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Avoid These Three Web Hosting Traps

Published Monday, August 4, 2008 by bloggerblognet83460 | E-mail this post

Getting a product you want to sell online has some difficult steps:

1. Researching and creating your product (or purchasing one with resale rights)

2. Setting up your marketing plan

3. Arranging for autoresponder digital delivery and online payment

4. Designing your website

5. Creating your riveting sales letter

Now it is time to delicately wade through the stormy seas of selecting a hosting company to present your business to the world and keep it safe from disaster. More than likely, you've spent a good portion of your money on website designs, copywriting for the sales letter, graphic designs for your website logo and attention-grabbing clip art.

Trap #1:

This is not the time to fall for the easy, cheap way out when you are selecting the perfect web hosting service for your business. You can find hosting services all over the Internet, all promising you the moon for almost no money at all... even some offering free hosting. Ignore them!

Think about what you really want in your website host before making any decisions. You need reasonable bandwidth, very low downtime, superb customer service, to start with. Without those three guarantees, you've got nothing.

Trap #2:

Vagueness is not a useful when you are trying to fit your website requirements with those offered by hosting providers. You have to know exactly what you need and want from the service. If you don't, it would be easy to get lost in the slate of glitzy enticements offered that may, or may not, support your business.

Make a list of your specific initial needs and your possible future needs. Keep the list current, updating it as your business expands. When you are considering a service to host your website, send them your list of current requirements so you both know exactly what you need.

Trap #3:

Ignoring this trap will cause you more grief than you could ever imagine. When you are selecting a hosting service, do not even think about one that does not offer 24/7 quality support. If you do, you will be left hanging when your website is down for whatever reason.

Offering that support is also meaningless if you cannot directly contact the technicians responsible for keeping your business online. Without 24/7 availability, you will have to wait until the next day or after holidays or weekends to get help with your site.

In order to avoid this business killer, make sure you get a contact phone number that is a direct line to the technical support people. Get a physical street or mailing address, too. Difficult or non-responsive contact can make your business a nightmare for both you and your customers.

Before contracting and paying for your new hosting services, get that important phone number and call it at various times during the day and in the middle of the night. Make sure it works and that someone professional answers it. The success of your entire business depends on it.

Dan Thompson is a veteran website designer and has used numerous web hosts in his time. Dan specializes in writing web host reviews, his latest article is a Hostmonster Review. You can view Dan's latest web hosting review at http://www.hostmonster-the-review.com