I have been sharing my insiders advice on how to buy web hosting, but I want to take a second to address server downtime. As much as we all hate downtime, servers go down and it is normal. But how do we know when enough is enough? There is a quick equation we can use to calculate if you should move on to a new web hosting company:
You Don’t Trust Them x
Technical Support Sucks =
Time to Move On!
This equation is pretty simple. If you are stressed out, you don’t trust them, and their support team sucks pack up your megabytes and move on. Even if their server is still up 99.8% of the time, but you are stressed out all month because you think the server will go down, move on! If you feel like you have to monitor the server yourself and inform them of problems – basically you don’t trust them, move on! And the biggest kicker is if their technical support team does not respond to your request for more reliability, than just move on!
I have moved to other hosts, while friends stayed with hosts I thought were just plain bad and visa versa. It really falls down to you and only you to determine if a host is reliable enough to stick with. If they just are not providing you the level of service you want, than there are millions of other hosting companies who are willing to try and provide that for you. No reason to stick with one company because “you hear they were the best” or because you’ve been with them for 5 years.
If you have determined that your server is not reliable, but your host is very responsive to you and has great customer support, you might want to ask them for a server move. If other customers are not experiencing the same issues as you are this might be good move. Also you might get yourself a free month if you can prove that their server has not upheld to any guarantees they have.
Overall, sever downtime is no fun at all. Stick with companies you’ve discovered work great and don’t be afraid to move your website when needed. If you are scared of losing data or dealing with a server move, there are many hosting companies that will do the move for you and insure that your website is up at all times. The less stress you have over hosting, the more time you’ll have to work on more important things.
If you are thinking about moving to a new hosting company, don’t forget to check out my insiders guides to customer service and server reliability.
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This is an excellent post. I’ve been with my hosting provider (Lunar Pages) for over five years. They keep getting better, and I did not think that was possible. Their customer service is excellent, and they upgrade all hosting packages at least twice per year free of charge.
In the 5+ years I’ve been with them their pricing only changed once and that was only a $1 per month = $12 per year with the extra software goodies, and the customer service they provide I would be willing to pay a lot more.
I have three hosting packages with them one business and two personal. The personal have at least three websites each.
@Opal: Cool! Glad you have a great host you can rely on, so many webmasters are still looking! I almost took a job there once, but went with another company. Good to know they are good company.
Depending on how many websites you have, did you ever think of going for a reseller account? I don’t resell but cost less for my 20+ websites I have to just host them under one reseller account.
Interesting that you mentioned that I started thinking about it recently. I’ll need to get more info about it. I hear that many have done well with LP’s reseller program.
They feature them prominently. The cool thing is they give back to their customers in other ways also. They prominently features customer, with a link to their webpage, on their front page. That’s good PR!
I’ve been meaning to see how I can get into that. The cool thing is they pick anyone even those that don’t have too much traffic.
I joined Lunar Pages affiliate program a few weeks ago and have already received one sign up. They pay you $65 per sign up.
My Ferretshaven.com is getting ready to expire and I’ve been thinking about letting that go and moving everything under my remaining personal website.
This advice is very timely for me as I am looking for another hosting provider. I have dreams about getting some more sites going (it’s so addictive and fun!)
The reseller idea is interesting. Don’t know if I would have enough sites to make it work though.
@Opal: Your domain is going to expire or your hosting? Okay to let hosting expire, not your domain. You can sell that domain :c). Get back something! And gratzy on your sell, thats an AWESOME PAYOUT! You should look into how much it would cost you for a reseller vs. your indvidual packages, you might save some money each month.
@Dee: If you currently only have 1-2 websites it is cheaper for non-reseller and than to move to reseller once you are about to about 5-6 or so. Goodluck on finding a provider, be sure to research, research, research!
I should have been clearer my hosting is going to expire not the domain.
I’m still checking to see if it’s actually cheaper for me to become a reseller.
That’s a great formula!
I have been looking for a new webhost….
Which do you recommend: A Small Orange, BlueHost, BlueFur or ComputingHost? Cost is not an issue, I want quality and peace of mind.
@Opal: Okies, just helping to protect your assets. Thats a good domain!
@Bush: Simple but true!
@TechZilo: I’ve never hosted with any of those companies. I’m going to be doing an article soon on how to research hosting compaies, alas its not done yet or I’d post it up for you. But basically you will need to do some research to figure out which is the best for you. I’d start over at http://www.webhostingtalk.com. I have heard good things about A Small Orange and Blue Host. Not sure bout the other too, but they could be just as good.