23

May

Is Your Web Hosting Company Going to Be Available When You Need them Most?

Posted by: Carolyn Young

Customer support is a major consideration when deciding on most “mission critical” services for your business, and the same should be true when choosing your web hosting provider. If you’re going to be opting for the most economical hosting package (“shared server” or “shared hosting”), then at least make sure your hosting provider offers 24/7 technical support. You will save yourself some real headache (and revenue) if/when you need to call them. Want recommendations? BlueHost, HostGator, and DreamHost – they are all popular cost competitive hosting companies, and they’re all known for their excellent customer support.

If you’re not “hands-on” in your website development, you may not spend much time thinking about the level of support offered by your hosting company, but don’t just assume that your web designers have already thought about this critical element. It’s worth double-checking which hosting provider is being used for your business website – even if you’re not typically the one making these types of decisions. Because when your website goes down, and you need support, that is not the time you want to find out your hosting company has limited business hours.

Here are some of the support features that these above hosting providers offer their customers:

• Telephone: Most hosting companies have 24/7 support (some have a feature that tells you your estimated wait time if you’re put on hold). If your company doesn’t offer 24/7 phone support, you should seriously consider shopping around.
• Live Chat: this feature that allows you to communicate textually online with a customer support representative – much like Instant Messenger service. Providers typically also make this service available 24/7. It can sometimes be the quickest way to resolve minor issues with your hosting account.
• Email: Each of the companies named above utilize a ‘submit a ticket’ system for less urgent issues that can afford a 24-72 hour turn around time.
• Video: Host Gator has the most video tutorials with over 100 Flash tutorials. BlueHost offers approximately 60 tutorials. These are great self-help resources that can be used to answer frequently asked questions.
• User guides: Each provider above has a long list of user guides available for reference.

BlueHost, HostGator, and DreamHost have less down time, typically have more knowledgeable support staff, offer much more intuitive online support features, hosting-specific user forums, and easier to navigate help centers (not to mention higher quality hosting products, user interfaces, etc.) than many other ultra-low cost hosting providers.

Low cost hostng providers sometimes do sell their hosting services as a “loss leader” – a way of attracting customers in hopes of selling other services (for example, like GoDaddy does). But companies for whom hosting is a primary offering – like HostGator, BlueHost, and DreamHost – often provide much more reliable hosting and support.