Hosting for vegan businesses: 8 reasons why I choose GreenGeeks!

This post will make you aware that choosing the right hosting services will allow you to extend your vegan values a little further than expected. It will also cover what you should look out for in general when selecting great hosting for your vegan business, and which plan is right for your situation. Don’t worry, though; you don’t have to be vegan to take something away from this read.

So, by now, you must have realized: I’m a vegan business owner (emphasis on vegan). No, eye-rolling, please! I’m mentioning this because it’s an essential part of who I am and because it impacts many decisions I make. Those decisions go beyond the food that’s in my fridge: for example, picking a hosting provider for my vegan business!

Let me explain, in case you’re not vegan. To me, and many others, veganism is a lifestyle that we choose because certain things are important to us. They can be, for example, animal rights, healthy food, the environment, etc. Even though most of us initially move to a vegan diet because we’ve learned the truth about animal exploitation and cruelty, it eventually evolves into something beyond it.

It’s why I try to extend these values, as much as I can, into my business decisions. If it’s possible, I work with companies that support my “vegan” values. They can be businesses that stand out for being eco-friendly, protecting our privacy, are being run by people of color, etc.

What any hosting plan must include

There are many fantastic hosting providers out there. Most of them offer more or less the same perks. Here’s what they should always provide:

1. Especially when just starting, make sure they’re affordable. With GreenGeeks – for example – you get a 60% discount if you sign up for three years;
2. Part of their plan should include unlimited emails (for instance yourname@yourdomain.com or info@yourdomain.com);
3. They should add an SSL certificate;
4. Also a must these days is a CDN Integration;
5. If you’re based in Europe and have to follow the GDPR guidelines make sure they have servers in Europe;
6. A Power Cacher that’s ideal for their server environment;
7. Plus, an excellent support team that answers any question you may have patiently.

And yes, you’ve guessed correctly; GreenGeeks‘ includes all of the above in their plans.

Why I decided to sign up with GreenGeeks

Aka reason number 8: They use renewable energies.

I wasn’t aware that the Internet plays a big part in the world’s pollution and how much worse it has gotten over the past decade. Even though it absolutely makes sense. It just had never crossed my mind before. If you’re interested, you can find out more about GreenGeeks’ going green on their website.

Which plan is right for you

Here my recommendations – please remember you can always upgrade or downgrade easily.

Go with Web Hosting – Lite Plan:

• If you’re at the beginning of your online journey, 
• Or you have only one WordPress site that you want to switch from your current hosting

Go with Web Hosting – Pro Plan:

• If you have more than one WP website or plan on building more than one soon.

I like keeping my domain and hosting separately. So when signing up, select “Sign up with a domain you already own” and add the domain you registered beforehand in the corresponding field, then click “Next.” I use Namecheap for all my domains and wrote a blog post called Do you support activism? Use NameCheap as your domain registrar! that talks about how to sign up with them and more.

Do you have doubts?

• If choosing an eco-friendly hosting provider for your business, will make a difference at all?
• Maybe you are thinking that you don’t have the time to switch to a new hosting provider.
• Or that hosting provider X has more clients and therefore, must be better.

Here my answer; if you care about the environment and “generational eco-wealth” for all, every little action counts. It can begin with something as simple as picking a green hosting provider for your vegan, eco-friendly, health-conscious, or any-kind-of business. It’s, of course, up to you. I’m just trying to show you the possibilities that you have. Think about it.

I hope this post has made you aware that there are green hosting options out there, and it also may encourage you to select one, whichever company it may be. If you know about other green hosting providers, please feel free to share them in the comment section further below.

Stay healthy & take care,

Diana

Photo Credit: Lou Liebau