Imagine getting an email from your web hosting provider on a Saturday that they are shutting down on Monday. After the panic subsides you cancel weekend plans so you can download your website data, find a new host, and rebuild your site. All this has to be done within 48 hours otherwise your site is offline. And to put salt in the wound, there’s no refund.
This actually happened! Over 20 discount hosting companies sent “Dear John” notices to clients announcing their servers were going dark in 2 days. Here are the details on this exit scam often called “deadpooling”.
It must have been a cold splash in the face realizing that “good” hosting deal was a dud. But ignoring the voice in their head saying “this is too good to be true”, these poor unfortunate souls took the bait for cheap web hosting.
Here are some things to consider before getting lured into a bad web hosting deal.
What is a Web Host?
Whether you’re Amazon, a medium business, or a local nail salon, you need web hosting for an online presence. Think of a hosting company as a building where you lease space to run your business. But instead of an office and the accompanying infrastructure (plumbing and power), you’re renting a server or a slice of a server and the required technology to make a website work. Just as your landlord does not interfere with the inner workings of the business, the web host does not get involved with the internal structure and content of your website.
Web Hosting is Technical
Way back when the web was young and innocent, it was not uncommon to see websites running on the local office servers. People hosted bulletin board systems (BBS) and web servers in their basement. It was a crazy time.
Alas, our little web grew up in the World Wide Web and things got a lot more complicated. Security, redundant power, load balancing are just a few of the technical considerations for hosting websites. This tech is usually to expense to have in one’s basement. So if the web hosting is at bargain-basement rates, it’s a safe bet they are cutting corners somewhere. Red flags should go up if your doctor advertises a special discount on brain surgery. Probably an offer to avoid as your brain is not a place for corner-cutting! So you should steer clear of ultra-cheap web hosting as your presence on the WWW stage is too important.
What Should A Good Web Host Do?
We believe that a web host should provide a variety of services to give customers the best experience possible. Whereas many companies simply host your website and leave you to it, we do the following:
- Regular backups
- Bi-weekly updates to your website, plugins, and theme.
- Initial SSL setup, and SSL renewal each year.
- Highly accesible customer service, and a personal touch that you will not find anywhere else!
To learn more about our services or to see how we can help you with YOUR website, use our contact form below!