Hello,I am going to be conducting a survey,Please tell me what you look for in a web host so that we can try and improve our web hosting services that we offer. We would like to thank you in advance for your replies.Most of the time when people want to host a website, they will look for the better pricing and and VERY good support.
Very good support will include, within 1 hour response and a true 24/7 support.
Speed, Performance, Reliability, Credibility, SupportSpeed, Performance, Reliability, Credibility, Support
This pretty much nailed it. Most customers want reliability and performance first, I found.
If you can establish a good track record for good support then you are set.
-TravisSomeone who can communicate to me on a personal level. I had one of my providers ask me the other day how my kiddo was doing (gigenet and yellowfiber both do this). To me that is the ultimate test of a business relationship, to see if they actually care about you.My impression is that they are popular web host and you can see them advertising in some popular hosting media. I don't remember to read any negative reviews about them...I have researched hundreds of web hosts for personal use and recommendations on other forums.
Here's what I look for:
1) Integrity/credibility
2) Server specs, data center and location
3) Registered business with paid support employees or a 1 man show?
4) I send a long list of about 20 pre-sales questions at Saturday 2AM to see if they respond, how long it takes and how detailed their response is.
5) Most importantly ... reviews (if available) on WHT, UseNet groups and Google.
Notice how I omitted price? You get what you pay for.Upmtime and Support for Shared/Reseller hosting... Uptime again for a VPS/Dedicated server. The second criteria would be whether the company is in business for atleast a few years and reviews from others.Reliability
Performance
Tech Support
Sales Support
Staff, outsourced or not
Web Presenttation
The way the sales and support staff deal with you, will they go the extra mile
How many years they have been around, (dont want to get a nasty surprise one day when the host suddenly disappears)
there are so many......
its like a hotel, the guest wants to know how far the hotel will go for themI don't care too much about price as long as they have good Tech Support. Reliability and performance are very important, of course, because that's really what you're buying. If they have quick and efficient Support I'll forgive a lot of technical issues and performance hiccups. If they have lousy Support I'll leave at the first sign of trouble.Hi, I think that you may determine the level of the technical support in two ways - by witnessing no downtime or by seeing how the tech support will handle a technical issue .Of course, the reliability of the service as whole, the responsiveness of the support and the price/features/expectations are very important, and for me something very different but part of the picture - honesty.Good LuckI have been in the webhosting industry for a while now, and when I was shopping around for a webhost pricing was never on my list.
You always have to remember, you get what you pay for. I always look at how well their customer support is. But first, I always look at their website. I know people say the website isn't important, but to me a web hosting company with a good website at least shows they are trying their hardest to put up a professional image to the general web hosting industry. If they have a bad website, I won't consider them. Now don't jump to conclusions, I don't look at JUST the website. After I see they have a decent website, I then talk with their customer support to see how well they handle things and how fast they reply. If they appear clueless, I won't consider them. Then I look for reviews to see what people have to say.Big space, big bandwidth, full features, server specs and facility, full support, cheapIf you run a business on the web, and especially if your financially reliant on that business, then quality/reliability/performance/support matter 100%. I'd much rather pay more for the piece of mind of a solid quality product than to be competing for resources on massively oversold infrastructure.Good network, good reliabilty (goes for both the physical aspects but also things such as how reliable the company is), good support and good prices.Webspace: Unlimited MB
Data Transfer:Unlimited per Month
Email Mail Boxes (POP3 or IMAP): UnlimitedThis depends so much on what you are hosting, doesn't it?
If I'm hosting my personal blog, I'm looking for cheaper, low end packages where I'm not too worried about quality of servce (QoS).
On that same note I'd want support that is there, knows what they are talking about, and willing to help when I need them, and good uptime, but I would accept that it is a shared platform and issues will happen.
If I'm hosting a company website that's very different, cost becomes less of an issue, and quality, contention ratios and level of support cover all become very important. There also needs to be an upgrade path for me as the site grows, there is no point signing up to a host charging ? - 10 pm because you'll be on a server with something like 300 other people, which increases risk. You're going to at least start by looking at the high end of the market, low contention shared hosting 30:1 or 20:1 or virtual / dedicated solutions, to maintain uptime and general QoS.
If I start out on a low contention shared server there will still become a point where the site will be too busy and will need to be moved to a more powerful platform, preferable with the same host as relationships can be built up and a good busines / customer relationship is very important to getting the best service.Webspace: Unlimited MB
Data Transfer:Unlimited per Month
Email Mail Boxes (POP3 or IMAP): Unlimited
There is a great example of exactly what not to look for, as has been said about 20 million times on this forum over the years, unlimited doesnt exist, if it says unlimited they are lying, and running seriously over filled servers, which, eventually will have (major) issues!Ok well put this way, if the server really do have unlimited space and you have well trained staff working only on support
and technicians on servers!
Currenteed 99.99% uptime which got a backup server for all websites if something goes wrong!
Its not bad!!!
I say Unlimited of space is welcome!!!Just think about what you said there for a second, how would you have unlimited space? You are physically limited on the number of harddrives you can have in 1 server and you are limited on that maximum size that the drives can be.Unless you want to stick a san on the back of your cPanel server, but then I think we're going a little mad.support support and.. faster, better supportAt the end of the day the most important thing that helps any business have continuous online presence is Uptime. Without it your business probably wouldn't appear as a credible one in the eyes of your customers, right?At the end of the day the most important thing that helps any business have continuous online presence is Uptime. Without it your business probably wouldn't appear as a credible one in the eyes of your customers, right?Yes i agree 100% Eitino!
So lets dont get worked up over Unlimited space!!
If you can offer it, Well then do so, if not "Don't Worry"!!!!Yes i agree 100% Eitino!
So lets dont get worked up over Unlimited space!!
If you can offer it, Well then do so, if not "Don't Worry"!!!!
Exactly! Do not offer or promise things that you can not keep just for the sake of satisfying more customers and getting more money in the company account. This might be a slippery slope if one/company can not meet the customers' expectations and it will eventually return back on the company's reputation with a negative effect. Well, at least I see it that way.
Very good support will include, within 1 hour response and a true 24/7 support.
Speed, Performance, Reliability, Credibility, SupportSpeed, Performance, Reliability, Credibility, SupportThis pretty much nailed it. Most customers want reliability and performance first, I found.
If you can establish a good track record for good support then you are set.
-TravisSomeone who can communicate to me on a personal level. I had one of my providers ask me the other day how my kiddo was doing (gigenet and yellowfiber both do this). To me that is the ultimate test of a business relationship, to see if they actually care about you.My impression is that they are popular web host and you can see them advertising in some popular hosting media. I don't remember to read any negative reviews about them...I have researched hundreds of web hosts for personal use and recommendations on other forums.
Here's what I look for:
1) Integrity/credibility
2) Server specs, data center and location
3) Registered business with paid support employees or a 1 man show?
4) I send a long list of about 20 pre-sales questions at Saturday 2AM to see if they respond, how long it takes and how detailed their response is.
5) Most importantly ... reviews (if available) on WHT, UseNet groups and Google.
Notice how I omitted price? You get what you pay for.Upmtime and Support for Shared/Reseller hosting... Uptime again for a VPS/Dedicated server. The second criteria would be whether the company is in business for atleast a few years and reviews from others.Reliability
Performance
Tech Support
Sales Support
Staff, outsourced or not
Web Presenttation
The way the sales and support staff deal with you, will they go the extra mile
How many years they have been around, (dont want to get a nasty surprise one day when the host suddenly disappears)
there are so many......
its like a hotel, the guest wants to know how far the hotel will go for themI don't care too much about price as long as they have good Tech Support. Reliability and performance are very important, of course, because that's really what you're buying. If they have quick and efficient Support I'll forgive a lot of technical issues and performance hiccups. If they have lousy Support I'll leave at the first sign of trouble.Hi, I think that you may determine the level of the technical support in two ways - by witnessing no downtime or by seeing how the tech support will handle a technical issue
.Of course, the reliability of the service as whole, the responsiveness of the support and the price/features/expectations are very important, and for me something very different but part of the picture - honesty.Good LuckI have been in the webhosting industry for a while now, and when I was shopping around for a webhost pricing was never on my list.You always have to remember, you get what you pay for. I always look at how well their customer support is. But first, I always look at their website. I know people say the website isn't important, but to me a web hosting company with a good website at least shows they are trying their hardest to put up a professional image to the general web hosting industry. If they have a bad website, I won't consider them. Now don't jump to conclusions, I don't look at JUST the website. After I see they have a decent website, I then talk with their customer support to see how well they handle things and how fast they reply. If they appear clueless, I won't consider them. Then I look for reviews to see what people have to say.Big space, big bandwidth, full features, server specs and facility, full support, cheap
If you run a business on the web, and especially if your financially reliant on that business, then quality/reliability/performance/support matter 100%. I'd much rather pay more for the piece of mind of a solid quality product than to be competing for resources on massively oversold infrastructure.Good network, good reliabilty (goes for both the physical aspects but also things such as how reliable the company is), good support and good prices.Webspace: Unlimited MB Data Transfer:Unlimited per Month
Email Mail Boxes (POP3 or IMAP): UnlimitedThis depends so much on what you are hosting, doesn't it?
If I'm hosting my personal blog, I'm looking for cheaper, low end packages where I'm not too worried about quality of servce (QoS).
On that same note I'd want support that is there, knows what they are talking about, and willing to help when I need them, and good uptime, but I would accept that it is a shared platform and issues will happen.
If I'm hosting a company website that's very different, cost becomes less of an issue, and quality, contention ratios and level of support cover all become very important. There also needs to be an upgrade path for me as the site grows, there is no point signing up to a host charging ? - 10 pm because you'll be on a server with something like 300 other people, which increases risk. You're going to at least start by looking at the high end of the market, low contention shared hosting 30:1 or 20:1 or virtual / dedicated solutions, to maintain uptime and general QoS.
If I start out on a low contention shared server there will still become a point where the site will be too busy and will need to be moved to a more powerful platform, preferable with the same host as relationships can be built up and a good busines / customer relationship is very important to getting the best service.Webspace: Unlimited MB
Data Transfer:Unlimited per Month
Email Mail Boxes (POP3 or IMAP): Unlimited
There is a great example of exactly what not to look for, as has been said about 20 million times on this forum over the years, unlimited doesnt exist, if it says unlimited they are lying, and running seriously over filled servers, which, eventually will have (major) issues!Ok well put this way, if the server really do have unlimited space and you have well trained staff working only on support
and technicians on servers!
Currenteed 99.99% uptime which got a backup server for all websites if something goes wrong!
Its not bad!!!
I say Unlimited of space is welcome!!!Just think about what you said there for a second, how would you have unlimited space? You are physically limited on the number of harddrives you can have in 1 server and you are limited on that maximum size that the drives can be.Unless you want to stick a san on the back of your cPanel server, but then I think we're going a little mad.support support and.. faster, better support
At the end of the day the most important thing that helps any business have continuous online presence is Uptime. Without it your business probably wouldn't appear as a credible one in the eyes of your customers, right?At the end of the day the most important thing that helps any business have continuous online presence is Uptime. Without it your business probably wouldn't appear as a credible one in the eyes of your customers, right?Yes i agree 100% Eitino!So lets dont get worked up over Unlimited space!!
If you can offer it, Well then do so, if not "Don't Worry"!!!!Yes i agree 100% Eitino!
So lets dont get worked up over Unlimited space!!
If you can offer it, Well then do so, if not "Don't Worry"!!!!
Exactly! Do not offer or promise things that you can not keep just for the sake of satisfying more customers and getting more money in the company account. This might be a slippery slope if one/company can not meet the customers' expectations and it will eventually return back on the company's reputation with a negative effect. Well, at least I see it that way.