Netpreneur

Popular web sites often have faster server response times compared to smaller unimportant sites.  Search engines often index more pages from these quicker sites and give them prominence over slow sites.

Do you think that Google will allow a slug website to occupy a top ranking in its search engine results?  Not likely.  That's why it's important to host your website on a fast server - not to mention the fact that most 'real' visitors will be turned off by your website if it is too slow.

The best bet is to go for a dedicated server hosting plan - but they're quite expensive if you have been used to paying for shared hosting.  There are plenty of shared hosting providers out there and most of them are very inexpensive - the trick is to find one with good, local customer support.  Look for a service that has phone support as well as email support, because it's important that you are able to talk to a human when an emergency occurs (ie. your site goes down).

Whichever host you choose (and there are thousands out there), be sure to test the server speed using a tool like IBusiness Promoter.

Tags: dedicated server, hosting, server, speed, website hosting