moving to a new web site host

steve1980

judygarland wrote: »

Thanks for all your replies. Have I just made a very costly mistake?

When I was talking to godaddy yesterday evening, they mentioned that I could not transfer domain.co.uk to them so am I correct in presuming that this has to remain in the UK?

Luckily, I have only transferred the .com and my .co.uk is still with purplecloud.

My main objective really is to 1) maintain my high Google ranking 2) move to a better webhosting service which has excellent customer service 3) update my web presence to something more professional.

I've prepared my new website after spending the last 3 months learning CSS so that's ready to upload.

So, I need the following from my new hosting provider:-

1) Excellent customer support hotline so that if there are any issues (like my email not working or site has been hacked) I can tell them straight away and not have to wait 3 days for an email only response.
2) UK based provider
3) Easy to use!

Any help greatly appreciated!

I always recommend Alex at www.hostsphere.co.uk. He's an absolute gem. Any problems he is always at the end of the phone. He is based in Portsmouth. I have all my sites with him and have never had a problem or issue.

InsideInsurance

texranger wrote: »

Explain this, as a UK hosting of 10+ years who has 3 of their server based outside the UK which host UK sites without any problem

Didn't say you'd have problems and it was an over simplistic statement but (1) for years the SEO gurus have all said that a UK based server is better than a US based service if you are targeting the UK market from an SEO perspective. Obviously how you can definitively prove it, or disprove it, is always going to be questionable as the only way to get all other things equal then puts you into the duplicate content issue. As we all know SEO is a black art not a science for those outside of Google.

(2) Assuming you are comparing servers/ data centres that are otherwise equal it is inevitable that the odds are there will be less issues with data coming from a London Docklands data centre to my home in Surrey is less likely going to have issues than data coming from San Francisco as its a shorter distance, less connections and therefore lower chance of failure of any one of those points. For our UK site it takes 5 hops, for our US site 23 hops.





Back to the OP - normally you wouldn't "move" your domains when you switch host but simply repoint them by amending the NameServer settings. You can normally hold your domains with the same company as your hosting but I wouldn't generally recommend this as you end up with too many eggs in one basket. If you use a company like 123Reg for your domains then you can point any domain type they support at any host in the world as if it is a .com, .co.uk, .at, .xxx or any other is totally irrelevant. For those holding the domain it is relevant as they must have an interface with the registrar to know how to update the records etc.

judygarland

[QUOTE=



Back to the OP - normally you wouldn't "move" your domains when you switch host but simply repoint them by amending the NameServer settings. You can normally hold your domains with the same company as your hosting but I wouldn't generally recommend this as you end up with too many eggs in one basket. If you use a company like 123Reg for your domains then you can point any domain type they support at any host in the world as if it is a .com, .co.uk, .at, .xxx or any other is totally irrelevant. For those holding the domain it is relevant as they must have an interface with the registrar to know how to update the records etc.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for that. I've cancelled my godaddy account and it's only cost me one month's hosting, so could have been worse.

At the moment I've got the domains and the hosting with one provider so that's interesting to know that I can get just the hosting elsewhere. I just need to choose the right service now. Can you recommend a good place to start? Is there a good website that reviews providers? As you have probably worked out, I'm very much a novice and am on a steep learning curve!

steve1980

judygarland wrote: »

Thanks for that. I've cancelled my godaddy account and it's only cost me one month's hosting, so could have been worse.

At the moment I've got the domains and the hosting with one provider so that's interesting to know that I can get just the hosting elsewhere. I just need to choose the right service now. Can you recommend a good place to start? Is there a good website that reviews providers? As you have probably worked out, I'm very much a novice and am on a steep learning curve!

There is a review on the web somewhere BUT they will only show you the "Big Boys" rather than the smaller companies.

I know you've had a bad experiance with purplecloud (and having just looked at their website I would've never touched them with a bargepoll!) but Alex at Hostsphere is fantastic.

InsideInsurance

Agree with Steve re "big boys", and to be honest no matter the reviews there are none of them that I would touch.

Without knowing what you need no one really should be recommending anyone/ anything - though the fact that GoDaddy caters for your needs suggest it isnt anything too unusual you require. You also need to be fairly clear on where you are on the balance of price -v- service?

I personally have used CSNewMedia for many years which is run by a chap called Carl. Every webhost will occasionally have problems, its the nature of computers, but almost without exception they have dealt with them quickly and professionally.

victor2

There are many many good providers around, along with some best avoided. To throw another one in the hat - I use, and am very happy with, Orchard Hosting.
A lot of one-man-bands operate and do well. Guess they don't go sick or on holiday.;)
If they grow and succeed, they take on a few employees. Some fail, others maintain the standards their customers are used to.
Ask around locally and among your business contacts who they use and can recommend. Sounds like all you need is fairly basic hosting and email. Wide choice for that.

VSC

If it ain't broke ...

Okay, hosting is crap so move. But leave it as a .co.uk.

Regarding servers (mentioned already), best to keep site hosted on UK servers. It's not the most important part, but is still part of Google's algorithm.

I use several UK based hosts (no connection apart from that):
ezpzhosting.co.uk
innohosting.com
hosting-unlimited.net
Good support, fair pricing, good plans.
If you can afford it, get some unique IP addresses for your site - costs vary from £2.50 a month to £25 for life depending on provider.

Good luck,