The right web hosting company could mean the difference between having a website that is always up and running reliably and having a site that is constantly down and that frustrates your visitors. So in addition to cost, you also need to consider other factors when you are shopping around for the web host that will be in charge of maintaining your site on its servers.
Is your current web hosting company really offering you the best value, or should you be looking elsewhere? Continue reading to learn more.
How Reliable Is the Web Host?
The reliability of your web host is of utmost importance if you want to ensure that your website will always be up and running and that you will always have access to a customer service team that respects you and wants to help you.
Beyond technical performance, your web host should be able to keep your site fully functional and accessible for users at all times, with minimal to no downtime. If you are finding that your site is down too often, it is better to switch to a company who can guarantee reliability and performance 99.9 per cent of the time.
How’s the Customer Service?
When it comes to getting a great web hosting plan, you need to go beyond the actual technical specs and find out what the customer service is like for customers just like you. After all, to derive value from a company, you need to be able to say that the company really cares about you as their customer.
To learn about a web host’s customer service, look at their website and the offerings they have in place. Do they, for example, have several ways to get in touch with them, such as email, phone, and live chat? Do they have agents available to speak with you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, or are their customer service hours limited? What is their typical response time, and are they able to resolve issues in a satisfactory manner?
Another way to learn about a web host’s customer service department is by looking up other customers’ reviews, which can be surprisingly revealing. You can avoid signing a contract that you’ll later regret by finding out what other customers have already gone through.
Does Your Web Host Provide Email Services?
Yet another great way to derive more value from a web host is by signing on with a company that provides additional email services at no extra charge. You can get an email address with your domain name, and you can also get convenient email forwarding services and autoresponder options with the right hosting provider.
As you can see, there are many things to look for in a web hosting company beyond merely looking at price. To really derive value from the company, you should be getting stellar customer service, email services, and reliability that will ensure your site will always be up and running for all of your visitors from all over the world.