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There are many web hosts who will do an adequate job for you and provide hosting for your
site so that your customers or your friends will be able to see your domain.
You may think that
all is well, but what you don't realize is that the best hosts are better than the rest because
when something goes wrong they can fix it quickly and will work to prevent such problems in the
future. The way they do this is by hiring great people.
It is possible for a single person to start and run a web hosting business; after all, much
of the work is done by computers, and hosting doesn't need input from an employee. The new accounts
are added whenever the owner has the time, and things just run. Unfortunately, when your site
malfunctions (and all will, eventually), the breakage will not match the owner's schedule, and
it might be possible that their "tech support" (the owner) is in bed, and won't respond to your
request to get your site working. This brings us to one of the most important requirements for
a web host - they must have capable support personnel available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
You can get less than this, and have much cheaper hosting, but if all-day availability is important
to you, spend the extra cash, and go with a host with the extra coverage.
This brings us to the last important tech support requirement. It's best if support was available
by phone or by some sort of interactive method (perhaps a chat application on the host's site).
This will allow you to have an ongoing and speedy conversation with the person who is diagnosing
your problem. Some sites insist that all support is via email. This can be an indication that
support isn't really available all day long. Of course, you can get the best of both worlds,
if you're looking for cheap hosting, and are willing to conduct your tech support via email,
but are secure knowing that your host provides 24 hour phone support, so the chances are good
that if you email at a strange time, there will be a support tech there to deal with your request.
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