Hosting - Ask Your Prospective Web Host the Right Questions
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Ask the right questions when you are choosing a web host, and you can avoid a lot of pain in the future. This article explains some of the things you need to know.
Many website owners have received unpleasant surprises after signing up with a web host they thought could do the job. Some of these could not be helped, but many other problems could have been prevented, or at least foreseen, if the website owner had done his or her research beforehand. Choosing a host for your website is an important decision; it calls for thoroughness before you make a commitment.
You should start your thorough research with your own website. Figure out in detail what you are going to need to get it up and keep it running smoothly. For your own reference at least, write down what is non-negotiable and what you might be able to work around. Note that this list will probably change as your website changes.
For example, if you are a podcaster and you start becoming popular, your bandwidth needs are going to increase. If you sell a few items off your website through PayPal and you see this business beginning to take off, you might start thinking about accepting credit card payments directly. That would change the security needs of your site. I’m sure you can think of other examples. Be realistic, however; you don’t want to end up paying for features you will never use.
Once you have figured out your own needs, it’s time to research web hosts. Most web hosts offer several different packages, so you should be able to find a variety that at least come close to meeting all your needs. For the half dozen or so that come closest, keep track of what they offer. You’re going to send a long list of questions to their customer service departments, which I’ll explain in the rest of this article.
One thing you want to keep in mind when you compose this list is that you do not want to ask questions that are already answered on the web host’s website. The host will think you either can’t or won’t read the information that’s right in front of you, and that translates to a headache of a customer. If you really want to ask about something mentioned on the host’s website, preface your question with “I see by your website that…” That’s a good way to try to confirm whether something is still correct (for example, that a particular service is still being offered) or to ask for more detail about something mentioned only in passing.
Framing the Email
Before I go into the email itself, let me tell you something you should do right after you send it: note the date and time. When you get the reply, note the date and time as well. That will give you some idea of how fast you can expect a reply when you need service. Also note whether all of your questions were answered, and how thoroughly. Were you satisfied with the responses you received?
Now we’ll move on to the email itself. Introduce yourself. Tell the web host that you are looking for virtual web hosting, and what kind of website will be hosted. Describe the website. If it’s for a business or organization, sum it up in a sentence (and do mention if it’s a not-for-profit or charitable organization). List your most important needs in a couple of sentences.
If you already have an existing site, include the URL. The host’s customer service representative can check it out then. If they’re really on the ball, after checking out your site they might ask you a few questions that will assist you in getting what you need.
Finally, let’s look at the questions themselves. Note that not all of these questions will apply to your website, and you might have others that I don’t mention here. Use this list as a guideline.
While you shouldn’t base your decision on price alone, you can start with a variety of price-related questions. Does the host have a special price for not-for-profit or charitable organizations? Some do, because it’s good for business (and can be good publicity). Does the host offer a discount if you pre-pay for a certain number of months in advance? If so what is it? What payment methods does the host accept? Must you pay a certain number of months in advance if you want to pay with certain methods (i.e. six months in advance if you pay with a credit card)? Is there a setup fee? And is there a trial period or money-back guarantee?
Questions about bandwidth, transfers, and site hits are related to price, because some web hosts charge more as those items increase. Does the host have a bandwidth/transfer/hits limit? If it does, you need to find out what it is. Is it monthly or daily? Be aware that many hosts advertise “unlimited” bandwidth, but rarely mean it; you should ask for an explanation or clarification if they use that word. Find out what restrictions the host has put into place, and whether (and where) that information is posted. If the host does charge if your site goes over the limit, find out how much.
Customer Satisfaction Questions
As with the purchase of any important service, you want to get a second opinion. Ask the host if you may visit other sites that they host; go ahead and tell them that you want to see the websites and email the owners. Be suspicious if the host gets cagy about answering this question. Obviously, you want to find out if their other customers are satisfied with their service, and what kinds of problems (if any) the host’s customers have experienced. Pay particular attention to any websites whose profiles are similar to your own.
Find out what type of support the web host offers. The more ways you have to contact the host for support, the better. Email and phone are typical, but these days many also include IM. What are the host’s support hours? Is there a limit to customer/technical support (i.e. number of calls)? What is the average response time?
Ask the host whether they host adult websites. This isn’t for the reasons you might think. If you aren’t planning to have an adult site hosted, you’re better off not sharing a server with them—not because it’s a “bad” neighborhood, but because adult websites consume a lot of resources. Any website that forces that much of a load on the servers is going to slow everybody down; visitors to your website will be happier if you’re not competing for bandwidth with digital flesh.
Speaking of server load, ask the host how many sites are currently running on their server. Also ask how many more sites they plan to put on it before they consider it full. You want to find out how they decide when a server is full. Many web hosts oversell their servers. This isn’t a problem until some sites start actually using the full amount of space and/or bandwidth for which they’ve contracted; then it bites with a vengeance.
Ask to view the host’s Terms of Service. Read it completely, and I do mean completely. If you find any small print or hidden rules, ask a few questions about these areas. It’s a good test to see whether the host’s customer service representatives have received the proper training about the company’s servers. You want to make sure you’re dealing with knowledgeable staff.
“Ownership” Questions
I won’t have room to hit on all the really technical questions here. You want to make sure you can do everything with your website that you’ll want and need to do. That means being able to do a lot of things without needing the help of the web host.
Ask the host whether you can use your own domain name, and how long it will take to either transfer or register a domain with Internic so that everyone can view it. Also, it’s a little detail, but find out if your domain name will work with or without the http://www. part attached to it.
This next question is much more important. Make sure that your domain name will belong to you, and that you will be able to transfer it to another host if necessary—even if this host registers it for you. A number of site owners have been very unpleasantly surprised to discover that domain names they thought belonged to them were in fact owned by their web hosts. Needless to say, this causes a plethora of problems when it comes time to transfer hosts.
Find out whether the host will require you to place anything on your web pages other than your own material. Many free or cheap web hosts require you to put their advertising on your site. If they do require something, find out what it is.
Will you be able to set up a mailing list for announcements? How about 24 hour FTP and Telnet access? And will you have anonymous FTP?
Find out about the email accounts; how many does the host offer for the package in which you’re interested? Can you send and receive email from and to them? Will you be able to use your own domain name as their SMTP server? Will you have an “everything else” account so that whatever@yourdomain.com will go through? Will be able to set up, change, and delete your email accounts yourself, or will you need to ask the host to do it for you? (This is very important if you’re running any kind of business).
There are many other technical questions you can and should ask; some of them depend very much on what you plan to do with your website (running CGI scripts or using certain forms of website-building software, for example). Aside from what the host can do for your website, you also need to find out about the host as a business. How long have they been in business? What are their future goals? What steps are they taking to achieve these goals?
Remember that I told you at the beginning of this article to do your research on web hosts, and find half a dozen or so that come closest to offering what you need? Go ahead and mention at this point in the email that you’ve found some other packages that seem close to giving you what you need at similar prices (you don’t need to tell them who). Then ask the host why you should choose their package over the other ones.
Wind up the email by encouraging the host to explain anything they think you might have missed, and finally, ask them to explain why they think they would be suited or unsuited for hosting your website. How the host answers this question will let you gauge their interest in your business, and could give you a good idea as to what kind of service you can expect to receive from them if you choose to host your site with them. Good luck!
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