There's a wealth of information on the web about Drupal, which is used by many websites and businesses.
However, newcomers to the CMS often find themselves overwhelmed with information on technical terms, its specific capabilities, and how Drupal works in general.
In our new post, we look at some of the basic facts about Drupal: its main features, benefits, uses, and terminology to help you easily make an informed decision before choosing a CMS for your business or organization.
The main advantage of Drupalhttps://stablepoint.com/blog/drupal-vs-wordpress is its flexibility. Unlike other CMSs, it can be customized in a number of ways. You can integrate the platform with payment gateways, CRMs, and you can even connect it to marketing automation systems. That way, you can track your success at all times, and even meet the needs of your customers better by gathering and analyzing data from different sources automatically.
Drupal is one of the most flexible platforms out there when it comes to content management and building digital experiences that reach every touchpoint throughout your customer's journey.
The takeaway is that Drupal really shines when it comes to content management, and the same is true when you want to use Drupal as a digital experience platform. There are many ways to prioritize content strategy when using Drupal as a DXC, but engagement and conversion optimization should be in your back pocket as you begin the process of testing, learning, iterating, and designing.
Why Drupal?
When you think about it, most websites share a common set of features. They typically have navigation menus and lists of content, content pages with nice URLs, a logo in the header, a footer with contact info, the ability to search content, etc. At the same time, each website has some components that make it unique. Websites often have their own custom information architecture, a unique set of content, a particular visual design, and sometimes customized features.
Drupal is a very flexible and powerful content management system, which means it can streamline even the most complex of business processes. Businesses of all sizes - from small businesses to big corporations - use Drupal to organize information, conduct transactions, and create custom applications.
- Flexible, user-friendly content editing tools
- You can publish content on all platforms
- Customizable features
- Powerful API-first design
- Add-on functionality
Criteria for Choosing a Drupal Hosting Provider
Choosing a web host for your website is an important decision, as it is the foundation on which you'll build your business. A good web host will improve and boost your website's performance. In fact, many businesses can even become more profitable simply because they used a better web host. Choosing the wrong web host, however, can cause all kinds of headaches and unnecessary expenses.
Your website`s needs
When searching for the right web host, your main concern is how much you are willing to spend on hosting.
Just as you would consider factors such as price, reliability and technical support when shopping for any product online, you should do the same when choosing a web hosting service. To find the best solution for your particular business needs, consider factors such as storage space and bandwidth, domain name registration fees and what types of apps your website will use (such as databases or e-commerce software).
Also keep in mind that every site has very different needs.
Server reliability/uptime scores
With your website being one of the most important aspects of your business, you need to make sure that its online 24/7. Monitoring a web host's uptime is an efficient way to determine whether it can meet this expectation. The industry standard is 99.95% uptime and anything below 99% should be avoided.
A good web host will have an uptime rate of 99.90% or higher, meaning it'll be up over 90 percent of the time, allowing you to keep customers happy and earning money without worrying about your site going down; even so, some providers offer better uptime than others with some offering 100% guarantees on their services.
Upgrades
No single hosting option fits all sites. While the shared hosting plan is the cheapest and most popular, it may not be adequate when your site grows in popularity or volume. Before making a purchasing decision, you should consider the available options and ensure you have a backup plan to accommodate your site as it expands over time.
Even after you choose a reputable and reliable shared hosting provider, there is still a limit to the resources available given your plan. Once your website grows beyond that limit, it could potentially break or crash as a result of not being able to accommodate all the traffic on your site. A shared hosting provider that allows you to upgrade your resources in real time will save you time and money over having to switch providers with all your files intact.
Prices
When you first consider a new web hosting service, the signup price is the most important factor. While it may seem tempting to choose a new host every year or two, this strategy can be very expensive in the long-term because of high switching costs and difficulty finding reliable alternatives.
Yearly web hosting costs can quickly add up thanks to hidden fees and data transfers that get higher every month.
Backups
Backups may be thought of as simple concepts, but they are essential for a website. Even with the best security measures in place, the worst can happen to any site: failure, hacking, viruses…the list goes on and on.
Your website is everything to your business—without it, you lose forever all the traffic and good will that you have acquired thus far. Thankfully a backup policy can save your data from being lost forever should disaster strike.
Top Drupal Hosting Providers for 2023
Stablepoint
Host your Drupal site today at Stablepoint Hosting. Our services include everything you need to build a new presence on the web, so start building with our customer support when needed, including SSL and email accounts. Our hosting packages include:
- cPanel control panel
- Free SSLs
- Free migrations
- Domain name included
For more details, check our hosting plans and prices!
Web Hosting Buzz
Web Hosting Buzz stands out as an exceptional hosting provider for Drupal, offering a tailored and robust platform that caters specifically to the unique requirements of Drupal-based websites. With a strong emphasis on speed, reliability, and optimized server configurations, Web Hosting Buzz ensures that Drupal sites run smoothly and efficiently, providing an exceptional user experience.
Dedicated Now
Dedicated Now's dedicated customer support team is well-versed in Drupal and available around the clock to address any technical challenges and offer expert guidance. With a strong emphasis on performance, reliability, and advanced server configurations, Dedicated Now ensures that Drupal sites operate seamlessly and provide exceptional user experiences.
SiteGround
SiteGround is a top Drupal hosting service with a simple setup, great performance, and excellent pricing geared towards business customers. It’s just as good for smaller-scale businesses and individuals, however, due to its affordability and ease of use.
SiteGround offers a state-of-the-art shared hosting panel that looks similar to Squizz’s. It’s packed with features and is extremely user friendly. For example, you can use it to install your CMS or e-commerce platform in just a few clicks.
With each of its plans, SiteGround provides its customers with every tool they need for an excellent e-commerce site. This includes free SSL certification, free domain name, free email accounts, daily backups, and the ability to add collaborators.
DreamHost
DreamHost’s simple and user-friendly hosting plans are perfect for small businesses, startups, and blogs. The company provides a free domain with each plan and also offers shared server options starting at $2.59/mo.
Their custom panel makes it easy to manage your site or blog, while their expert support team is available 24/7.
To get started, sign up here and you’ll receive one of the best web hosting services on the market today.
Every DreamHost package includes a free domain, secure SSL encryption, unlimited bandwidth, and daily backups of your site. You can get started right away with this simple, powerful hosting platform.
How to choose Drupal hosting services
To find the best Drupal hosting service for your needs, think about what’s important to you when working with a web host and consider these criteria:
- When choosing a hosting service, always check to see that it supports Drupal from the get-go. The best options are 64-bit operating systems and Apache servers, which have 4GB (or more) of memory and 120GB of disk space.
- Drupal installation can be difficult, so look for hosts who offer a one-click Drupal installation process.
- In case your site outgrows the hosting plan of your choice, it's important to have multiple scaling options available. This includes cloud or VPS hosting.
- Your e-commerce platform and site may be pretty, but the security measures in place are what will make or break you. An e-commerce site can take a hit to traffic or sales when security fails, so these features should always be top of mind.
- The importance of web hosting cannot be overemphasized. You want to make sure your host is capable of handling your website no matter what scale. Thus, you want an uptime of at least 99.
Final thoughts
To build the site with Drupal, you will need a web hosting service that is compatible with this CMS. However, it should also provide you with essential and advanced security features.
Nadejda Milanova
An experienced Content creator in the field of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and WordPress. A true proffesional with a Master's degree focused on journalism.
Read more by Nadejda Milanova