Tag Archives: customer service

Richard Vanderhurst

Not Sure What Web Hosting Is? Read This!

There is a lot of confusion regarding all of the complex terminology and lingo that flows across the Internet on a constant basis; web hosting is one of those terms that has been lost to the confusion. Web hosting isn’t about the design of your site, but the quality and reliance of the servers you choose to support it.

These tips can help guide your decision a little better.

Avoid using the same company for both your web host and domain registry. Not only can you sometimes find these services cheaper if you shop for them separately, you also avoid becoming locked into one web host indefinitely. When you maintain separate web hosts and domain registries, you are free to change your website’s host if you ever feel the need to, without penalty.

If you choose to go with a particular hosting service to launch your website, you should always remember to keep in contact with customer service. Anytime a problem comes up, you want to make sure that your hosting service has a good customer service division to help you address it.

Do not neglect the value of user reviews when it comes to choosing a web hosting service. There are often others who have had experience with the company you are considering, whether it is good or bad. It will never hurt to do a quick check on what others have to say, then you can make your decision accordingly.

When choosing between paying for a shared server or a dedicated server, consider the type of website involved. If your website will be used to sell products, store customer information and accept payments, you should opt for a dedicated server. This type offers more privacy, though often at a higher cost.

When selecting a web host, it’s vital that you choose one that has excellent support. Although it’s important for a host to have lots of experience, they can’t avoid all problems. Something is bound to go wrong at some point. When this occurs, having a solid support system set up is crucial. You can test out a host’s support system by sending in an email or a support ticket. If you don’t receive a response within the next couple of days, then you should probably search for another host.

If you’re just building your first website, opt for shared hosting. There are two main types of hosting on offer: shared, which is cheap, but has fewer options, and dedicated, in which you get the works and lots of customizability, but you pay for the privilege. Good shared hosting plans can be had for just a few dollars a month.

If you wish to have more than one site, look for a web host that lets you have add-on domains. This means you will be able to store more than one site on their servers without having to open multiple accounts or paying any extra money for your different websites.

Make sure to do very thorough research when looking to purchase hosting services. You do not want to rely on only one or two recommendations when it comes to this. By doing thorough research on the intended host, you will be able to read about both the good and bad experiences. Choose the one that has the fewest of the bad ones.

To get the most out of a free web host, you’ll need to back up any data and files related to your site. Because free web hosts don’t generally offer any guarantees about backing up your data, if anything disappears, it will be on you, and not on them.

Always read reviews from past and present customers of your chosen web host before signing up with a long contract. Most 12 and 24-month hosting contracts have huge cancellation fees, so you need to realize that you are not going to be able to change your web host for a year or two. Therefore, it is important that you always check out customer reviews before signing up.

Investigate the legal terms of your host. At a minimum, a web hosting company should provide a Terms of Service, Acceptable Use Policy, and a Privacy Policy. These documents are vital because they let you know what limits you may face, from payment plans to bandwidth and CPU usage. Be wary of any company which makes these documents unavailable or difficult to find.

If you own and operate several websites, it can be to your advantage to choose one web hosting service that allows you to have “add-on domains.” Many hosts will give you the ability to have unlimited domains added to your main account at no additional fees. This can save you a lot of money, as well as time going back and forth between multiple accounts.

Keep track of how many often outages occur and how long they last. If they are too long and too frequent, you should think about choosing a different service. Most services encounter issues once in a while but if they are not fixed quickly, you are not getting your money’s worth.

To get started with your very first website, consider a free web hosting company. After all, your initial site is the one that will teach you lessons – not make you a ton of profits. You may end up with a lot of downtime, and you’ll have ads that aren’t yours, but you’ll get an intro to running your own site.

A lot of people don’t know this, but you can actually host a website from your own room without spending a dime. Using “www” server programs are great for getting involved with web development and learning how things work on a higher level. Of course, unlike actual web hosts, you most likely won’t be able to offer the constant up-time, strict security, or updating customer service.

Now you understand what it really means to host a website, so you can pay attention to these small details that you may have overlooked normally. It’s always great to know what goes on behind the curtain.

One day, you may even decide to handle your hosting needs yourself and that’s when things will become really interesting!

Richard Vanderhurst

Tips And Tricks For Working Your Way Through Web Hosting

Of all the things that must be done when you have a website, it can be hard to figure out web hosting. Web hosting can be confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking for and what your needs are. This article can help you sort through all the choices so you can make the best decision for your website.

Make sure that you understand all the costs that will be associated with using your host. Many places offer a lower rate to hook you in, however after time you realize that there are a lot of hidden costs associated with them. So be sure to find out all the different fees that you may have to pay, like setup costs or maintenance fees.

If you have been used to the same web host for several months, look at the availability of your website. An availability of 99% or more means your website is accessible all the time. If you notice a lower availability rate, look for a web host that does not encounter as many outages.

If you are looking into a host, check out the host’s up-time percentage. This means find out how often they are up and running and how often they deal with downtime and have system updates and issues. The higher this percentage, the better the host will probably be and the less problems you will have with your own site, staying up and running.

For a modest site, pick an affordable web hosting services but do not necessarily go with the cheapest. There are even hosting services offered for free, but there is always a tradeoff. The site may be slow, the service inadequate or offers no backup services. Rather than settle for a free service, you can usually find a decent web hosting company for under 10 dollars a month.

Look into how long a web hosting company has been in business. The online business is tough, and while a new company is not necessarily a bad choice, it can be a risky one. There is nothing worse than going to log into your site, only to find it no longer exists. A company that is experienced and has been around for a few years is a much more reliable choice.

You will recognize a successful web hosting service by the number of packages they offer. If you can subscribe for many different features and get more storing space as your site expands, this means your web host is making plans in the long term and has allowed many websites to grow.

A great tip for people looking for hosting services is to understand the refund policies of the hosting service you are dealing with. Understand that you may end up not liking your hosting service, so before this happens, you should make sure that you know what your options are, in cas you choose to opt out.

No matter how reliable your web hosting may be, it is very wise to regularly back up your site on your own PC or some other source. Even if your web host tells you that your data is safe or that they have backed it up, do not depend on this. The company could go bankrupt, among other problems and your data is too important to risk losing.

Research each potential web host’s customer support before deciding on a host. The easier it is to get in touch with the hosting service, the more likely you are to be satisfied. If you’re having problems with your web hosting account, you’ll need to be able to easily reach customer service by email or phone.

If your web host is down for more than a day, find a new one fast. Short of a natural disaster, no web hosting company has any real excuses for long outages so don’t wait for a customer service representative to hand you a pre-rehearsed statement explaining this short- coming. Simply find a better company, fast.

Before you decide on a web host, find a reason to call or online chat with their customer support. This is the best way to figure out if you have a legitimate safety net for times when things go awry. If customer support takes too long, is rude, or seems to lack knowledge, consider looking elsewhere.

When putting your website online, you will have to choose a domain name. Too many webmasters choose a good name but do not pay enough attention to the extension of their websites. A lot of internet users tend to take websites ending in ‘.com’ or ‘.net’ more seriously than other extensions.

Make sure the host you choose has minimal to no downtime. It is frustrating if you try to log on to your site, and the server is down. If you have a business that relies on the internet for sales, this means you will lose a lot of money because your site is not operable.

Cost should not be the only thing you look at when comparing web hosting solutions. Take the time to find out more about different features so you get a better understanding of what a good host can offer to your site. A good deal depends on the cost and the different features offered for this price.

Be aware that if you use site templates to create your website, the monthly web hosting fees will almost always be higher. This is because you will be constantly accessing their online tools to update your site, thus creating more use on their system. Though it can easy for a beginner to build a site this way, consider the cost effectiveness of hiring a professional designer upfront, and saving much more than that on monthly fees.

Now that you have some information about web hosting, it should be much easier for you to choose a host that meets your needs. Make sure you understand the information laid out here, so that you can confidently make a good decision about web hosting. That way, you can concentrate on your website like you want to!