Data centers are the backbone of essential business operations around the world. As more businesses incorporate the Internet of Things and big data analytics, there has been a significant growth in the construction of data centers around the world. The hosting industry is currently booming.
Southeast Asia is at the forefront of this dynamic growth. Analysts project that the data center market in Southeast Asia will grow at a CAGR of 13.88 percent in the period of 2017 through 2021.
IMAGE: PEXELS
A Sleeping Juggernaut
Southeast Asia has become the third-largest region for Internet users on the planet. There are more people using the Internet in Southeast Asia than the entire population of the United States. This is having a tremendous impact on the region, an impact that has surprised many experts.
A considerable amount of focus is placed on China’s and India’s role in emerging economies in Asia. However, Southeast Asia is where the Internet is drastically changing the behavior of consumers and leading to new business opportunities. It is estimated that Southeast Asia’s Internet economy will reach $200 billion annually by 2025.
This explosive growth in both private and business Internet use in Southeast Asia is unquestionably behind the noticeable growth in the Southeast Asia data center market. While there are benefits to Southeast Asia residents in using local hosting companies, there are also a number of drawbacks that could encourage many in Southeast Asia’s booming Internet market to examine the options offered by overseas hosting companies that offer better services and better quality.
Does The Physical Location Of Your Server Matter?
This is the first question many ask when considering using an overseas server. The answer to the question is not clear-cut.
Users despise slow loading sites. A slow loading site will negatively impact your bottom line. According to Google’s Double-Click, 53 percent of mobile sites are abandoned by visitors if the page takes longer than three seconds to load. This means that speed and time equal money.
One way to possibly make your website faster is to have your server’s physical location near the target market. As a rule of thumb, the closer a website visitor is to the server, the fewer networks the information needs to pass through.
If you have a business in Southeast Asia, but the majority of your customers are in the United States or in the United Kingdom, your data has to travel far, leading to latency and slower download speeds compared to having a server that is in the same general area as your intended market.
When discussing latency, it’s not always a question of distance, but instead, hops. This is the number of routers and exchanges that take place between your host provider and the user. Usually, the farther away a server is from the user, the more hops are required, leading to latency issues.
The take away is that you want to create an environment that is best for your clients. Using oversea servers could improve your user’s experience, increase conversion rates, and increase return visits to your site.
How Crowded Is Your Server?
Some Southeast Asian hosting companies specialize in providing low-cost hosting options for their clients, many of whom are small businesses on a tight budget. How are they able to offer budget-conscious users hosting for less than $10 USD a year? By cutting corners somewhere. One way to do this is to jam as many clients as possible on the fewest number of servers possible.
The result is a noticeable slowdown in the performance of your server. This is disappointing for you, and it is disappointing for your clients. If you are feeling frustrated with the page load time on your website, you may want to consider overseas servers that might be slightly more expensive but offer your users an improved experience.
Will Your Server Location Affect Google’s Ranking?
The answer is yes and no. Google takes into consideration website load speed when determining search results. Having your website host close to your user’s location is a plus. If your website is just targeting one country, then you want your server to be located in that country.
However, it is a different story if you are targeting visitors from all over the planet. If your website is targeting users around the world, the location of your server will not affect your ranking. What’s more important to Google is that you use a quality web hosting service as well as a good CDN service. This allows your website to load quickly, regardless of where your visitors are located.
The take away is that many overseas hosting services possess better server infrastructure and content delivery networks. A hosting server location can affect the SEO and page ranking if it impacts the page load speed.
Finding The Right Website Hosting Provider
Finding the right website hosting provider can be challenging. Factors to consider are the size of your projects, the location of your target audience, your budget, and the ability to transfer an existing website.
The goal should be to find a hosting provider that meets your current needs and will be able to meet your future needs. You want to purchase a server space that you can grow in. The last thing that you want is to purchase a server space and then find out in a few months you have outgrown it and now need to transfer everything over to a new one.
Many overseas hosting plans offer:
- Fast Service
- User-Friendly Website Builders
- Unlimited Bandwidth and Disc Space
- SSL Across the Board
Southeast Asia is experiencing an Internet boom that was not foreseen and is unpredictable. This boom has led to the creation of a number of new online businesses. The future of these businesses will be determined by their ability to compete on a global scale. For many businesses, this will mean using reliable overseas hosting providers that offer flexibility, bandwidth, storage, and the opportunity to grow in the future.
If you are interested in even more technology-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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