One of the biggest pains about having a web site is changing web hosts. I
ought to know, I’ve changed over half a dozen times in the last three years.
Each time has been a step up and with each move it becomes easier and easier
to change.
Why change web hosts?
In many cases, your web site is the first and only thing that your customer
sees (besides, hopefully, your product after they make a purchase). This is
especially true if your company does not have a real-world presence such as
a store or office. Thus it is important that your web site be available to
your visitors (and customers if your site is commercial) twenty-four hours a
day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Not only must it be available, but your web site must load quickly. If your
host computer is too slow, it doesn’t matter how much you optimize your
graphics and HTML, cut down page sizes and perform other actions.
Other features must work properly. These include CGI routines,
autoresponders, PHP, ASP and SSI scripts, and, very importantly, shopping
carts and credit card services.
All of this is so important that you must keep an eye on your site. I use
two services: alertsite and internetseer. Both of these ping my site
occasionally to determine if it is up. Any errors are reported to my email
inbox. Why do I do this? Two reasons: (a) it’s critical that my site be
online all of the time, and (b) these services provide a third-party record
of any downtime, which is useful when attempting to get fees refunded.
These two services also measure response time, which is very useful to
determine how well your site responds to your users browsing requests. These
two factors, uptime and response time, are the most critical measures of web
site performance. A consistently bad number in either measure is more than
enough reason to find another host.
Of course, if your CGI routines stop working mysteriously or your
autoresponders stop responding, then by all means shoot off a trouble ticket
to your host. You have a right to expect these types of issues to be quickly
and politely fixed. If they are not and the errors continue, then consider
moving to another host.
Getting Ready to Move
There are a number of tasks https://www.alexandremthefrenchy.com/ that you should be performing on a regular
basis. You see, you cannot predict when you might have to change web hosts.
It could be that they are suddenly sold and their level of service drops, or
they upgrade their computers which causes a series of new problems. You can
be sure that you will only find out about these things when your web site
stops working or becomes unstable.
Another reason to be performing regular maintenance tasks is the possibility
of disasters. A hacker could deface or even destroy your web site. Your
credit card could be closed, which might cause your host to close down your