The 1 Reason Why We Chose To Host With SiteGround
Finding the right hosting provider these days can be a bit of a stab in the dark. The market is crowded with so many providers and it is very hard to get an unbiased opinion from anywhere.
It’s like everything on the net these days, we all suffer from over-provision of content and services. There is too much choice.
I should rephrase that and say there is too much choice of mediocre content and services. Great products and service on the net are still not that common. We have to find our way through the under performing but highly marketed products to find the good stuff. A new phrase in blogging is begging to surface and that is “Content Shock”. On the product and service side we have the same problem.
Great products and service on the net are still not that common.
Not to get off topic, lets get back to the question of finding a good hosting provider.
As with many things in life, the difference between an OK product and a fantastic one is details, in the world of hosting, the devil is in the details.
Disk Capacity
Disk Capacity is not an accurate measure of the value you are receiving from a hosting provider. So forget about Disk Capacity (for now). It is less relevant these days — you can host videos on Youtube, photos of Flickr, files on google etc.
Data Transfer (Bandwidth)
Data Transfer allowance, often incorrectly referred to as bandwidth (they are technically different!) by hosting providers is a measure of how much traffic can get to your website each month. Also not an important measure of value. However, despite this I would still go for a service with unlimited data transfer offering (there’s lots about). Simply because there is nothing as bad as finding your website has been brought down by your own hosting provider, just as you are getting popular!
Check The Details
But instead of focusing on the above, laser in on details.
Details such as, do they have auto-script installers, can you change .htaccess, are addon Domains allowed (thats a biggie) and if so how many are allowed - an addon domain allows you to host more than one domain on the same c-panel.
Is there a backup solution? Are they WordPress friendly? What is the subscription period?
Also remember to check other details such as renewal price. Your hosting costs are not what you pay in year 1, but what you will be paying every year after that.
Don’t get lulled in an amazing 1st year special offer and pay for it in the coming years.
The forgotten art of Customer Service
However having said all of the above. There is one area I haven’ t mentioned and that’s Customer Service.
It’s all fine when everything is going swimmingly, but what happens when the shit hits the fan.
Thats when you need a provider that comes through for you. You need to know there is someone on the other side of the preverbal net ready and WANTING to fix your problem.
But not only is speed of service important. So is skill. You can very quickly tell if the person you are chatting or speaking to is clueless or capable. There is nothing worse than realising that you’ve have waited for half an hour on chat only to end up speaking to a clueless rep!
We decided to start using SiteGround, because we were told their customer service was great. So we tried them and found out that was wrong.
Their customer service is AMAZING. I seriously don’t know how they do it.
To give you an idea of how fast their service is i thought I would do a screen recording. Because you probably wouldn’t believer me otherwise…
Now maybe it is just me, or maybe I’ve been sheltered from the world of great hosting customer service for too long!
But moving from our previous host — which by the way is a very popular global company, to SiteGround was like the difference between night and day.
The great thing about good customer service is that you end up using it more.
So I will happily open a chat session if I am stuck with anything regards to hosting.
This improves my productivity as I don’t have to spend endless hours scouring the FAQ section.
And guess what, I am now a loyal fan.
Conclusion
Great Customer Service makes a difference and sometimes you don’t know what you’ve been missing until you experience it.
From a company’s point of view, providing a great customer service experience may not see an immediate rise in the up-take of your product. Because it is obviously directed at your current customers — but it sure as hell builds loyalty and a great reputation.
I would love to hear other great stories of Customer Service from your favourite web service — they don’t have to be hosting services.
Thanks for reading
Nigel
To those that might ask if we have been paid to write this? The answer is NO. But we have signed up to their affiliate program because we like SiteGround’s offering, so we will get a small payment if you use the links on this page.
