Host Design – Design Host – A disclaimer before we begin.

Before I start this article, I would just like to say there are many, many brilliant web designers and web designing houses out there and we are lucky enough to work with loads of them. They offer a second to none service right from the planning of your site, to deployment and finally on to the ongoing management to keep your site fresh. This article is about some of the difficulties a few of our customers have faced when they have become locked into a web-designer / hosting deal that for whatever reason breaks down – the thus leaving the customer in a bit of website a ‘no mans land’.

Keeping Control of Your Site and Hosting?

One particular customer springs to mind to talk about, although we have encountered many like her. Jasmine (not her real name), had paid nearly £2000 to have her online “Baby Shower” shop developed. It was a very professional set up and a great looking site! She paid the web design company a further £50 a month as a management fee, which included updates to the site, such as stock control, a weekly blog, SEO and updates to Facebook, Twitter and a few other social networking platforms. Finally Jasmine paid £350 for a 1 year hosting package, which included SSL and Backup.

For the type of site required and the hosting needed for an e commerce site, these prices are probably fair. But that was not the problem.

Social Networks Stopped Being Updated

Jasmine first noticed an issue, about 6 months into her contract, when she checked her social networking sites and found that they has not been updated for three weeks. After further investigation she found that no new blogs had been posted either, this was despite her forwarding information about her company. Stock control wasn’t really an issue as she did most of that herself anyway, but would have been if she needed to add or remove items from her catalogue. Jasmine raised a ticket, using the companies online support system, but didn’t hear anything back.

After four days, she phoned their customer help line to be greeted with a message saying that the number was no longer available.

Her greatest fears had been realised – the web design company had ceased trading, leaving no method of contact or any means of accessing her website. The hosting was still working, as what had most likely happened was a third party hosting company was being used to host the site, under the instructions of the original website designer. However, Jasmine had no idea who they were, as everything had been completed under one package.

Hipposerve were Contacted

At this point Jasmine contacted Hipposerve, really concerned as she was worried that she would be without a website and a business when the year’s hosting contract with this mysterious hosting company was up. Even if she wanted to extend the hosting, she didn’t even know who to pay.

Fortunately, (and this isn’t always the case), the hosting company had registered the domain name to themselves and we were able to find out who they were through a simple whois lookup. We were able to make contact with the company and explain the situation.It turned out, to rub salt into the wounds, that the original design company has signed up Jasmine to the basic business account which only cost £99 a year, and was woefully underpowered to host Jasmine’s popular site.

Time to Transfer

Now this can be tricky as no good web hosting company is going to hand over control of a website to anyone, it would break many data protection rules for a start. As the website designer had registered themselves as the website owner we were in a bit of a pickle. In the end we were able to prove that Jasmine owned the business as she was (luckily) a registered company and her company number was in the footer of the website. With a few other pieces of id, we finally got there!

We arranged for a website transfer at the end of the end of the annual contract. We put Jasmine’s site onto an appropriate package tier and she immediately noticed a performance improvement. We also gave her business standard email, ensured that a busy inbox and a busy website didn’t compete for resources.

Finally we put Jasmine in touch with one of the web designers we work with, who was able to take over the site maintenance for Jasmine (at £30 per month). We are pleased to say that Jasmine is still with Hipposerve and her site stats are booming!

What can we as a host,  learn from this?

We believe that when it comes to the designing and hosting of your web site you should not put all your eggs in one basket. Hipposerve also believes that you as a customer should retain control of both your website and your website hosting account; so at the very least; you can have access to your data so your (or someone else can move it without the trauma Jasmine faced).

At Hipposerve we work with a range of designers who we trust. They take care of the design of your site and the maintenance work; but we look after the hosting. You will get two invoices each month (or whatever pricing term you choose), but they are two very distinct services. It means we can respond quickly to your support requests without them having to go through a middle man. It also leaves the designers to do what they do best – making brilliant websites and keeping them running in tip top condition!

What if the worst happens?

If the worst happens, and one of our web designers ceases to trade (none have yet!), You will retain access to your data – and so do we. We can then liaise with our bank of web designers, and find the one most suitable to take on the management of your site. We will also be aware of your situation fully and keep you informed of progress every step of the way. Your site will not be left stranded; an orphan lost in the world wide web!

About Us

Hipposerve is a UK based company offering Web hosting, domain names, specialist email services and a range of other features to help you make your online statement. We offer outstanding customer support that always works on a personal level. You will always be treated as an individual – not just another customer. We also have a range of tools to help get you started:

Hipposerve Domain Tools

1. Domain Price List – updated daily
2. Domain Promotions – updated daily
3. Domain Suggestion Tool – (this is currently only compatible with a few tlds, but can be used to find good names for the others)
4. Domain Registration – (this allows you to filter down the tld’s into different categories to make it easier to find them)

Ordering a hosting package is a fully automated process which can be completed from our website. If however you wish to discuss package options with us, or any other hosting related query;  just drop us a line at our support desk.

You can also phone us on 0330 043 1502.

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