What makes you buy from a Host?

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Posted by amccoy, 12-14-2009, 03:26 PM
This is a question for those who currently have reseller plans with any host. What are the things that make you choose one host over another? Does it matter to you how big or small the Host is? Thanks for any replies. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.
Posted by hostwebdata, 12-14-2009, 09:03 PM
for me the support and the up time first
Posted by Andreyfidrya, 12-15-2009, 05:22 AM
I usually pay attention to customer reviews of a company and its overall reputation at the market. Also, I deal with companies which provide clients with money back guarantee period to test their services.
Posted by Hosting24, 12-15-2009, 09:42 AM
In short? Overall website look (I never buy services from sites which look out-of-date or ugly). Options and features. Price. Customer support. Pre-sale service. Customer reviews (but it's not a big deal)
Posted by Dan Madiou, 12-15-2009, 09:55 AM
That should be stable and cheap if possible. For me that does not matter where server is located
Posted by Hosting24, 12-15-2009, 10:08 AM
But NOT too cheap (otherwise service may look suspicious)
Posted by CrazyTech, 12-15-2009, 11:25 AM
When I'm looking at a host, particularly a reseller host, I'm looking at a company that projects a professional image, has a demonstrated history of customer satisfaction (aka good reviews), and can provide at least an indication of good uptime stats. Size and location (I would use US-based) hosting don't matter at the onset, though it makes sense to choose a more established company preferably not located in a disaster-prone area.
Posted by Andreyfidrya, 12-15-2009, 11:53 AM
It should be noted that promo codes, specials and discount coupons play an important role in marketing strategy. Good deals may also attract customer's attention.
Posted by zomex, 12-15-2009, 12:29 PM
Interesting post. Well here goes: 1) Website look and usability - I completely agree with Hosting24 on this one. 2) Terms Of Service/Acceptable Usage Policy/Privacy Policy - Legal documents are certainly a deciding factor for me. If I saw a hosting company without these documents I wouldn't buy their products/services. 3) Support - I will always look closely at the methods of support. 4) Features - What features does the company offer? 5) Uptime/infrastructure - Certainly more important than price. 6) Price - I look for a reasonable price. I like to pay for the service I receive. 7) Money Back Guarantee - If a company offers a money back guarantee they are demonstrating confidence in their ability to provide a good service. 8) Reviews - Perhaps this should be higher but every company will have bad reviews from time to time so it isn't a deciding factor for me. Jack
Posted by GameDataInc, 12-15-2009, 01:10 PM
Mostly feel. However, with that said... I look on wht, then google for reviews first and if they have a lot of bad publicity then I generally have a bad feeling about them! Overall if they seem pretty good after looking at their reviews, terms of service, and what all you get for the price you pay.... Then I try to talk with them either by email or phone and get a feel for how they do business. I personally think customer service is king, and making sure your customers are satisfied! In order to have good customer service and keep ME satisfied the company I do business with has to LISTEN! For example one of the major payment systems on one of the major auction sites that I do business on sometimes has a tendency to reply to my direct / specific / exact questions with a generic and completely wrong answer!!! That tells me they are to busy for me and they really dont care! So when I contact some outsourced sales or tech support that gives me completely wrong answers or their answer has nothing to do with the actual question asked!!! I instantly start looking for another company to do business with! And of course structure, reliability, ect... But first in my book is how they do business. It really doesnt matter how fast or reliable a host is, if you get a reseller, work your tail off building up customers... and they shut your whole server down because of one customer spamming or any other situation where the way the company does business does not take into consideration keeping YOUR customers happy to, not just their own!
Posted by chown, 12-15-2009, 02:47 PM
Web site, support and quality... If I have to pay more for a good service I will pay. At least, you get what you pay.
Posted by Fordam, 12-15-2009, 04:52 PM
Costumer support Reviews quality Price
Posted by ramnet, 12-15-2009, 06:00 PM
And add price to that - so if the deal goes south your loss is minimal (I usually start with their cheapest option and if it's good upgrade to something larger later (instead of buying the big plan from the outset)). Of course, for reseller hosting, reviews from other clients tend to be much more valuable (since any idiot with a vps and cpanel license can start one). Last edited by ramnet; 12-15-2009 at 06:03 PM.
Posted by lansya, 12-18-2009, 03:28 AM
I think is price
Posted by XTremo, 12-18-2009, 03:31 AM
Customer Reviews and a verifiable track record HERE! AFAIC reviews elsewhere are not worth considering.
Posted by WebhostGIANT-Rob, 12-18-2009, 04:55 AM
I agree with you. The economy quite bad and I'm seeing more and more people pay attention to the price
Posted by Hosting24, 12-18-2009, 05:18 AM
Hm, I wouldn't be surprised if you eat junk food, drive Chrysler (or another similar cheap brand), use out-of-date computer connected to the slowest Internet connection possible, etc. Believe me, price should NEVER be #1 factor.
Posted by ldcdc, 12-18-2009, 05:41 AM
Web hosting tends to be quite cheap, no matter the provider. People fail to think what the rent is for brick and mortar places. As such, for the vast majority of sites, the focus should be on quality as portrayed by customers sharing their experience. Quite important for me is the company's experience. It is time that proves a host being able to survive and then thrive. In exceptional cases, I could settle for owner experience in the business.
Posted by keserhosting, 12-18-2009, 09:32 AM
Well, I think the people are most attracted towards the unlimited and free offers also price variations between hosts matters a lot. Uptime guaranty, customer supports, reputation, reviews are most important factor.
Posted by enkapsulate, 12-18-2009, 10:39 AM
This is what attracts me; Great Pre-Sales Live Chat Professional Website Established Brand Pricing and Features
Posted by inspiron, 12-21-2009, 11:31 AM
Its might be the availibility knowlegdebale technical support by 24/7. Also guranted uptime, reviews, price.
Posted by FI-Emylee, 12-22-2009, 11:51 AM
I think that there is far more than price, when it comes to choosing a hosting company. For me, price plays a part, but I always look for reviews. I also compare packages, and determine which host best fits my needs, for the price. Support is also a big factor. Afterall, what good is $5 a month for an account you always need help with but never get the help you need? Its very important to get what you need, and better than settling for what you get based soley on price.
Posted by dotHostel, 12-22-2009, 05:26 PM
If you are looking for a company to resell Web hosting plans you want a well-established company with a proven track record of reliability and superb customer service.
Posted by lanesharon, 12-22-2009, 09:33 PM
Price, uptime, reviews and recommendations here. What is more important is what makes me STAY with a hosting company. That would be customer support and communications. If the hosting company tells me AHEAD of time that they may be down for updates, that's a plus. If they apologize for unexpected periods of downtime (over an hour), that is a plus also. And, if the hosting company support team always treats me with respect, even when I am not happy, that is a MAJOR plus.
Posted by stillkavey, 12-22-2009, 10:30 PM
I would say its price.. but if I am actually RESELLING then I would look at reliability. Since I am only hosting my own sites that dont really require anywhere near 100 percent uptime that isnt a very big issue. The company I am with now would not be my top on the list if youre looking for someone who runs a business right. I signed up with them probably a month and a half ago and paid the first months service.. as of now I have not received a bill and my account has not been suspended. (Yet I have never found it to be down) I just gotta wonder if theyre even there if they dont realize my bill is unpaid.
Posted by GarrettW, 12-23-2009, 02:20 AM
In order of priority, here's what I want in a host that offers reseller accounts: Professional image, i.e. not some back-room operation (includes good-looking site)Agreeable termsNo less than 98% Uptime (measured by a third party)Quick-responding support (as in a ticket system, or better yet, live chat)FeaturesGood reviewsPriceLow latency (mainly concerned with time of HTTP responses, but also ping to a lesser degree, and tracert hops even lesser)
Posted by ibee, 12-23-2009, 04:08 AM
i look for their support over phone and email.
Posted by ldcdc, 12-23-2009, 05:58 AM
Perhaps I could bear 98% in a month, I can understand an exceptional situation. But I'd be expecting to have 99.9%+ for a lot of months after that. 98% means about 15 hours of downtime in a month. I certainly wouldn't call that reliable hosting.
Posted by GarrettW, 12-23-2009, 07:08 AM
yeah, i guess i had my own personal site in mind. i'd edit that post and change it to 99% ... if i could. thing is, i've been on my share of hosting services whose uptime was much worse than 98%, so i know how bad it can be. still, you're right, it should be better than that.
Posted by User10001110101, 12-23-2009, 09:10 AM
Ditto + Price Reputation of support (are they capable to help a novice user, will they take the time to walk me through some tasks)
Posted by Mark G, 12-23-2009, 09:16 AM
It depends on how much support experience you have on your own. I agree that support is essential. The company can advertise the most state-of-the-art hardware at the cheapest price but, as a reseller, when your clients need support, the support they get is going to be only as good as your own knowledge-base + the parent company you are reselling from.
Posted by SwaggaHost, 12-23-2009, 10:40 AM
I belive the most appealing part of a company is their website design and logo. Many people automatically think 'Bad design & logo = bad service' although this is not always the case it is just an example. Another thing for resellers is addons what not all other web hosts offer free within their packages such as; End-user support SSL certificate Billing system Legal Documents Design Templates I think if your a host offering reseller plans, adding the above to your plan would give you a pretty big advantage and should definitely boost your sales!
Posted by rv_irl, 12-23-2009, 11:47 AM
You'd be surprised. The combination of addons you mention is what we offer (and I don't recall any other company offering that combination), however those are more secondary or "icing on the cake" type reasons. The primary concern has always been quality of service and support. Not many are concerned about the addons as it is afterall, something they can provision themselves if they really wanted to.. I don't believe it would make much difference to our sign up rates if we did remove those addons..
Posted by User10001110101, 12-23-2009, 01:37 PM
Support with remote assistance is a major selling point. I was having an issue and stated in the ticket that I followed the information in the FAQ, info from the knowledge base, and contradictory info that the previous tech told me to do and I was still having problems. It's like they just ignored everything I said and regurgitated the same info. We kept going through the same troubleshooting steps. I don't remember exactly how it was solved, but a remote connection would have saved a great deal of time for the tech and myself.
Posted by kemosabetx, 12-23-2009, 06:23 PM
What makes you buy from a Host? Price, price, support and the up time. customer reviews features website look where server is located good uptime stats discount coupons Believe me, price should ...Always... be #1 factor.
Posted by GarrettW, 12-25-2009, 04:09 AM
So let me get this straight... you would rather buy from a host with 90% uptime and 1000ms HTTP latency that's $9.95/month ... than to buy from a host with 99% uptime and 100ms latency that's $15/month? Cuz that's really what you're saying: if price is the most important factor, then a cheaper price trumps all other aspects.
Posted by rankris, 12-25-2009, 08:24 AM
prize and uptime ofcourse
Posted by amccoy, 12-25-2009, 11:41 AM
You get what you pay for and support and uptime prices the host money and therefore will make the hosting for resellers have a price tag. Generally higher costs means higher uptime and better support but this is admittedly not always true.
Posted by IfHost, 12-26-2009, 12:34 AM
Support, Uptime, Price, No-overselling, ect its all a total benefits that makes me make a decision.
Posted by GarrettW, 12-27-2009, 01:08 AM
lol i've never expected prizes with my web hosting...
Posted by marissa jasmine rose, 12-28-2009, 03:33 AM
For me is price, packages, and many people used thier services...
Posted by pozei, 12-28-2009, 03:38 AM
I think it depends, some people may only start with one website but plan to use the reseller for their own websites. Very rarely now do I see people selling hosting with a reseller which of course no one would buy cause, usually it's more expensive and is unreliable.
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 12-28-2009, 08:57 AM
Design of the website is the most important one. I will have new design soon. xD
Posted by scester, 01-14-2010, 03:25 AM
The location is the first thing I look. I prefer GB connections (best experiance yet) then I check the offer, price and website look (profesional? goofy? fake?)...
Posted by Hosting24, 01-14-2010, 04:45 AM
Usually location isn't #1 factor for me. If your connection is good, you will have a great speed to ANY location.
Posted by HostXNow_Chris, 01-14-2010, 05:48 AM
My list/order has changed:- - Legal documents - Features - Location - Uptime - SSL Certificate - Billing system - Design of website - Support (when the location/uptime is excellent you hardly ever need this anyway.) - Money Back Guarantee - Price I would check in the above order.
Posted by scester, 01-14-2010, 06:48 AM
I agree, but what about my customers. I have customers from all over the world, but 70% of them are frome Europe
Posted by Hosting24, 01-14-2010, 07:00 AM
Well, I don't know how good connections are in Slovenia. But if your customers prefer server in Europe, I don't see anything wrong here
Posted by wehost, 01-14-2010, 01:00 PM
If I had a small site where i didn't put a lot of work in I wouldn't really care if the host provider was small, but when your dealing with a big site where you put a lot of hard work and your getting 1000's of daily visits then I think you should care, Because then will be putting your web site on the line and all your hard work if anything happens with that company you will lose everything. if you don't backup your site. So I think is every important to build trust with your Hosting provider,
Posted by DewlanceHosting, 01-15-2010, 12:52 AM
I am not care about big or small company but i need: 1st. Best support, fast reply(i hate 'no', 'we can't) 2nd. 99.9% Uptime fast server, free cpanel and recommeded softwares.
Posted by webservices4india, 01-15-2010, 02:34 PM
reseller hosting for customers can only means cheapest, with 24*7 Support.......reliable and trusted..........according to my exp...
Posted by Hellas, 01-17-2010, 01:08 PM
1. Price (cheaper the better) 2. Uptime (which is not friendly with rule number 1) 3. Support in the term of Live Support or very very quick email support but if everything works OK I could be without support
Posted by sandbox, 01-17-2010, 01:50 PM
if they created their control panel. I compelled to buy. and of course: uptime...
Posted by Hosting24, 01-18-2010, 04:10 AM
sandbox, why do you prefer control panel made by hosting company? Sometimes one of "ready to go" solutions is better, I believe.

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