Stay Happy With Your Hosting Provider
Published: Jul 29, 2009
If you are taking the time to run a website and putting in the effort to populate it with great content, the last thing you want is a bad relationship with your web hosting provider. Such a relationship needs to run as smoothly as possible so that your time and energy goes into the website itself and not into dealing with customer service issues, technical problems or billing questions. There are a large number of web hosting firms out there, each with their own plusses and minuses. Here are some things to keep at the top of your mind when you’re setting out to find the right provider with whom you can have a hassle-free relationship.
1. Start With a Good Reputation
In the world of web hosting, there is a lot to say about a good track record. There are lots of companies that offer similar-looking plans but often times the experience doesn’t match up to their promises. One of the best ways to check a company’s claims is to see what other users have experienced in the past. User reviews can be a good source of information about a hosts’ reputation, but it’s better to talk to other web managers and company executives about their experiences. Also, look to see if a company has won some awards for their services.
2. Get a Scalable Plan
When you order a web hosting plan, you want to make sure you get all of the features you need, but you don’t want to pay for anything you don’t. Some plans offer you great packages but lock you into the full plan. Instead of an all-inclusive, upfront plan purchase, try to find a plan that is scalable to your web hosting requirements. With this type of plan you can add or cancel an array of features at any time and without penalty. In today’s competitive hosting market, there’s no reason to pay for what you don’t use.
3. Check Their Customer Service
Good customer service and user-friendly tech support are vital elements of a good hosting plan that will keep you happy and your website humming. Before making a final decision, it’s worth calling their customer support services number and checking out their style of service. Is there a long wait in a bad phone tree? Are the agents generally friendly? You can even ask them some basic technical questions to test their general knowledge.
4. Find a Plan That Offers a Personal Plan Representative
Often, technical support and customer service questions are answered by a general tech representative that knows about the overall workings of a given hosting plan.However, some plans offer a plan rep that will act as your web hosting liaison, fulfilling all of your requests personally.
5. Find a Good Dedicated Server Deal
If you get a shared hosting plan then you can only use a portion of a server to host your site. That means you are limited to using a specific operating system that offers a certain set of web capabilities. However, if you can spring the extra cash for a deal on a dedicated server, then you can set all of the technical parameters of that server to your liking. That means you can change operating systems of switch-out functions at will, without having to make sure it's compatible with every other site sharing your server.
6. Find Good Payment Options
Buying a hosting plan is an expense, plain and simple. One great way to ensure that you have a happy relationship with your web hosting company is to find one that offers flexible payment options. From pay-up-front discounts to long term payment installments, many hosting firms offer terms that will help prevent future problems. Look for plans with little or no penalty for cancelled plans or missed payments.
7. Seek Out Value-Added Features
To compete for your business, some hosting plans offer a variety of extra features at little to no cost. Such features include regular, automatic backup services and cyber-virus check ups. Many plans even offer advanced analytics for free. Such features cost extra with some hosts, so be sure to compare those features.
8. Don’t Be Afraid to Negotiate
It cant hurt to ask a potential hosting provider what they can do as far as sweetening the deal before you get into bed with them. Ask for value-added services, free upgrades, or special discounts. Tell them about other competitive quotes and ask them to match or beat them. It may not work, but it just might score you that discount which could keep you happy with your web hosting provider in the long term.
9. Look for Group Deals
If you run one website, chances are you may run others, or you may run others in the future. If you do have multiple sites for which you need hosting, then look for discounts on registering and hosting them all with one provider. This will often provide the incentive for the hosting company to give you a better deal on each individual site.
10. Follow the Successful Sites
To avoid problems with a potential hosting provider, look to see what hosting services other successful sites use. If a provider works for large, well-established companies and retailers, then it is likely that provider offers exceptional service. Such providers are required by their large clients to have efficient tech support and sophisticated security options.
It is now time for the web design
Yes, you have now come to the fun part of designing your website. We will give you a couple of alternatives to choose from when at this point.
- Learn important "think abouts" when designing your website
- Take a look at the beginners guide to PHP
- Learn more about Active Server Pages
- Read about how to start your website with easy HTML
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