Customer Support Is A Deal Breaker

Whatever else you look for in a web hosting provider, you should always be on the lookout for good customer support. All web hosts will say they provide it, just as all heavyweight boxers will say they are going to win their next fight by a knockout. Just because someone is saying something, it doesn’t mean it is true. There are several things you will need to ensure your web host has before deciding that it will provide you with the right level of customer support.

A toll-free customer support line is a sure sign that the company really is confident that it can give you the help you need without any messing around. Someone has to pay for a phone call and if it isn’t you, it’ll be them. If they’re paying for the call, they want it to be short and final, so they will move mountains to get you back up and running if there’s unscheduled downtime. Still, it is helpful to have a record of every query, so if they offer an additional email support service, you should double up by sending them email.

Many of the better web hosting providers also have customer forums. If they’re any good they will be patrolled and moderated by techies, and placing a post on the forum is a good idea if you have an unresolved problem. They don’t want to see a lot of posts on there saying their service sucks, because that’s liable to turn people off them – expect someone to reply to your query fast and have you up and running again. Finally, look out for hosts who have frequently updated documentation of potential downtime and other issues on their site. If you’re going to have downtime, it’s nice to know in advance.

Uptime – Do You Get What You Pay For?

Web hosting is a subject that divides opinion more fiercely than you might think. When people are arguing about what is most important in a web host, you can prepare for some strongly differing opinions. While there will be many who prefer that the web host has good tech support, and others will prize webspace above all else, a significant number of people will plump for uptime, every time. If your web host provides the right amount of uptime, the tech support won’t be so necessary (and you can always add more webspace later on).

Uptime is, however, essential no matter who you are and what your site is about. You might as well not have a website if it is going to spend more time displaying error messages to the people who want to read it. Most web hosts will promise in the region of 99.9% uptime. None can promise a hundred per cent, as this is an impossible promise, but you will note that the sites that offer 99.99% or 99.999% will be more expensive than those offering the simple 99.9. Nines are costly.

It is worth asking for proof if none is shown, or asking an impartial contact if the hosting company is as reliable as they say they are. It is one thing to lay claim to excellent uptime and quite another to reliably provide it.

Unlimited Webspace – As Good As It Sounds?

When setting up your website, you are likely to have some grand ambitions as to how it will look. You will want to bring in as many viewers as possible and expand as time goes on. This is what any webmaster wants to do – or at least, the vast majority do. This is the thinking behind the “unlimited web space” offers that are made by many web hosting companies. And as attractive as that sounds, you may find that it has its drawbacks.

With limited web space, the advantage is that you can set a limit for what you pay – ensuring that your monthly bills are more than reasonable. If you get a spike in traffic, the site may experience lagging and even down time – but as long as you are on top of how much traffic you are getting, there need never be any real problem. But if, for whatever reason, hits to your site go astronomical when you have unlimited web space then you will soon find why most people choose limited.

There is a trade-off to be had between settling for less and paying more. Setting limits on the amount of web space you use is the sensible thing to do, at least until you are able to see how much traffic your site is bringing in and how well you could justify spending a little more on it. Certainly, unlimited webspace is a waste if you are not planning to make money from your website.

Colocation – What Is It And How Can It Help You?

Smaller businesses will always be somewhat at the mercy of the larger companies who can pay for their own servers and the IT experts who can make sure that they keep running. It is pointless to look to compete with these companies, but you can follow some of the steps they take and keep yourself ahead of other companies of the same size as you. One way to go about this is to use colocation – a system that allows you to benefit from greater bandwidth and customer support than would otherwise be possible.

Colocation does cost more than standard web hosting, but offers you more for the money. It costs about the same as you would pay for a business grade DSL line providing limited bandwidth, and allows you access to far more bandwidth than the DSL line. It is also a more protected supply than most others, meaning you will have less downtime, and any time you do it will either be scheduled or fixed within moments. Because the colocation facility is dedicated to providing so much bandwidth, it is set up to withstand power outages.

As a colocation customer, you do have more responsibility for your server – indeed, in many cases it is advised that you buy a standard server in a colocation facility (this will usually cost between $150 and 200), and pay a small extra cost to have it maintained by the IT team at the facility. However, if you have your own IT experts, they can attend and carry out the maintenance that is required themselves.

The “Trouble Ticket” System: Just The Ticket Or Asking For Trouble?

There are many web hosting companies that nowadays subscribe to the idea of a “trouble ticket” system for resolving customer issues. The idea of the system is simple – a customer who is having problems with their web hosting fills in a ticket on the error page that is showing, or on the web host’s own site, informing the host of the problem. This is then sent to the web host’s call center who prioritize the issue and assign an engineer to resolve the issue.

The benefit of the system is that it does allow companies to prioritize issues, ensuring that engineers can be assigned to the particularly problematic cases first. It also means that when you do speak to someone from the company, they should be up to speed on what is wrong with your service.

Equally, however, the system has its flaws. Not least of these is the fact that it is simply impossible to know when you will get a call from an engineer. The system is designed in such a way that your first contact will come when they have got around to assigning someone to your case. This leaves you at a bit of a loose end if your problem is stopping you working. How the cases are prioritized is also a gray area.

Research has proven that customers feel far more reassured with a company that has a dedicated tech support phone number that allows them to make direct contact rather than sending off a “ticket”. It is worth holding out for a company that does this, but does it particularly well.

Hello, This Is Technical Support, How Can I Help You?

Customer service has become a real buzzword in the recent past, with companies the world over queueing up to offer it. However, as anyone who has experienced a battle with a customer support department will know, offering it is one thing, delivery is often another entirely. This is sadly often true of the technical support departments of web hosting companies, and of online service in general.

You may be familiar with the sinking feeling of being on hold to a company and hearing the recorded message telling you “Your call is important to us, thank you for holding” repeatedly. It cannot be underestimated how annoying this is, and how entirely counter-productive. The message may be designed to reassure the customer that their problem will be dealt with soon, and dealt with well – but to many of us it signals the company protesting too much.

Before you sign up for a web hosting company, it is essential that you research their record on tech support. Some companies do not have a tech support phone line, advising that you send them an email – hardly reassuring when they seem to have such problems with Internet downtime. Others offer a “live chat” service on the Internet, and this can be a worthwhile option, but only when it is adequately staffed.

Avoid Web Hosting Nightmares By Shopping Around

When you are running your own website for the first time, it is something of a rite of passage and what you want more than anything is for things to go smoothly. However, the old problem exists that those who are in something for the first time will find themselves facing a confusing situation, which can easily lead to them making the wrong decision. One place you can’t afford a bad decision is in your choice of web host.

A quick hunt around the Internet with the search term “Worst web host” and “web hosting nightmares” throws up some quite illuminating information. While the hosts themselves must remain nameless on this site, there are endless stories of awful tech support (not being able to get through, having an impossible time getting anything fixed when you eventually do get through, and plain rude staff), of unscheduled downtime, and in the case of one host porn being placed on the servers.

If you are paying for web hosting, you have the right to expect that it will do what it is sold as doing. Therefore, it is advisable to shop around for a host that offers what you need (in terms of bandwidth, pricing and customer support) and then looking for independent testimonials on the Internet. Don’t be put off by one story of poor service, but if it becomes a theme you should begin to wonder why that is. You’re entitled to expect good service, and if they can’t supply that they are no use to you.

Save The Planet While Running Your Site

There is evidence to suggest that, with the energy demand placed by web hosting and the increasing popularity of running your own website, the web hosting industry could be one of the larger polluters in the world within a decade. That, at least, is the claim being made by some of the newer web hosting companies on the block – and their claims are backed up by research. If you want your online endeavors to be green compliant, it may well be worth seeking one of the increasing number of green web hosting companies to host your site.

The idea behind these companies is that they purchase green energy credits which go towards creating energy through renewable sources. All the energy created – from whatever source – goes into a central grid, so although the demands of web hosting may be creating a negative environmental effect right now, they will at least be funding the increasing use of green energy sources – with an eye on making this the most common source of energy in time, and reversing some of the negative effect of web hosting at present.

It is particularly beneficial if you are running a site which reflects green interests, or are working in an industry with an eye on the environment, as you can display your green credentials at the foot of your site, showing that you are using an environmentally friendly web hosting company. The more people that do this, the better chance there is that the technology will improve in the future.

Web Stats With Your Hosting Service

If you are paying for web hosting, then it makes sense that you should expect to see some return on that money in the form of a service that enables you to make the most of your site. Simply put, the least you will require is a viable stat counting service, and most of the better paid web hosting services will offer something along those lines. When you are looking around for a web host, this should be one of the deal breakers for you – if they don’t offer a decent stat counter, begin to look elsewhere.

Stat counters are an essential for anyone looking to get the most from their website because it is only by seeing what action people take once they arrive at your website that you can begin to put right any wrongs that are escaping your attention. if people are surfing away from your site at an early stage, then clearly you need to make your website grab their attention more. If people are visiting a certain page more than others, see how you could bring some of the magic onto other pages.

It is of course possible to download and install your own stat counter on your website, but when you are paying for the privilege of web hosting it really is not too much to expect that the site should have a stat counter built in and ready to run. That way, you can really start to make the most of what you have got.

Website Monitoring Services – A Worthwhile Investment?

Having paid for web hosting, you will naturally want to make sure that you are getting what you paid for. If your hosting service is not giving you the amount of working time that you expect from it, you are entitled to know why, and to find this out as soon as it happens. You cannot constantly be sat monitoring your site – and if you have more than one, this is impossible anyway, so it may be a good idea to pay for a dedicated website monitoring service that will constantly check the status of your site.

The way this works is that dedicated software is used to access your site once every three minutes (the time may vary, but the principle is the same with all services of this nature). As long as the service gets the response it is expecting – an active website – it will take no further action, and simply check again as soon as the time period has elapsed. When it gets a message saying that the site is down, it checks again seconds later using a different IP address. If it gets the same response, it will contact you.

Generally, this will be done by means of a mobile device such as a cell phone or a pager, and will be a short message telling you that your website is down. If this is during an already advertised period of downtime, there is nothing more you need to do. If not, then you can contact your hosting service alerting them to the fact, and get the problem fixed as quickly as possible.

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