4 Ways to Protect Your Web Site When Hosting Fails

 

When hosting fails, it can be scary and frustrating–don’t panic. Even the most non tech-savvy person can utilize a few tricks to keep things safe and (somewhat) moving. This is why it’s important to research server hosting options before making a decision. Some offer better customer support than others, some have 24/7 agents available and some have better reputations than others when it comes to failing on a regular basis. However, that doesn’t help someone much when they’re looking at a blank screen. If and when hosting fails, follow these 4 tips.

1. Keep Email Separated

Most people have an option of keeping email hosting and web hosting separate–and there’s a good reason to. When the site goes down, email will go down too if both are on the same server. Always have a backup email address and preferably use completely different hosting entities. That way, if the site goes down, at least email will still be functioning. This will make it simple to conduct some business and answer customer inquiries to reassure consumers and users.

2. Have a Different Domain Registrar

Just like separating email and web hosting, it’s equally important to have a different domain registrar. A good web hosting company understands the reasoning behind this and will manage a different domain registrar for no additional fees. Having different servers is crucial to keeping at least some parts of a business running no matter what happens. It’s a tiny bit of extra work in the beginning, but well worth it.

3. Check to See if It’s Temporary

Most of the time, server failures are temporary and might be caused by an issue on the server end or because a hacker tried to get into the website. If it’s from a hack, the company will notify the website owner. This is for the protection of everyone involved and is often fixed quickly. However, if it’s an internal error on the server’s side, that’s not acceptable. If it happens regularly, switch servers because it costs the website owner in the end–not the server.

4. Call Customer Support

It should be possible to reach someone 24/7 in case of an emergency. Some sites are most active in the middle of the night, such as websites geared towards customers in Asia, and it’s important to keep things running as smoothly as possible. However, there’s no server that won’t go down at some point–hoping for that is unrealistic. Having solid customer support, on the other hand, should be a requisite.

If the site goes down, don’t panic. Make sure servers are diversified and that tech support is already programmed in the smartphone. Everything will be up and running again shortly.

~ Jennifer Gretson

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