Three Factors That Make A Brilliant Server Hosting Company

There are a great many factors that make a first class server hosting company, but how about the most important ones? Having an all singing all dancing website is a very good plus point, but is it essential? Do they really need customer service that good that they call you once a month to ask how you are? While it might make that server host good, is it absolutely crucial? Here are the three top things that in my mind, make the best of server hosting companies.

Uptime and reliability are the hallmark of a great server host. I was tempted to put support first, however if you have a host with great uptime and reliability, you shouldn't need support. A number of practises need to be adhered to, to achieve excellent uptime. The first is to use business grade hardware. I am talking about branded rack-mount servers. Some companies, believe or not, host websites on dedicated servers that are simply home desktops! Give these companies a wide birth! Next the network should have high end capacity to cope with large amounts of traffic both when it is quiet, and more importantly during peak times. The company's organisation skills are of utmost importance. You will find a better organised company has less problems. A badly organised server hosting company can reboot the wrong server, or worse still format it!

Second is support- a very close second! Managing expectations of support is very important. Some customers demand an instant response. Then there are other customers who wait for days for a reply. Let's be realistic, if the query is trivial, a same day business response is more than acceptable. However, when the brown stuff hits the fan, you need an immediate response- whether it be 3pm or 3am. You should find a company that is able to meet these expectations.

Pricing is also important in deciding the best server host. That might be hard to believe, given you normally 'get what you pay for'. However, this point seems very relevant given the current economic climate. A great many firms are trying to cut their budgets. IT is normally one area that is culled first. So if you can save on your server hosting, you are going to be popular! Don't be told you have to pay ten times more to be looked after properly. There are many companies overcharging for what other server hosts do better at a fraction of the cost.

One final word- make sure you do your research. Try and avoid contracts that tie you in for ages. Similarly try and not pay your hosting fees up front for a year. If a company disappears you'll need your data to move. There are many good server hosting companies out there- just starting Googling to uncover them!

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