Do We Really Need More Web Hosting Directories?
Do We Really Need More Web Hosting Directories?
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The Internet is a great place to find information about everything, including web hosts. But can you trust what you find anymore? Are independent directories really as unbiased as they claim to be? The creator of the Internet’s first web host directory ponders the state of the field today.Back in 1996 I created the Internet’s first web hosting directory, called The Ultimate Web Host List (www.webhostlist.com). It was the Internet’s first vertical web hosting directory, and it was designed to help webmasters find the right web hosting company for their client. I thought it was a nifty idea at the time since I was doing programming for numerous clients, each of which had different hosting needs.
Back then there weren’t nearly as many hosting companies as you can turn up with a Google search today, and they didn’t offer the kinds of services we take for granted now. In fact, having a web site which could process data on the fly via calls to a database was mostly considered black magic and hocus pocus. If you actually found a hosting company that could serve up your site reliably and had a clue as to how to offer database connectivity, you almost felt as if you hit the lotto.
So needless to say, locating this kind of host was extremely valuable to the developer community at large. It meant they didn’t have to go through the same trouble you did when trying to locate the right host to meet your needs; they could simply take your advice and use the same host you did. After all, no developer wants to go through the process of reinventing the wheel; why do the research when someone else has already done it for you?
At that point in time I was programming for well over 20 companies, each with very different needs. It had gotten to the point where I was spending more time locating the correct host for each client and making sure they were competent. It wasn’t just an issue of their personnel being on the ball; I needed to know about their hardware, software, backbone ISP providers, and more. I had an entire questionnaire that I put together, and I would grill each prospective host and I took detailed notes on each and every one of them.
Do We Really Need More Web Hosting Directories? – Making Money from Chaos
Even after I matched a hosting company to a client, I continued to log my experience with them from beginning to end on note pads. In that case, if I ever needed a similar hosting service I could recollect what the pros and cons were when dealing with a particular company. As you could imagine, I ended up with an awful lot of dead tree material on my desk!
My notes were all over the place; honestly, it was getting really out of control. It was then that I decided to put it all online. In the beginning I really intended it more for my own personal use, so that I could access the information from wherever I was located at the time. As it turned out, this became a novel idea. I’m sure you can see the application for it; just consider the convenience factor. When you are traveling across the country meeting with prospective clients, and discussing their requirements for a given online project, it’s handy to be able to bring up a well-researched list of web hosts that could meet their needs.
After a few months time, other developers started to stop by to visit this very rudimentary site and I began to receive a lot of positive feedback on it. I really enjoyed keeping the site up to date with all of my notes on each of these hosting companies. I even began to rate the hosts depending on several factors such as customer service, hardware used, ISPs used, response time, and such. The site looked great on a resume, and helped me land a few larger clients such as Honeywell and US West telco. But one side benefit I had never intended also happened – I was contacted by several hosting companies that asked whether they could advertise on the site.
I thought this was an interesting proposition. I mean, why not? I put all the work into the site, it would be nice if I could pay a few extra bills with the advertising dollars. Things started slow at first, but in a very short matter of time I had a waiting list of advertisers and their budgets were growing rapidly (as was the Internet in general). I quit my full time job as well as my other programming gigs and ran the directory full time. But soon I was in a quandary – hosting companies who were advertising with me wanted special favors in the way of better ratings on the site, in return for them continuing to advertise. With a large wait list I was able to turn those people away and stay true to my feelings on each of the hosting services.
Do We Really Need More Web Hosting Directories? – A Growing Concern
In 1999 I sold that business to CNET and now I am running the Developer Shed network (www.developershed.com). But somewhere in between my last business and this business something happened. There could quite possibly be thousands of similar types of web hosting directories out there.
Big ones, small ones, fat ones, tall ones. All shapes, colors, and flavors. Some have their own gimmicks, such as a spotlight on a web host of the month, a top 25 of web hosting companies, a so-called independent panel that rates and tests hosting companies, bandwidth testing, so on and so forth. Some of these directories only have a top five as their specific picks for the top web hosts, and wouldn’t you know it, those are the same five companies that are advertising on their site. Coincidence? I don’t think so!
I recall a year or two ago, there was actually a directory of the hosting directories! Say that ten times fast. That particular site has since folded up shop, but the hosting directories continue to go strong. And while some of them may in fact be legitimate, I would venture to say that a great many of them are not. You almost always see a direct correlation between who they rate as a top host and who is the largest advertiser on their site.
As a matter of fact, I know for certain that there are a couple of rather large hosting “directories” that are owned in part by a hosting company! I will venture a guess and say that they probably are rated very high on their own site. In fact, I’m amused to note that they usually rate themselves second or third. I guess they figured that being rated first all the time would be just a little too obvious.
As with anything in life, and particularly on the Internet, caveat emptor applies. Putting aside my own start in the field, it is no longer a good idea to rely solely upon a web hosting directory when choosing a web host. My personal suggestion would be for you to examine a combination of a few of the remaining reputable directories, read some feedback on a few forums, check the Better Business Bureau in the state in which the hosting company does business, and try to compile all the information together before deciding who to chose to host your business.
This kind of “fake” information is pretty prevalent on the Internet these days. I see it across our own sites here on our own network. I can’t tell you the number of times I have deleted/removed bogus reviews on one of our sister sites (www.scripts.com) when it’s obvious that it is simply the web development company puffing up its own software. We have several methods we employ to detect this, but when a business owner can promote their own business or slam a competitor’s business for free and all it costs them is the time it takes to make a post or leave feedback on a forum somewhere, how can you really expect them not to try?
Review sites, even big sites such as Amazon, Yahoo, eBay, CNET, are all susceptible to this guerrilla type marketing, and it is extremely difficult to weed out. It has to be done manually, which is very time consuming and costly from a monetary standpoint. Perhaps the cheapest defense against this new type of spam is to enlighten the Internet community to its existence. Then fewer people will rely upon these types of sources of information as the sole basis for making a decision regarding a significant purchase of any kind of product or service.
One point worth noting is that the most dangerous form of propaganda is the kind that appears to us in the form of a valuable piece of information, a hint or tip, a recommendation from a “reliable or trusted source.” Many are aware of all of the different kinds of scams perpetrated upon the Internet community in the way of direct email spam, viruses and the like. But there are more and more sites popping up each day that promise to provide insight into which camera to buy, which politician to believe, which hosting company to choose. There is no solid substitute for doing the leg work needed to make any kind of decision, no matter how big or how small the matter.
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Do We Really Need More Web Hosting Directories?
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future
You’re starting a website and/or an online business on a shoestring, so you’re going to go with the least expensive web host you can find, right? Wrong. Keep reading to find out why this could be the most expensive mistake you ever make.When most people want to start an online business, they shop around online to see what web hosting businesses are available. A lot of them end up going with a “budget” service that only costs a few bucks a month. While this is all well and good, what exactly are you getting yourself into when you pick a host solely on price? If you are starting an Internet business or expanding your current business to the Internet, then this website is going to be very important to your business, and is going to need the ability to grow as your business does.
I can tell you from first hand experience that there is virtually a ton of “budget” web hosting companies out there. These companies offer you tons of disk space, and virtually unlimited bandwidth, at prices starting as ridiculously low as $0.99 a month. Yes, I’ve seen them for less than a dollar a month. At prices like that, you need to stop and ask yourself, how do they REALLY make money? Obviously, they count on sheer volume in order to turn a profit. But what if they have 2000 customers, each paying $1 a month? So they bring in $2000 a month. Do you think they can REALLY guarantee each user that huge pipe of bandwidth?
No. They certainly can not. That’s why a majority of these budget web hosts have a reputation for being slow. And even a modest website, without a ton of graphics, will still load slowly if the web server it is hosted on is serving slowly due to CPU or bandwidth issues.
This is vitally important to businesses on the Internet. With high-speed Internet access becoming ever more widespread, people are less apt to wait for a website to load. A slow web service provider can be considered the touch of death, and can take an excellent business idea and turn it into an abysmal flop.
But this only scratches the surface of the issues faced when finding the right host to serve your business.
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future – Plan your needs
Depending on the kind of business you are starting, there are different potential needs you may have, going forward.
For example, if you own a store and are trying to help attract customers, you might begin by creating an online showcase of your products. You might want nothing fancy, just something to entice people to either call to place an order on the phone, or even to come into your store. So a web host who provides the ability for HTML and images is all you need.
But what about when your business grows, or a lot of your customers express the desire to actually order their products online? Well, for starters, you’re going to need the ability to have a shopping cart system on your site. This can be a potential issue, as well.
There are many scripting languages available for websites. This being the case, I’m sure you can imagine that all of the shopping cart applications that have already been written are programmed in many different languages. So by paying attention to your web host’s available scripting languages, you can ensure that when the time comes that you need a shopping cart (or any other kind of script), your host will be able to support it.
But shopping carts aren’t the only thing to worry about. If your site deals with audio or video (maybe you’re a professional DJ or videographer, and want to show samples of your work online), you might need the ability for the customers to hear a sample sound-clip, or to view a sample video. In this case, you are going to want to be able to stream audio and/or video from your site. Again, some hosts have this option within their hosting packages, and some don’t. If this is something that you might eventually need, it’s smart to hook up with a host who offers it, right from the beginning.
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future – Room to grow
Now that we’ve covered functionality, which is a REALLY good point, we come to another one: having room to grow.
Didn’t we just cover this? Didn’t we just talk about having the functionality we might need to expand down the road? The answer to this is yes and no. We DID talk about the web hosting provider having the features you need, but that’s not what I’m alluding to.
Picture this. You put up your website, do a little advertising, and it’s a complete hit. Customers flock to your site, and you find yourself upgrading your site with new functionality a few months later. With more functionality comes even more traffic. Next thing you know, your website starts to run super slow. There are just too many visitors to your site for your web hosting provider’s web server to handle.
So what are your options? Well, they are to either a) move to a web server with less customers on it (which might be a premium plan, if your web hosting provider offers it), or b) move to a dedicated server. The benefits of a web server with fewer websites running on it should be obvious. This should become more apparent when you understand that a single server supporting shared hosting accounts (which is the standard inexpensive hosting account) can have literally HUNDREDS of websites on it.
A dedicated server is just what it sounds like. It’s a whole web server dedicated to only you and your company. Yes, this is more expensive, but by the time you need this level of service, it should more than pay for itself.
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future – Is that all there is to worry about?
Absolutely not. We’ve talked about functionality. We’ve talked about having room to grow as your needs do. But there’s one vital element that we haven’t touched on yet, and it may be the most important of them all: available bandwidth.
It just makes sense, with all of the web hosting providers on the Internet, that some of them have faster connections to the Internet than others. This is the one thing that I am most critical about when looking for a web hosting provider. I always want to know how many connections to the Internet they have, and how fast they are. If I find a provider who has a T1 to the Internet and nothing else, I’m moving on to find something better. Good web hosting providers have more than one connection to the Internet. This is not only for speed purposes, but for back up; what if one of those connections fails? Its nice to know that there is some sort of redundancy built into your website’s availability.
So don’t neglect to ask the question. What kind of connection does this provider have to the Internet? And does the provider have more than one? This should quickly help separate the fly-by-night hosting companies from the well-established ones.
And this, in turn, brings up yet another good point. How long has this web hosting provider been in business? Obviously, if you are building a website, you want for it to be around for awhile. Several years ago, I made the mistake of signing up with a relatively inexpensive hosting company. I didn’t check to see how long they were in business. I signed up, and paid a year in advance. Two months later, my website was gone. The company folded up and went out of business.
Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future – Consequences of a bad choice
So why is it so important that you choose the best web hosting provider? Well, lets take a look, shall we?
Q: What if the web hosting provider doesn’t have the functionality I need?
A: You need to switch to a new web hosting provider.
Q: What if my site has become so big that I can no longer host it on a shared hosting account, but my web hosting provider has nothing better for me to move to?
A: You need to switch to a new web hosting provider.
Q: What if the web hosting provider you are hosted with cannot support the bandwidth you have grown to need?
A: You need to switch to a new web hosting provider.
If you don’t take these items into consideration when you are first selecting a web hosting provider, sooner or later you will have to move to a new provider. And between you and me, this is no picnic. I mean, let’s put aside the complexity of moving the code and maybe even databases from one place to another, then any configurations that may be needed to actually make your site operate in the new location. Those can be hard enough, but the bigger problem you have is called DNS propagation.
What is DNS propagation? When your website is up and running in your new location, you need to tell all of the Domain Name Servers (DNS) in the world that your website can now be found at its new location. You do this by changing your site’s DNS servers with your domain registrar. But once this is done, it can take up to 48 hours for this information to completely cycle through the Internet. In that timeframe, customers can potentially be hitting both websites, so you now have the nightmare of either a) having the old website say you are closed to business, or b) have the old website keep running as usual, and try to somehow sync up the two sites after DNS propagation is finished.
Doesn’t sound like fun, does it? It’s not. Making bad decisions on a web hosting provider, even though they won’t impact you right away, may impact you in the future. What’s worse, if you are moving out of necessity, then the move is going to impact your bottom line, since your customers will not be able to successfully be able to use your site in its new location for up to 48 hours.
So the what’s the moral here? Spending a little time and research in the beginning can save customers, frustration, and money in the long run. Making an informed decision up front is the right way to go, and can be the difference between a successful online venture and a failed attempt.
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Choosing the Right Web Hosting Provider for Now and the Future
Web Hosting Companies: Can They Be Trusted To Police Themselves?
Hosting Companies: Can They Be Trusted To Police Themselves?
As industries mature, you expect to see a certain degree of consolidation. But this can lead to monopolies, with all the problems they bring. Given all of the merger news we’ve seen recently, is this the challenge now facing the web hosting industry? And what can be done about it?Recently investment firm GI Partners (http://www.gipartners.com/) made a huge news splash by acquiring controlling interests in two of the Internet’s largest dedicated hosting businesses, Everyone’s Internet (http://www.ev1.net/) and The Planet (http://www.theplanet.com/). This is pretty big news by itself, and has already been publicized to death. Not too long after the merger was announced, another announcement from GI Partners confirmed the obvious: ev1 and The Planet were being merged into one unit.
Any time a merger of this magnitude occurs it raises some questions. For starters, what kind of impact will the merger have on already existing clients? How will it affect the industry as a whole? Will the lessening of competition have negative ramifications for prospective hosting clients out there? Many of these questions are at the core of why the U.S. government created anti-trust laws so as to prevent monopolies from dominating commerce and to ensure a healthy competitive environment where only effective businesses would flourish.
I know what you are thinking. What about Microsoft? What about the telcos? Well what about them? Microsoft is now facing stiff competition from the open source movement, as well as from Google on the Internet front. The telcos never had it so bad with free Internet calling which they NEVER foresaw, as well as some deregulation by the U.S. Sooner or later monopolies – at least in the U.S. – are challenged one way or another by newer, more robust businesses. However, on occasion the lead time a company might receive before it garners any worthwhile competition could supply a pretty significant stranglehold, making it extremely difficult to remedy (see Microsoft).
Hosting Companies: Can They Be Trusted To Police Themselves? – Big Enough to Regulate?
Why am I discussing monopolies? Surely this doesn’t apply to the recent hosting merger, does it? Well no, not yet. But these things always start somewhere, and a huge merger among two of the most dominant hosting players seems like as logical of a birthplace as anywhere else for the beginnings of a monopoly.
The hosting business has been around almost since the advent of the Internet. No surprise there, since without hosting companies there really would be no Internet – at least not in the shape, form, and fashion we have become accustomed to. Hosting companies in general control how we experience the Internet: how slow or fast pages load, how secure websites are and the data they contain, how secure our transactions across it are – in effect, web hosting companies are in control of the very essence of the Internet. They aren’t solely in control, of course, but you can fathom the significant role the hosting industry plays when looking at it from a macro standpoint.
With the news of the recent merger, it made me wonder. Should the web hosting industry be regulated? Should there be a third party organization which sets guidelines that all hosting companies should follow no matter how big or how small they are? By this I mean things like data backup, security measures, support – things that we all take for granted until you need them, and by the time you need them it’s usually too late.
Of course in principle this sounds a lot easier than it actually is. Who would determine the rules and guidelines? How would they be enforced? Would hosting companies actually follow such a governing body? These are all valid questions, but the answers are unclear. Still, those questions should not preclude us from at least considering whether or not such an organization would have merit.
Hosting Companies: Can They Be Trusted To Police Themselves? – A Turning Point
Obviously the impetus of any larger merger is profits first, and usually everything else second. The ev1/planet merger is large enough to have significant impact upon the hosting industry, especially in the dedicated segment which almost always consists of the mid to large size sites. It is safe to assume that the newly combined entity will encompass many large businesses. If a few more of these types of mergers occur we could start to see a much more condensed version of the hosting industry than we are used to.Remember the old days when there were many search engines to choose from? You could happily choose from Yahoo, Alta Vista, DMOZ, Snap, and many more. Then Google came along and kicked everyone’s ass. Many of the search engines are left, but most people now use Google. Many are starting to become concerned that perhaps there is too much power resting with Google since it fields well over half of ALL searches run on the entire planet.
Google’s motto is “Don’t be evil” so I guess it’s OK that literally millions of businesses live or die depending on Google’s search results. Of course, the cat is already out of the bag, and as we all know, trying to correct something that has already transpired is MUCH more difficult than if the problem were addressed prior to its occurring. How about Google scrubbing data that China’s citizens see at the behest of the Chinese government? What if Google decides not to show offensive material in its search results, at least in certain countries? Well you no longer have to wonder “What if” because all of the above is already occurring, and it raises serious ethical implications for everyone who uses the Internet.
I believe we are at a crossroads now in the hosting industry. If there was a ideal time to instill some fair and guiding principles for the hosting industry it would be now. That is to say, before several large hosting providers turn into the telcos and power companies.
With that being said, we should not rush headlong into such a worthwhile endeavor. If any kind of regulation were to be done, it would need to be plotted out in detail and in advance so as to avoid the same mistakes that occurred when the government granted all domain control initially to Network Solutions. Network Solutions was given way too much unmitigated power, and was significantly profit driven, and that made for a dangerous combination. Eventually this was ironed out when the government started handing out more contracts for companies to be able to register and manage domains.
Hosting Companies: Can They Be Trusted To Police Themselves? – A Good Start
While I don’t believe there is only one right way to approach this concept, one good starting point might be putting together a non-profit entity which consists of large and small companies and businesses, and have them build a charter. This entity would have an elected body which would communicate with a similar hosting equivalent body. The group of hosting companies would ensure equal representation so that they would be able to offer a inside perspective into what may or may not be needed in the way of guidelines that hosting companies should follow.This approach might be a bit utopian in plan and scope but I believe it is a necessary evil, as no industry would actually wish for or want outside input as to how it conducts its business. The only way a concept like this would fly is if on its face it comes across as a fair and equitable scenario in which both the consumer and the industry wins as a whole. Anything less and it would never get off the ground. I also tend to think that if this concept is laid out in such a fashion, it would appeal to the general Internet public and would create enough impetus to push it along.
What I do know is that there are many hosting companies with tons and tons of Better Business Bureau complaints and many businesses laid to rest due to negligent hosting companies which don’t back up their servers, don’t maintain proper security measures, don’t hire competent personnel and on and on – even though their website says they do all of the aforementioned and then some. So who protects the consumer? Right now many just file for refunds through their Visa or American Express merchant.
Certainly there has to be a better and more effective way to ensure these types of complaints and issues do not continue to occur. After all, the customer would only receive their hosting fees back (after much hassle with the credit card company) but what about all of the business, revenues, and data lost? They are never compensated for those things, and in many instances the damages are incalculable.
One other point that should not get lost in all the confusion is that, since there is no way to police existing hosting companies currently, there really is no way to determine who is running a business out of their garage and who is running a legitimate shop. This newly minted organization should focus on the issues that will matter most to the end consumer and in that respect the entire hosting industry should come through it stronger and smarter. It’s a win-win scenario.
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Hosting Companies: Can They Be Trusted To Police Themselves?
Points to Remember When Switching Web Hosts
Points to Remember When Switching Web Hosts
There’s a lot to keep track of when you’re transitioning from one web host to another. This article will help you keep the important issues in mind.Switching your website to a new web host is a lot like moving in real life. You don’t want to do it unless you really have to. You try to get all your research about the new location completed before you have to move. You do your best to see that it suits your needs as well as, or better than, your old location. And it involves so many details that you practically despair of getting it done without forgetting something unless you’re compulsive about making lists.
Fear not. I’m going to give you some gentle reminders about the things you need to accomplish. While the precise details will vary depending on your website’s particular needs, if you keep these points in mind, you’ll feel right at home with your new host in no time. Well, you might still need to track down the closest good Italian restaurant, but you know what I mean.
They say that location is the most important thing in the real estate business, but for websites, we’re going to start with the new residence itself–which, in this case, equates to storage, at least for openers. How much space is all your stuff taking up now? Does your new home (the new web hosting plan you’ve chosen) offer you at least that much space? You should check with your current web host as to how much space you’re using now, or you can check your web hosting control panel. If you expect to add files to your website that are likely to take up a lot of space as time goes on, you might want to start with a little more space than you’re using now–and even check whether your new host has plans to which you can upgrade.
By the way, storage in cyberspace may not be as straightforward as storage in the real world (storage in the real world isn’t entirely straightforward either, but that’s another matter). If your web host’s storage plan offers you 1 GB of storage, what is counted against that amount? Does that include only the files of your website, or does the space taken up by your emails and log files count as well? You need to find out this information from both your old host and your new host. If they count storage differently, it could be unpleasantly similar to moving into a technically larger apartment with a less open layout and smaller closets.
Points to Remember When Switching Web Hosts – Do All the Utilities Work?
Now we need to get a little more into the technical details. You need to know what operating system your current web host uses, as well as what operating system is used by your new web host. Are you dealing with Windows or a Unix-based system? You might not need to know exactly which flavors, but it wouldn’t hurt. The reason you need this information is that your website actually might not work on an operating system different from the current one.
One good example of this would be a move from a Windows to a Unix-based server. It won’t necessarily break things, but it could. If you use scripts created with a Windows-based programming language, you’ll have real problems getting everything to work right on a Unix server. True, this little detail could turn out to be a non-problem, but it’s one of those things that is much better to know in advance. Nobody likes unpleasant surprises when they move!
Following up on that same thought, make sure that your new hosting plan supports all of the scripts you plan to use on your website. In fact, you should check this well in advance. Best case, you don’t have to make changes at all; worst case, the web host won’t support them at all. The most likely case is somewhere in between; the new web host supports them, but you may have to make some modifications to get them to work properly (and you’ll want to have those in place ahead of your “move-in date”).
Unless you create your website from the HTML up by typing everything into a text file (and maybe even then), you should also find out what website creation and editing software your new web host supports. FrontPage? Dreamweaver? What versions? Make sure your new host supports the same software you use, down to the version number. And if you’re thinking about changing your software, you’ll also want to make sure the new host supports what you will probably be changing to.
Okay, I don’t mean these literally–though these days with VoIP and other interesting technological convergences, who knows? But seriously, in this case, I’m taking the analogy of moving to a new home a step further, with “telephone and cable connections” standing in for the way you and your website communicate with the rest of the digital world. This is one issue that could really bite you.
The most obvious way this could come up as a problem is with bandwidth. Like the amount of storage you take up and the operating system being used, you should find out the amount of bandwidth you use from your current host, and check how much your new host supports. Laugh if he says that you’ll have “unlimited bandwidth” and get him to explain what that really means. Just like a landline or a cell phone, you may be able to make as many phone calls as you want to wherever you want–but wait until you see the bill at the end of the month. This is of particular concern if you own a website that eats bandwidth for breakfast by hosting podcasts, videos, or any kind of streaming content.
If you’re a business or organization, you should also pay attention to the email account situation. You probably use a certain number of email accounts, autoresponders, and mail forwards with your current host. Will your new host let you have a similar number? Actually, if you think you’re going to grow, you may want more than your current number. (And this is of course another reason to check what counts against the amount of storage your plan permits, as I mentioned above).
At this point, it’s worth mentioning that you should set up the email accounts you currently have on your new web host’s server before transferring your domain name to the new server. It will help smooth the transition. And lots of website owners overlook this little detail.
Points to Remember When Switching Web Hosts – Taking Care of Business
If I wanted to stretch the changing residences analogy, I might describe this part of the task as being somewhat akin to getting a local doctor, finding out where all the roads go, and learning the location of all the businesses essential to keeping your household running. But analogies can only go so far. In fact, depending on your website, what I’m about to mention could be a lot more important than those details.
Because the truth is, it’s not like you’re moving a home so much as moving a business. At least, that’s true if your website is being used for business. If you sell anything from your website, for example, you probably have a shopping cart set up for your customers to use. Is that shopping cart provided by your current hosting plan? If so, will you be able to move it to your new web host? If not, will your new web host support your current shopping cart? And if the new web host won’t support your current shopping cart, will it provide you with a suitable replacement shopping cart? After all, the last thing you want to do is upset your customers; if they’re used to one particular shopping cart, it seems a little unfair for them to have to learn how to use a new and significantly different cart just because you moved–unless, perhaps, the new cart is genuinely easier to use than the old one.
Finally, it’s time to do some heavy lifting. Your website files will need to be uploaded to the new server. Do you know how to do that? If you don’t, will your new web host do it for you? That’s a real question with several possible answers. The new host might refuse to do it, for liability reasons. Or it might move your files for free. Or it might charge you a fee for moving your files.
After your files are moved, you want to make sure that the site looks right and works the way it’s supposed to on the new server. Once you’ve checked that out, you need to go to your registrar to change your nameserver information, which you can get from your new web host. It could take up to two days after you make this change before your site goes live to the web on the new server. At this point, you want to use a whois utility to check your domain name and make sure the new nameservers are listed. If they are, you can finally cancel your old web hosting account. Welcome to your new home!
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Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions
Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions
Ask the right questions when you are choosing a web host, and you can avoid a lot of pain in the future. This article explains some of the things you need to know.Many website owners have received unpleasant surprises after signing up with a web host they thought could do the job. Some of these could not be helped, but many other problems could have been prevented, or at least foreseen, if the website owner had done his or her research beforehand. Choosing a host for your website is an important decision; it calls for thoroughness before you make a commitment.
You should start your thorough research with your own website. Figure out in detail what you are going to need to get it up and keep it running smoothly. For your own reference at least, write down what is non-negotiable and what you might be able to work around. Note that this list will probably change as your website changes.
For example, if you are a podcaster and you start becoming popular, your bandwidth needs are going to increase. If you sell a few items off your website through PayPal and you see this business beginning to take off, you might start thinking about accepting credit card payments directly. That would change the security needs of your site. I’m sure you can think of other examples. Be realistic, however; you don’t want to end up paying for features you will never use.
Once you have figured out your own needs, it’s time to research web hosts. Most web hosts offer several different packages, so you should be able to find a variety that at least come close to meeting all your needs. For the half dozen or so that come closest, keep track of what they offer. You’re going to send a long list of questions to their customer service departments, which I’ll explain in the rest of this article.
One thing you want to keep in mind when you compose this list is that you do not want to ask questions that are already answered on the web host’s website. The host will think you either can’t or won’t read the information that’s right in front of you, and that translates to a headache of a customer. If you really want to ask about something mentioned on the host’s website, preface your question with “I see by your website that…” That’s a good way to try to confirm whether something is still correct (for example, that a particular service is still being offered) or to ask for more detail about something mentioned only in passing.
Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions – Framing the Email
Before I go into the email itself, let me tell you something you should do right after you send it: note the date and time. When you get the reply, note the date and time as well. That will give you some idea of how fast you can expect a reply when you need service. Also note whether all of your questions were answered, and how thoroughly. Were you satisfied with the responses you received?
Now we’ll move on to the email itself. Introduce yourself. Tell the web host that you are looking for virtual web hosting, and what kind of website will be hosted. Describe the website. If it’s for a business or organization, sum it up in a sentence (and do mention if it’s a not-for-profit or charitable organization). List your most important needs in a couple of sentences.
If you already have an existing site, include the URL. The host’s customer service representative can check it out then. If they’re really on the ball, after checking out your site they might ask you a few questions that will assist you in getting what you need.
Finally, let’s look at the questions themselves. Note that not all of these questions will apply to your website, and you might have others that I don’t mention here. Use this list as a guideline.
While you shouldn’t base your decision on price alone, you can start with a variety of price-related questions. Does the host have a special price for not-for-profit or charitable organizations? Some do, because it’s good for business (and can be good publicity). Does the host offer a discount if you pre-pay for a certain number of months in advance? If so what is it? What payment methods does the host accept? Must you pay a certain number of months in advance if you want to pay with certain methods (i.e. six months in advance if you pay with a credit card)? Is there a setup fee? And is there a trial period or money-back guarantee?
Questions about bandwidth, transfers, and site hits are related to price, because some web hosts charge more as those items increase. Does the host have a bandwidth/transfer/hits limit? If it does, you need to find out what it is. Is it monthly or daily? Be aware that many hosts advertise “unlimited” bandwidth, but rarely mean it; you should ask for an explanation or clarification if they use that word. Find out what restrictions the host has put into place, and whether (and where) that information is posted. If the host does charge if your site goes over the limit, find out how much.
Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions – Customer Satisfaction Questions
As with the purchase of any important service, you want to get a second opinion. Ask the host if you may visit other sites that they host; go ahead and tell them that you want to see the websites and email the owners. Be suspicious if the host gets cagy about answering this question. Obviously, you want to find out if their other customers are satisfied with their service, and what kinds of problems (if any) the host’s customers have experienced. Pay particular attention to any websites whose profiles are similar to your own.
Find out what type of support the web host offers. The more ways you have to contact the host for support, the better. Email and phone are typical, but these days many also include IM. What are the host’s support hours? Is there a limit to customer/technical support (i.e. number of calls)? What is the average response time?
Ask the host whether they host adult websites. This isn’t for the reasons you might think. If you aren’t planning to have an adult site hosted, you’re better off not sharing a server with them—not because it’s a “bad” neighborhood, but because adult websites consume a lot of resources. Any website that forces that much of a load on the servers is going to slow everybody down; visitors to your website will be happier if you’re not competing for bandwidth with digital flesh.
Speaking of server load, ask the host how many sites are currently running on their server. Also ask how many more sites they plan to put on it before they consider it full. You want to find out how they decide when a server is full. Many web hosts oversell their servers. This isn’t a problem until some sites start actually using the full amount of space and/or bandwidth for which they’ve contracted; then it bites with a vengeance.
Ask to view the host’s Terms of Service. Read it completely, and I do mean completely. If you find any small print or hidden rules, ask a few questions about these areas. It’s a good test to see whether the host’s customer service representatives have received the proper training about the company’s servers. You want to make sure you’re dealing with knowledgeable staff.
Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions – “Ownership” Questions
I won’t have room to hit on all the really technical questions here. You want to make sure you can do everything with your website that you’ll want and need to do. That means being able to do a lot of things without needing the help of the web host.
Ask the host whether you can use your own domain name, and how long it will take to either transfer or register a domain with Internic so that everyone can view it. Also, it’s a little detail, but find out if your domain name will work with or without the http://www. part attached to it.
This next question is much more important. Make sure that your domain name will belong to you, and that you will be able to transfer it to another host if necessary—even if this host registers it for you. A number of site owners have been very unpleasantly surprised to discover that domain names they thought belonged to them were in fact owned by their web hosts. Needless to say, this causes a plethora of problems when it comes time to transfer hosts.
Find out whether the host will require you to place anything on your web pages other than your own material. Many free or cheap web hosts require you to put their advertising on your site. If they do require something, find out what it is.
Will you be able to set up a mailing list for announcements? How about 24 hour FTP and Telnet access? And will you have anonymous FTP?
Find out about the email accounts; how many does the host offer for the package in which you’re interested? Can you send and receive email from and to them? Will you be able to use your own domain name as their SMTP server? Will you have an “everything else” account so that whatever@yourdomain.com will go through? Will be able to set up, change, and delete your email accounts yourself, or will you need to ask the host to do it for you? (This is very important if you’re running any kind of business).
There are many other technical questions you can and should ask; some of them depend very much on what you plan to do with your website (running CGI scripts or using certain forms of website-building software, for example). Aside from what the host can do for your website, you also need to find out about the host as a business. How long have they been in business? What are their future goals? What steps are they taking to achieve these goals?
Remember that I told you at the beginning of this article to do your research on web hosts, and find half a dozen or so that come closest to offering what you need? Go ahead and mention at this point in the email that you’ve found some other packages that seem close to giving you what you need at similar prices (you don’t need to tell them who). Then ask the host why you should choose their package over the other ones.
Wind up the email by encouraging the host to explain anything they think you might have missed, and finally, ask them to explain why they think they would be suited or unsuited for hosting your website. How the host answers this question will let you gauge their interest in your business, and could give you a good idea as to what kind of service you can expect to receive from them if you choose to host your site with them. Good luck!
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Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions