Taking the Plunge – Your First Website

I distinctly remember the moment I bought my first web hosting package. In the late 90’s I had just started my first job and my boss realised that I was quite good with computers. He had heard about this “internet thing” and decided that he wanted me to make the company’s first website. I was really nervous, I had very little idea of how to create a website and absolutely no idea about web hosting. I was taking the plunge with my first website.

For the life of me I can’t even remember what hosting company I chose to host this site. I remember it being an extremely complicated process, very stressful, with no support. There was no control panel as such to manage the site. I basically just FTP’d files to my set area.

A Simple Affair

The site was a simple affair, created on an IIS server using ASP linked to an MS Access database of all things – a security nightmare! I found out what I needed by browsing sites and learning as I went along.

It wasn’t however my security that was the real issue. I was browsing my file structure on my FTP program on day, and found out that I could go above my root level and into the sever root, which exposed all the other customers being hosted on that server. Not only could I read those folders, I had complete write access to them too. I phoned the “support desk” which I think was just some bloke sat at home. I honestly think I was just hosting on a powerful computer, in his living room.

As soon as I could I moved suppliers; thankfully to someone who really cared about customer support.

A Big Lesson.

Whilst quite frightening, this whole experience taught be the value of good security and good support. That now is my mantra and what I believe sets the smaller hosting companies apart from the bigger boys. That is personal support. You can phone or email someone who genuinely cares about the experience you are receiving. You are more valued to these customers than the big boys. They can loose a few customers without even batting an eye lid. Us smaller companies have a vested interesting in making sure your experience with us is second to none.

In Summary

When you take the plunge and start to host your website, don’t just go for the big names. You will probably find you have a more personal support experience, but your service is cheaper in the long run. Larger companies will try to upsell EVERYTHING, even if you don’t use it. You will notice that on our site, if an add on product is not necessary for a service, we tell you. (for example, our managed wordpress included free backup), so we don’t try to sell you additional backup on top! When you host a website, things may go wrong – choose a company that will be there for you, should the worst happen. Don’t forget its always important to test your website on a range of browsers. A good range is discussed in this article from InternetAdvisor.

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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