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Happy Host Shopping |
We've heard the many horror stories of purchasing used cars and many of
us have experienced them! If purchasing a brand new car is not an option
and you are 'stuck' with having to purchase your car from a used car sales
man, this alone may send chills up your spine. It is common to find a
'lemon' on every lot. Some lots are full of them! If you are not the mechanical
type, how will you know which car is going to give you the most 'bang
for your buck'? Each car sales man is going to wine and dine you with
rave reviews about each car. Every lot is full of cars to choose from.
And you know that every car you consider could be the ever-feared lemon
that will blow up two days after the warranty has expired, if there even
is a warranty.
So, we know we need to purchase a used car. What are we going to put
on our criteria list?
- Type of car (family or sport?)
- Price
- Warranty
- A car lot/sales rep that can be trusted!
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Are you starting to see a clearer picture now? We can compare the type of
car to the options needed for your web site to operate properly. Do you
need the car to simply commute yourself to work and back or is it needed
as a family car for more then 3 people? Do you need a hosting package with
15 Megs of space or will you require 100 Megs of space? Would you believe
me if I told you I could give you the same price for a sports utility truck
as I can give you for a Yugo? Would you believe a host that says they can
give you 100 Megs and unlimited bandwidth for the same price as they can
give you for 5 Megs and 1 gigabyte of bandwidth? The price is, and always
needs to be, something within your range. This is why if you only have
one thousand dollars you will not expect to purchase a used 1999, mint
condition, power everything. Sports vehicle when you begin your search!
Nor should you expect to purchase a high performance, unlimited everything,
never down, perfect host for $19.95 a month or less!
Warranty! Though the site owner is becoming wiser to this area of hosting
it still has not shown itself to be a priority within the search for a
host. In retrospect, warranty seems to be a high priority with many other
important items you may purchase like a car! Is it possible a valid warranty
should be added to our host criteria? Most definitely!
Then we come to trust. When you begin a search for a used car lot that
you can trust, it is very common to go to friends and family that you
trust and ask their opinions. I rarely see a used car lot offer a list
of their past customers for you to call and find out how well they like
their cars, though there are many hosts that will offer a list of customers
that are currently hosted on their servers. Who chooses this list? The
host does, of course! How reliable is the list? It depends on how trustworthy
the host is. As much as you may not trust the used car lot until you have
heard kind words about them from people you know, why would you trust
the host before talking to people you know and trust? If you can trust
the person you buy the car from then you are able to feel confident that,
if in fact the car does have problems, the person you purchased it from
will be there to help you rectify the situation. They will be there to
honor the warranty. They will be there for you, so in turn you will be
there to tell your friends about the car lot, when they are in need of
a car. The same is true for hosts. Rather then trusting this trace route
and that directory and the host's sales pitches why not talk to people
you do know and trust and ask them about their hosts and whom they would
recommend? If the host is trustworthy, they will be there to fix problems,
they will be there to honor warranties, and they will be there for you,
so that in turn you will tell your friends about the host!
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Host Help Survey
What, in your opinion, is the most important quality of a web host?
- Price
- Options
- Service
- Referrals/Trust
- Speed
- Time in business
- Unsure
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Cars break down. Hosts break down. When you purchase a car you need it
to be adequate for you to use, within the price range you can afford,
come with a warranty, and be sold to you by someone you can trust will
come through if/when the problems occur. When you select a web host, consider
the options you need, look at the lines, speed and reliability of the
host, make sure there is a warranty, and go with someone you can trust.
Ask people you know how their hosts are working for them. Check the host's
history -- do they respond to problems quickly? If they do go down, what
do they do about it? Will they be there for YOU?
Consider the things you look for when purchasing something other then
a host. Try to apply that same logic when you are searching for a host.
By doing this you will end up with more then 'dumb luck' to depend on,
and have a much higher chance of finding the right host for you, the first
time, rather then going through the hassle of changing hosts every few
months. |
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