Yesterday I received an email from a client who was in a panic that his site was down. I use and recommend the exact same host, so I really didn’t expect it to be a big issue.
The small-time error ended up with his uber popular blog and website being down for almost 24 hours. Not good. Question is, can you do anything about it?
Recommendations and research are all good ways to narrow down the search. You know that there will be hundreds if not thousands of hits that the search engines will direct you towards.
Once you have this short list, take a look at the user forums – you’ll want to look for recurring problems and to see if any of the employees of the company offer suggestions. As boring as it may seem, you should also look through the terms of service. Look for things such as refund policies, customer service, and uptime.
Another tip: use their live chat and send in an email. This not-so-sneaky method gives you a peak at how quickly they respond to questions, how well they communication, and what level of service you can expect.
Know what’s happening
I’ve recently started using Pingdom that checks my website throughout the day and notifies me whenever it’s down (and when it goes back up). Every month it sends me a handy email with the total amount of time my site was down. On a side note, you may be able to use that email to get some type of rebate from your host should you have any problems.
Back up your site
Dreamhost has a handy little ‘restore’ button next to your domain though I definitely wouldn’t rely on it. Once every 30 days you can request a complete backup of your files. And you can also buy their “files forever” plan.
