with some notable features, which is they get high marks in a lot of reviews for their free add-ons. That includes things like:
- Free SSL certificate
- Website backups
- Malware scanning and prevention
- 24/7 ticket support by phone and chat
- CDN
Put Your Best Foot Forward with Hosting
Law firm sites rely on solid hosting to give visitors the best experience possible. Choosing a good hosting provider gives you the foundation for a fast, secure website. And the right host will be there to help you when something goes wrong.
But hosting is just the ground floor of building an effective law firm website.
You still need an appealing law firm website design that makes your unique value proposition clear to clients. And most lawyers want to try their hand at attorney SEO so they can attract and convert new clients through Google search.