I have to say, it felt good to write that post title! Hosting problems can be very frustrating for an online business owner. I suppose we’ve all dealt with it at one point or another. I can certainly say I’ve experienced my fair share over the last 9 years

At any rate, in yesterday’s post I was talking about Hosting Companies - and specifically about the recent issues with HostGator. As I mentioned, I am currently using 3 different hosting companies: HostGator, Globat and ThirdSphere.

ThirdSphere I have been with for the longest of the three. They have top notch service and support - even going out of their way to help me restore databases and resolve other unrelated issues. The accounts they offer are not for everyone - at $24.95/mo - but I recommend them without hesitation to product developers especially. Their built-in features, including an Affiliate Program Manager, set them apart in that respect.

You can host unlimited domains and subdomains on your account too, which makes it worth the cost to anyone with multiple websites. I’m actually saving money on all of the sites I moved to ThirdSphere, and the sites I have added on since - so I’m happy with them all the way around. I think the one complaint that I hear about ThirdSphere is that they dont offer phone support. But the nice thing is: You honestly wont need it. And I’ll add that they respond to emails very quickly

Globat is my newest host. I’ve only been using them for a couple of weeks, but as I said before… I am super happy with them so far. As an account incentive, they will pay for your domain registration and renewal for the life of your account. You actually own the domain, and can transfer it if you choose to switch hosts later - which is nice.

You can host up to 50 domains on your one account for only $6.95/month, and that gives you 25 Gigs of space and 3.5 Terabytes of bandwidth. They have their own control panel instead of using cPanel, but its super easy to manage and very quick - and they do use Awstats, which I love.

HostGator is a fairly new host for me as well. I actually have a couple of sites hosted with them - I think originally I told you I just had the one, but I also have an account set up for my son there which he has had for 5 or 6 months.

You can host unlimited sites with HostGator for $6.95/month, though I am using their $9.95/month account - which gives me 5 Gigs of space and 75 Gigs of bandwidth. They have great features - using cPanel with Fantastico. It’s a great, economical host.

One of the things you’ll hear most about HostGator is how friendly and fast their Support Team is. They offer live support through their site via java chat - and also offer toll free phone support. I can tell you firsthand that they are both friendly and fast. But as you read in my last post… I was disappointed at having to use it so frequently in the first month or so of setting up my newest account.

After publishing my thoughts on this, both here and on my discussion forum, I got a phone call from Lance at HostGator. Apparently he received several calls from people who had read my ‘reviews’ and were concerned about what to expect with their own accounts at HostGator.

I explained the circumstances to him, and he looked back over my support tickets. He was very friendly, apologetic and helfpul. He did explain to me that I had (unfortunately) been on a machine that just happened to have major hardware issues during the month that I opened that account.

To be honest - if it were just one of my affiliate sites, I wouldnt have gotten bent over a 9 dollar account going down here and there. The real issue for me was that I was also an Affiliate for HostGator, had recommended them on this site - and then had been called out about it by several people who happened to notice the downtime. I take pride in the things I recommend as an Affiliate, so this was a big factor in how I felt about it all.

Anyway, Lance did refund my account (on the spot) and assured me that he would keep an eye on that server - and that this was indeed an isolated incident. He also gave me his direct contact information in the case that I had questions or any other issues in the future.

All said and done, I got off the phone feeling pleased with the way things were handled and decided to keep my accounts open with them. In fact, I’ll likely continue to add sites there.

I actually have another, more personal, contact at HostGator as well. Karyn is her name (if you host there, you may have spoken with her). We actually used to have shops a few doors down from each other in the city, so I thought it was ironic that after we both moved away, we ended up back in contact through a web host!

She has also given me her personal contact info and assured me that she would keep an eye on things from her end, and personally handle anything that came up in the future. Between Lance and Karyn, I feel confident that my sites at HostGator are in very good hands at this point.

On that note, I just want to say that I think it’s important to communicate with your host. If you are unhappy about something, let them know. If you have downtime or any other problem, submit a ticket so that there is a record. Whether or not they respond to your issues, and how, is a good indicator of what kind of host you are working with. And letting them know your thoughts and experiences only helps them to improve their service and support - which benefits everyone.

If you frequent some of my sites, here’s a quick rundown of what’s where:

• Self-Starters Weekly Tips is hosted on ThirdSphere
• ClickNewz (the site you are reading now) is hosted at HostGator
• Midnight Marketing Snack is hosted with Globat

If I have any other hosting issues - good or bad - you’ll hear about them right here ;)

Tags: web hosting, hosting, web host, host, thirdsphere, globat, hostgator