Not All Website Hosts Are the Same
The past three weeks has been a roller coaster ride trying to get my blog up and running. Thanks to some great Renegade Professional training by Steve Anderson, I determined that WordPress was the way to go. I purchased a premium theme to minimize my learning curve and loaded it all up on the web host’s server, which I had chosen because of their “one-click” WordPress install.
The install went smoothly. Then I started adding some content and suddenly, my blog was gone. In lieu of The Branded Boomer, what visitors now saw was that my site was in some billing violation, implying that I needed to pay my bill. Twenty e-mails later, I moved my blog. Yea, I’m starting over with hours of work seemingly lost. Fortunately, I backed all my data up, and I should be able to re-post it all within the next 24 hours.
What have I learned? All website hosts are not the same. Like many, my hindsight is far superior to my foresight, so maybe somebody else can benefit by my experience. Five things to look out for BEFORE deciding on a website host:
1) Read the fine print! Most likely, you will be sharing your site with others on the host server. Turns out that the minute my site ( a total of five pages, mind you) began to function, I exceeded a 10% limit of resources …and bam, my site was offline. Know what you are getting. Not all deals are the same.
2) Talk to a salesperson BEFORE you buy. In addition to the obvious, “How much will this cost?” be sure to ask for the support number and ask specifically how support questions will be handled.
3) Don’t purchase premium or priority support service. A reputable company does not need to charge for providing good service. I liken this to going to the local electronic store and being pressured to buy extended warranties. I paid for priority “30 minute response time” and only one time out of twenty did I get a response in that time frame. $30.00 wasted!
4) Check to see if key people have phone numbers and e-mail addresses readily available. Nothing is more frustrating than not being able to speak to anyone in authority. After the fact, I discovered that there was not a single e-mail address or phone number, other than a toll free number ringing through to India (“Sorry, we cannot answer that on the phone, you need to send an e-mail”). I include my phone number in every business e-mail I send, and most of my personal e-mails as well. If there is a problem in my business, I want to know about it …and solve it as quickly as possible. Be very wary of companies where the key people are all “sheltered and protected” from their customers.
5) Be willing to cut your losses and move on. I know not everyone will agree with this final point. But, if like me, you are using your website/blog to network and market your services, you cannot afford to spend hours and hours resolving basic hosting issues. This experience has cost me about $200, but when I figure out what I earn in an hour there was certainly a point where I was being “penny wise and pound foolish.”
There’s thousands of web host sites to chose from. I guess when it’s all said and done, the old Fram oil filter commercial says it all, “Pay me now, or pay me later.” Take some time and do some research. When changing my web host, one of the things I did was call support before I chose a new host. I spent twenty minutes asking questions and then transferred to sales. I know not every host will allow you to speak to support before you buy their product. I know there are many reputable host companies, and I don’t believe my horror story is typical, is it?
For what it’s worth, I found a web host company that I can now heartily endorse, Blue Host. They have everything I have included in this blog post. I just wish I had found them three weeks ago!
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