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Website speed effects value. Curb appeal is as important for websites as it is for homes. Cracks in paint and in the foundation are dead give-a-ways for any experienced home owner or home inspector. And the same is true for any experienced webmaster. You may get lucky one out of every 1000 times and sell your site to someone who doesn't know better but odds are against you.

When looking at a website one should treat it just like a real world property. If you walk into someone's office and see clutter or see a room that is constructed poorly you would not put much stock in it would you. It is amazing how many webmasters think that because something is digital that the rules change. This is not the case.

The first issue of importance is your website's speed. Being on a faulty host or a free host is the quickest way to limit your chance of a sale. The value of your website is based on a lot of factors, the most important of which is visitor flow. If visitors have been having a hard time getting to your site or viewing it properly then your website has developed a bad reputation. Obviously someone investing money does not want to start off on the wrong foot. If your website is often down then your site may have been removed by a number of search engines. Search engines don't just list you once and forget you. They return periodically, more often then you think to re-check you. If your website is down or is even slow then your listing will be dropped. Hence promotion and visitor flow can take a sharp cut quickly.

It often amazes us how some webmasters treat selecting a website host or server with nonimportance. Price and features are the only concerns and no one stops to look what is under the hood. It is like buying a car because it is nice and shiny and paying no attention to the engine. It doesn't make sense does it. Of course not.

Discount hosting providers are fine for personal sites. But for businesses they are a deathbell. And the truth of it is that the difference in quality and in faulty hosting is usually just a few dollars. For instance, if one looks at a host that offers something at $10 and one at $20 a month, it may look like its a no brainer. But think about this clearly. If you are a business and want to sell something, you'll sell more of it with a site that pops and performs. Usually 2-3 additional sales per year pay for quality hosting. And quality content flow produces additional sales and referrals. Instead of saving money with hosting costs, you loose money continously. If you are looking to cut margins, look to other sources, not your hosting provider.

Its pretty easy to test a host. Hostpulse.com has a speed test located in the right side of its interface. Just look for speed test on the frontpage. Enter the domain name of the site you are interesting in there and see how it compares to other related websites. Anything lower than a rating of 6-7 is slow in our opinion. Next goto alertra.com and test it there. It will ping the site from a number of locations and determine how its performing.

Who do we recommend? Our sites are hosted on WEBCS.com. Check them out. We suggest if your selling that you attempt to move your site to a quality host before doing so. Because interested parties will check your site before buying.

Touching up a site can produce better sale results. Once again, using the comparison of a home, you would put a little paint here and there and cut the lawn nice. Similiarly, you should make sure your pages are popping up quickly and that your content is professional. A buyers does not want to see a neglected site.

-- Interested in learning more secrets about how to sell your site, and what your site may be worth. Try our site evaluation service and get our staff's opinion on how much gold you may be sitting on. An opinion is a terrible thing to waste. --