Podcast 12 - All E-mail Episode, Hosting Questions Answered
Do you have questions about the way the Web hosting world works? Is there just something about HTML and file transfers that just bug the heck out of you? Well have no fear, because The Web Hosting Show is here!
This special “all E-mail” edition of The Web Hosting Show is brought to you by Web Hosting Chat. Web Hosting Chat is your number one place for Web hosting discussions. Who am I? Why I am the capped Web hosting crusader himself, Mitch Keeler.
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Today I have for you six questions I have been asked over the past week about the Web hosting world. I promise they are not ranked in any way, just randomly shuffled into a podcast. Why should we start worrying about being professionals here?
We are all close friends right? So take off your pants, get comfortable and who know? Maybe I’ll be answering a question you had!
Can You Buy Web Hosting Customers on EBay?
The first E-mail comes from Sam. Sam writes:
“Hi Mitch, love the show! I am constantly seeing sellers on ebay market their so-called “ability” to sell existing web hosting customers or to acquire new customers in large volume. Is this a scam or not? If not, what are they doing right that we are not?”
Unfortunately it looks like Ebay isn’t doing much to stop this type of selling of customers from one company to another. In my opinion, I wouldn’t trust anybody who was trying to sell the company they built themselves on Ebay. If there are any Web hosts who think they might go after one of these, let me give you a little advice. Stay away. With all the legal jargon and other issues that might get in the way of this, I think it deserves a little more professional setting than an Online auction Web site. A lot of these types of deal are really shady at best as well.
If you do go forward with something like this, make sure you have a lawyer ready to go at all times. This isn’t like just getting rid of some junk in your garage. These are folks who have signed a contract with a company to get Web hosting. In all honesty, I just would not and could not feel comfortable doing this myself.
How Do I Shop for a Dedicated Server?
The second E-mail comes from Glen.
Glen, one of my fellow writers over at Lockergnome has been E-mailing me back and forth this week wanting to know how to shop for a dedicated server. Shopping for a dedicated server is a little harder than shopping for regular Web hosting. Think of it as shopping for an apartment in comparison to shopping for a house. A house is a much larger and long term purchase than an apartment. It also take a lot more work and is not for everybody. Now with that said, I can share some of what I told Glen this week.
The first place I directed him to was a few different Web hosting forums. Once you have a Web hosting company in mind that you want to buy the dedicated server from, you need to learn a little more about the history of the company. Doing a search on any of the Web hosting forums out there should give you a good idea of how many issues they have. Now you will have to weed out the folks that are just there to complain or make the company look bad. What you want to see are good or bad reasons for signing up with them, and then the reasons why. Also make sure in the threads you are checking out, they give good proof of what they are saying.
What if you do not know which Web hosting company to go with? That is when places like Find My Hosting and BrowseHosts come in. After doing a little searching at either of these Web sites, you should be able to narrow down your search to just a few companies. After that, find the ones that have what you are looking for then just follow the regular Web hosting shopping rules. Contact the support team to see how responsive they are. Take a look around and make sure you ask them plenty of questions about the service.
Is Google’s New Web Accelerator a Hosting Security Threat?
Tom writes:
“Hi Mitch, I just seen that Google has a new accelerator out there for download. Should I turn it off when I am logged into my Web hosting account or just keep it running. Thanks.”
Well Tom, since this is a new service out there from Google it is really hard to say. I have seen folk who have said it is the best thing since sliced bread and others who say to stay far away from it. There have been some security issues raised about it. It seems like a few forums out there will bring up somebody else’s cached version of the Web site. You see how it runs, you are pretty much working from “Google’s version” of the Internet. So yes, if they wanted to they could track every single thing you are doing.
As for my personal relationship with Google Web Accelerator? I had it for around an hour, didn’t notice much of a change so I got rid of it. The best rule of thumb here is that if you don’t feel comfortable running it, then get rid of it. Since there aren’t any cases out there of it allowing folks to view cached versions of your control panel or anything like that, I can’t kick Google while they are down. The best thing I can tell you to do right now is read up on the issue and make a decision on your own. I’ll link to an article I recently wrote on the topic so you have a good place to start your research from.
Mitchelaneous article on Google Web Accelerator
Why Shouldn’t I Buy a Domain Name and Web Hosting from the Same Place?
Salley writes:
“You are always so hard on people who are buying domain names and hosting from the same place. What is the big deal really? What if they are happy with having every thing at one spot.”
Salley, I could not agree with you more. I seem to ride on this topic a lot because I have been burned by keeping all my eggs in one basket. I really went in depth on this issue last week as for the reasons I am against the idea of getting your domain names and Web hosting from the some provider. Some people out there are happy with doing so. I know Matt Hartley, from Lockergnome, was talking the other day about having his Web hosting and domain names registered with Go Daddy.
Web hosting is like a pair of personally made shoes. One pair of shoes doesn’t exactly fit everybody. You have to shop around and find the right provider and the right plan for you. Not every Web site is the same and not every Web hosting plan is the same either. So as long as you are happy, I have no beef for you.
On the other hand if there is anybody shopping for Web hosting or domain names out there, I would still suggest not to get all your eggs in one basket. In the show notes for this episode of The Web Hosting Show I’ll be sure to include a link to my segment last week so folks can see both sides of the issue.
Last Week’s Edition of The Web Hosting Show
Who Owns My Domain Name?
Bob writes:
“How come when I do I search on my domain name it shows that my web hosting company is the owner and admin contact for it? Help!”
Bob, I am afraid to say there might be little you can do to resolve this issue. This is just one more reason I say to shop for your Web hosting and domain name at two separate companies. I am guessing that with your account they said they would, “Give you a free domain name with purchase”. Well, the problem with that is that they take the liberty of registering your domain name for you and they do it in their name. This is another good reason why you should read the Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy as well. I would bet, if the company is smart they make mention of this somewhere in paragraph five in the smallest print you could find.
What can you do to resolve the issue? Well some Web hosts might be nice and give you the right to your domain name back. Others might be jerks. If the domain name is apart of any trademark that you own, then you might be able to take them to court. It all really depends on how much of a fight you are ready for. I wish you the best of luck Bob, and I hope you let me know how this all gets resolved for you.
How Can I Get into The Web Hosting Support Business?
Carly writes:
How can I break into the web hosting business? I’d like to do support or answer questions but I don’t know where to start in.”
Carly, you could ask one hundred people this question and I could promise you they’d give one hundred different answers. Everybody that is in the Web hosting business right now probably broke into it a different way. Here are a few ideas though from how I got into the wild and wacky world of Web hosting.
- Does your current Web host have any forums? If so, you could try to impress a few folks by answering questions from there that people might have. Make sure all your answers are complete but to the point.
- Contact one of the support folks and just ask them what you’d have to do to become a member of the team. If they are hiring folks that are not at the location of the Web hosting business, they should be able to point you in the right direction.
- Read all you can about the Web hosting world. Go visit Web hosting news Web sites. Visit Web hosting forums and get to know a few folks inside the Web hosting world that way. You never know when you might meet the right friend who is looking for somebody to work hard for them.
If there is anybody else out there who’d like to share how they got into the Web hosting world, just send me an e-mail at mitch@mitchkeeler.com and I’ll share your tips as well. There are just so many different ways you could go with this one. It is hard to say follow steps a,b,c, and d then you are in. It just doesn’t work that way.
Final Web Hosting Thoughts
That is it for this week’s show! Make sure you send me your feedback, thoughts, suggestions and ideas to mitch@mitchkeeler.com or stop by The Web Hosting Show Fan Forums. Next week we will be back to the normal layout of the show. I am Mitch Keeler and you have been listening to The Web Hosting Show, the voice of the Web hosting world.
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