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Web Hosting Takes The High Road

For better or worse, your web hosting company can have a profound impact on your business. That’s why it is imperative that you engage a host who adheres to a strict and unwavering code of ethics. Security, privacy and trust are not “value added” elements. They are at the core of what all reputable hosting companies strive to accomplish.

So what constitutes an ethical web host? For starters, they mean what they say. They offer easy to understand terms of service and deliver on their promises. They abide by their contracts, exceed their customer’s expectations and don’t let timetables slip.

Privacy is another major issue in web host ethics. Many web host customers have databases that contain extremely confidential and highly sensitive personal and financial information from thousands of individuals. Other customers may have custom scripts that are worth large sums of money and they need to be assured that their investment is safe.

Ethical web hosting companies will not “oversell” their services. They will not offer a huge plan (example: 10 GB of disk space and 500 GB of monthly transfer) if they cannot support it. (This is comparable to airlines that overbook available seating.) Reputable web hosts provide services that are within the reasonable bounds of competence. They clearly represent their level of knowledge and limit their services to that level. They make realistic statements about their web hosting expertise and are up front about their practices related to ecommerce and all other issues. 

Reputable web hosts understand the unique chemistry of the hosting relationship and the trust that is placed in them. They will avoid exploiting that trust and will not pursue dual relationships with customers that have the potential to compromise the integrity of their original agreements.  

As with all professions, there are a small number of “bad apples” but they can be easily avoided if you do your homework before selecting your web hosting company.
Here are some things to consider:

• Beware of web hosting companies that don’t give you a physical business address, list of principle officers of the business or a contact phone number. Some of these “businesses” may actually be young pranksters or con artists.
• If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is. The consumer needs to use their best judgment. There are many open communities on the internet who are more than willing to share their knowledge and experiences about web hosts.

The best web hosts know that when their servers are filling up, it makes sound business sense to replace them before they are full. Reputable web hosts understand that servers not only need to remain up, they also need to perform well. If business is booming and servers are filling up, then a host can well afford new equipment. 

Another server-related point concerns changes and upgrades that a host may want to make. While some hosts may think the best way to help customers is to put these changes in place as quickly as possible, customers view this very differently. While a host may be excited about getting new systems up and running, customers are more concerned about keeping their sites up and functioning properly.  Reputable hosts will not test changes and upgrades on production servers. They will explore all of the potential side effects of any upgrade so their customers will know in advance.

Communication is another crucial component in principled web hosting. Customers understand that sometimes things happen to all of us (including web hosts) that are beyond our control. Customers know that, despite a host’s best efforts, servers sometimes crash or they need maintenance. Smart web hosts realize that customers will be a lot more understanding if you let them know about emergencies as soon as they happen. They do not leave their customers hanging, wasting precious time trying to figure out what is going on. 

Like all principled business groups, the web hosting industry polices itself to some degree. Reputable web hosts make sure their ethics policies are clearly stated and adhered to. This practice allows small business owners as well as large corporations to have more confidence in hosting services. 

While codes of ethics may vary slightly from one web host to another, make sure the hosting company you choose can adhere to the following principles:

• All information and claims presented to the customer will be 100% accurate
• All web hosting services will be supplied as agreed
• The host will treat all customer information that is not public knowledge as confidential and will prevent it from being accessed by unauthorized people.
• The customer will be treated with fairness and honesty
• All planned service outages will be communicated well in advance
• All communication with the customer will be timely and responsive
• Every effort will be made to resolve all valid complaints in a professional and timely fashion

Research clearly indicates that the integrity demonstrated by a business has positive effects on the bottom line. When the world knows that your business can be trusted to act ethically, your customer base will grow. Respected web hosts know this and they have not only committed the golden rule to memory, they live it through their business.