Looking to Transfer to a New Web Host to Ensure Website Uptime?

Are you looking to change to a web host with a better uptime rating? After all, if Alertra is notifying you that your site is experiencing an unacceptable amount of downtime, then you’re likely wondering how to minimize that downtime. Changing web hosting providers may very well be a part of this plan. Before you jump from the frying pan into the fire, however, you need to realize that there is somewhat of a problem with uptime ratings and guarantees. Before you decide which web host to change to based on an uptime rating or an uptime guarantee, make sure you take the following into consideration…

Who Verified It?

When it comes to uptime ratings, you need to ask yourself one question – who verified it? Anyone can say that they have an uptime rate of 99.9 percent, but how was that figure achieved and who is really auditing it? Unless the web host is reliable and reputable or has solid proof of the number that they are boasting, you really don’t know what the uptime percentage of your site will be until it’s actually hosted on the company’s servers. What’s the best way to ensure that the uptime offered by a web host is acceptable before you jump in and move your entire site over to it?

Judging Uptime for Yourself

The best way to test the uptime of a web host is to look for hosting companies that offer free trials. If a site is willing to put their money where their mouth is, then it’s more than likely that their uptime will be acceptable. That does not mean, however, that you will be moving your entire site over to the new host during this trial period. You need to put up some test pages during the trial period and see what the uptime of the new host is compared to the uptime that your current host is offering. If, after the free trial is over, you see that the new web host does indeed offer better uptime, then it’s time to move your site over.

Once you move your site over, if you see that your site’s uptime drops again, the uptime issue may be within the programming, coding and/or traffic of your site. If that happens, a little bit of investigative work will be in order. We will go further into this process in future posts.

Guarantees Aren’t Really What They’re Cracked Up to Be

Another thing that you need to consider if you’re thinking of transferring to a new web host is the uptime guarantee. If you are moving to a new host based on the fact that they offer an uptime guarantee, you might want to think twice. On one hand, yes, it is nice that a hosting company is willing to put money behind the uptime they promise. On the other hand, you have to look at what the guarantee really offers.

In a future post, we will cover exactly what these uptime guarantees offer and why you can’t count on them to cover losses that you experience due to unacceptable levels of website downtime. For the time being, if you are thinking of switching to a new web host, consider the fact that the uptime they boast isn’t always the uptime that your site will experience and a guarantee isn’t really worth much in the hosting world.

The best way to determine the reliability of a web host’s uptime is to read reviews and comments from people who actually use the hosting service. If the hosting company has numerous complaints about service and downtime, then avoid that particular host and go with a more reputable hosting provider.