When A Web Site Host Is Bad
Consumers will quickly learn there is a huge difference between an advertising campaign and the delivery of actual service. This is true with any and all services including website hosting. The issue with signing onto a bad website hosting service can be a serious one. This is doubly true if you are relying on the website to generate revenue for your business. Low quality website hosting can lead to your finances and business reputation suffering.
This is why it is so very necessary to be mindful of the warning signs of a bad web hosting provider.
A Lack Of Support
Probably the greatest red flag of all would be poor customer support. When the customer service with the web hosting service is weak, then you will have a hard time ensuring the services does what it has promised. What value would any web hosting service have if it cannot deliver on expectations?
Poor Service
A lack of customer service could also indicate a loss of profits. When a business is losing money, it seeks to cut costs. Customer service accessibility might be among the first things to be eliminated. A web hosting company that is losing money is NOT a good thing because if it goes under, so does your website and, possibly, your business.
So, always be mindful of a decline in services you have paid for. Any services you are promised that are no longer being delivered on when you ask for them would indicate the web hosting company is not reliable or faltering on some level.
Customer Opinion
You also may wish to look into what others are saying about the web hosting service. Have bad reports and reviews emerged online or in other media? Take such reports very seriously because not all negative reports are wrong and a large number of them emerging is a really bad sign.
Other Signs
There are also other, albeit more dramatic signs of a bad host. One example is one who retaliates when you announce you're going to another provider by holding all your site information hostage or worse, deleting it. Another example is a company who tends to make drastic decisions about their services, such as moving their servers to another country, and not informing you before they do. Yet another example are hosts who don't transfer ownership of your site to you once you've paid them for their service.
Are There Any Protective Steps You Can Take?
First, back up all the data from the web hosting company because you are going to need to move the data when you switch to a new service.
Yes, migrating to a new website hosting company would be among the best steps to take. Of course, this can take time. A scary proposition here will be you lose your website if the current host collapses before you migrate.
There are things you can do to create a presence for yourself online in case a problem occurs. One step to take would be to create a strong presence on social media sites. Launching a blog on a free platform and promoting your business on the blog is a very easy step that can prove enormously helpful. Again, the key here is to maintain some online presence as opposed to vanishing.
Eventually, things will work out when you find a better, more reliable provider. In the interim, you want to have other options available to ensure potential customers can find you on the web.
In the event that your host either can't or won't release any details to you, you can try to negotiate with them. You may even consider purchasing your domain name back from the host if it has brought your site a lot of traffic. However, you may end up paying much more than it's worth.