Is shared hosting good enough for a small business?

For a brochure site with modest traffic, usually yes. The limits appear elsewhere: edge rules you cannot change, no control over which crawlers are blocked, slow response times under load, and support that cannot help with anything specific to your configuration.

Do I need email hosting separate from web hosting?

It is usually the better arrangement. Bundled email from a web host tends to have poorer deliverability and ties your mail to a supplier you may want to leave. Separating them means a hosting change never risks your email.

Can my website get hacked if it has no login?

Yes. Most compromises are automated and target the software rather than an account: an outdated plugin, a vulnerable dependency, a misconfigured server, or credentials stolen elsewhere. Having no visitor login removes one route, not the category.

Security and hosting

Do I need SSL on a website that takes no payments?

Yes. Browsers mark any HTTP page with a form as "Not secure", HTTPS is a confirmed ranking signal, and certificates are free with automated renewal on any serious host. There is no scenario in which a public business site should still be served over HTTP.

Answered by Anas Bin Masud 177 words 3 sections

What happens without it

Chrome and Safari display a "Not secure" warning beside your address
Any form submission travels in plain text across every network in between
Referral data from HTTPS sites is stripped, so your analytics under-reports
Modern browser features — geolocation, service workers — refuse to run
Search engines treat HTTPS as a positive signal, however small

What it costs

Nothing, in most cases. Let’s Encrypt certificates are free and are issued and renewed automatically by every mainstream host and CDN. Paying for a certificate is rarely necessary and buys validation rather than encryption.

The failure to watch for

Expiry. An expired certificate produces a full-page browser interstitial that stops every visitor, and automated renewal that silently stopped working is common. Monitor the expiry date independently of the renewal process.

The longer version

This answer is deliberately short. If you want the full treatment, Technical SEO, in the order the problems actually block you covers it in about 4 minutes — free, ungated, written from client work.

Who answered this

Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan — fifteen live client sites, six of them stores taking real payments. These answers come from those projects rather than from a content brief. More about how I work, or ask me something directly.