Website Hosting News and Articles

Avoid Nightmares On The Net

The leaves are changing color. The days are shorter and the frost is on the pumpkin. The wind is whistling through the branches and everybody’s in the mood for a scary story - unless the horror story is true and it involves the web host who is servicing their ebusiness.  When choosing a web host, it can sometimes be difficult to separate the tricks from the treats. And if you make the wrong choice, the consequences for your decision will haunt you for a long, long time.

There’s no better treat than a web host who understands you and your business. And there is nothing more frightening than a web host who can’t or won’t meet your needs. If your site is not up and running, then you have no way to communicate with your customers and that can be very scary indeed.

The good news is that when you know where the monsters are lurking, you can evade them. Here are some net-based nightmares that you can easily avoid:

• It’s a dark and stormy night. You log on to your website and it’s not there! You get a spooky error message that you don’t understand. When you try to contact your web host’s technical department, nobody answers. You are all alone. To avoid this nightmare, always check on your web host’s technical services department availability BEFORE the contract is signed.  

• The dark side of disk space is very spooky and you don’t want to go there. Sometimes people find a cheap or free web host and just sign up without checking out or challenging the amount of disk space. What happens when the disk space is filled up is too scary to even think about. Spare yourself this nightmare by finding out in advance exactly how much disk space is available from a potential host.

• Beware of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Make sure the web host company domain name matches the company name before you give out your credit card information or sign any contract. There are many online reviews you can research before choosing a web host.  At the very least you should do a search and make sure the domain and company name match.

• All web hosts will experience goblins or gremlins at some point. It is the nature of the beast. Read the service level agreement that is provided by a potential web host. It is critical to know how glitches will be handled and how they will affect you and your customers.

Security (or the lack of it) can be the most spine-chilling monster of all. Regardless of the web host you use it is critical that you have secure websites for purchases when people need to enter their banking and personal information. If your site does not appear to be secure customers will leave. If they don’t feel safe in your hands they will find somewhere else to shop.

Make sure you have a plan for the future and an idea of your website’s growth potential. Without this you could run into some scary and expensive problems down the road if you outgrow your web site or your web host’s capabilities.

Slow servers leave you without a ghost of chance to keep customers coming back to your site. Make sure your web page loads within 10 seconds. If not, then people will leave your website before the page ever opens. People have come to expect instant gratification from the internet. If you cannot provide the information they need in a timely fashion, somebody else will. Scary but true.

Ensure the checkout process is not a nightmare. Make sure the process is clear, easy and to the point. Let customers do what they need and make certain fields optional if you are trying to conduct market research. Busy people don’t have time for surveys. They barely have time to shop - that’s one of the main reasons they use the web. If you hold them hostage on your site while they take a survey, you probably won’t see them again.

Most web host companies uphold high ethical standards and work hard to keep their customers happy. With a little research and a lot of pre-contract interaction, you can increase your odds of selecting treats, not tricks.