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by: Bob Roth
So, you’re looking to build a web site or so fed up with your current web host that you are
desperate to transfer your site elsewhere? You may not even be aware of your current host’s
vulnerabilities in an industry where each week there is news about a host going down for one reason
or another. Your first problem is narrowing the thousands of choices down to a few that you can
research further. Seek friends or associates that have a web site and ask for their advice. Visit
one of the many forums about web hosting, ask the members for advice or search threads from those
that have asked before you. Once you’ve located a few hosts to research, the ten questions below
will take you a long way towards making an informed decision. You may be able to find many of the
answers to these questions on the hosts’ web sites, but always feel free to call the host and quiz
them about their operations. The quality of the answers and degree of professionalism you get from
a potential host often transfers to the type of support you’ll receive once you become a customer.
Without further ado, the ten question to ask your web host:
- How long has the web host been in business?
- Does the web host own its data center?
- How many upstream Internet providers does the web host
have?
- Does the web host monitor its customers’ sites twenty-four
hours per day? How?
- Does the web host provide 24/7/365 phone and email
support?
- What levels of redundancy does the web host’s architecture
provide?
- Does the web host automatically backup customer web sites in
case of data loss? How often?
- What is the web host’s billing policy?
- Does the web host provide the
features that you need for your web site?
- Does the web host have the products and services to handle
your growth?
1. How long has the web host been in business?
The length of time that a
host has been in business can be related to their ability to provide a quality, reliable product.
If your host can satisfy its customers, then those customers are likely to stick with the host’s
service. Therefore, stay in business. There are, of course, situations where this is not applicable
or becomes a bit hazy. Be sure to also inquire about whether a host has recently been involved in a
merger, acquired what was once a well-known brand name, or launched a new brand. If any of these
apply, then delve deeper into the story behind what has happened and determine whether quality
resources are still with the company.
• Complete a domain name “whois” lookup on the web host: http://www.internic.net/whois.html. Type
in the web host’s domain name and determine what year the domain was registered. If only registered
in the recent past, ask the host about it. If the domain name was recently registered this is not
necessarily a red flag. Simply inquire with the host about it. They may have recently launched an
affinity-based brand to cater to your market.
• Type the host’s name into a search engine and check out the results that you get, other than
those from the host itself. You may run across reviews, interviews, or industry articles about the
host.
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