Lauren Whitson is 1and1 company spokesperson. In this in-depth interview, she discusses hosting functions and how to choose a host.
Bryan: When choosing a Web host, what does a business owner need to know?
Lauren: There are a vast amount of Web hosting companies that offer various online solutions but finding the one right for your business seems like a challenge. As it might be overwhelming to look through every hosting provider’s offerings, here are three key elements to consider before committing to a host:
- Reliability: An important element to a successful presence online is availability. For a business, using a Web host that protects your website against downtime is ideal. . Innovative technology, like Dual Hosting, is a strong data strategy to look for because it simultaneously stores information on two servers instead of one – and both are stored in separate locations. Therefore, should the primary server be unexpectedly interrupted, data is automatically switched over to the additional server preventing downtime or data loss. This allows for greater protection of important files and in turn, gives business owners an opportunity to focus more on managing their organization instead of worrying about their website.
- Customer Service: Support services should be a factor in selecting a Web host. Inquiring about customer care services and availability can indicate how much confidence a Web host has in their products. Additionally, consistent customer service could be valuable should urgent issues arise so also look for 24/7 availability.
- Affordability: Price is an important factor when comparing Web hosts. As with anything, there are providers at both ends of the cost spectrum but the key is to understand that expensive does not always equate to the best value. The same is said for seemingly cheap price points – the implication of affordable pricing is not an automatic symbol for poor performance. Instead, go by a list of required versus desired features as well as what fits within your IT budget. It may also be beneficial to explore Web hosts that offer trial periods which allow you to test out a couple different packages before committing to a contract.
Bryan: What features really matter, when sorting through the options?
Lauren: Across the board, the core components to a Web hosting package should include plenty of Web space and data storage, as well as at least one domain for a website and at least one email address. But while there are some standard features to keep in mind, it really depends on what someone is looking to do. If you are a business owner without a website, the key components above are extremely important to ensure there is enough support behind their growing business (i.e. so the Web host can support increased traffic as the site increases in popularity). If a business needs a website but also wants to conduct marketing online, then it is important to look for a comprehensive package that has different tools like newsletters, contact forms and social media features. As long as the user has a hosting product that they feel comfortable using based on their skills and that has strong core components like unlimited Web space, the business will be able to start off online on the right foot.
The more inclusive a package is, the easier it will be for a business to continue expanding its presence online. When you look for a Web hosting package, keep in mind what you want to get out of it both in the short and long term. Also, any tools that can help you manage the site itself are important for success so website analytics, for instance, can help you figure out simple ways to improve the content.
The best way to really learn about different features is simply to ask questions. Start with the providers’ websites but don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and call, especially if you are someone with limited knowledge in this area. Let the specialists help and guide you. Tell them what your experience level is so they can suggest the best product(s) for you. For example, some Web hosts have hosting packages providing industry-specific designs with content for you to use as a starting point. That said, it does help if you have an idea of what you want to accomplish online.
Bryan: What do you offer that sets you apart from the other hosts?
Lauren: If you look at the wide range of products 1&1 offer, you’ll notice a consistent structure to all of our hosting solutions. 1&1 makes sure that its solutions are comprehensive in functionality and complete in terms of included features. It follows a model we dub as the “one-stop-shop” approach and was born simply out of the company’s goal to make Web hosting as uncomplicated as possible.
More specifically, our flagship product, 1&1 MyWebsite, is one of the most efficient, professional website design tools offered. Business owners who are unsure of where to begin when designing a website and who don’t have an IT background will find comfort in the approachable, straight forward nature of this product. 1&1 MyWebsite is an application built on a platform encompassing ease of use from the very beginning. Once the 3-step registration process is complete, the user will already have a website online. Using the contact information, business sector and color scheme selected during registration, the 1&1 MyWebsite will generate a professional design incorporating text, images and formatting relevant to your industry. From here, a business owner can customize the pages to make it their own, and I think that is one of the most important aspects of the tool. Even though websites are initially generated using one of numerous pre-determined layouts, appearance and functionality are not comprised.
Now for more advanced users, our dual hosting technology is a significant difference between 1&1 and other hosts.. Dual hosting is another term for redundancy hosting, which other hosting providers may provide through room redundancy in their data centers. What 1&1 provides is geo-redundancy, which means customer data is hosted on servers in our data center and backed up on a second server in another facility. This technology supports all of 1&1’s Windows and Linux shared hosting packages.
Bryan: Among your clients, what is the most popular site creation software/platform? (Dreamweaver, Word Press, your 1&1 MyWebsite tool, other)
Lauren: Unfortunately, we do not have any information on what site creation software or platform is most popular among our competitors. In terms of 1&1 both our MyWebsite and Shared hosting packages are proved to be most popular from our entire product line. With the vast amount of included features in both products, it is understandable as to why businesses would gravitate towards these design templates.
Bryan: Can the choice of a web host affect SEO? How can this be evaluated? How do you compare?
Lauren: One of the largest factors that can affect a page’s search engine placement, with respect to the hosting company, is the location of the data center. For example, a person in the UK hosting a website on servers with German IP addresses may not be ranked as favorably by British search engines (i.e. google.co.uk). 1&1 works around this factor to the benefit of its customers by offering country-specific IP addresses. In general though, the rule of thumb is to have the physical server hosting your data in the same country as the people you want to view your site. If you do feel there is a lag in the connection speed, it might be an indicator that your servers are in fact located far away geographically. You can switch hosts to fix this as long as you don’t transfer to a host in the same country that your data is currently stored in. Also, switching the domain should be the last thing you do, after data is transferred and search engines have the chance to recognize the new IP address.
Bryan: How important are the up-time percentages that web hosts frequently display? How much difference is there really, between the different hosts? How is your reliability?
Lauren: While uptime percentages can be important to customers, nearly all leading hosting companies provide 99.99% reliability whether they advertise it or not. For instance, 1&1 does not publish a particular uptime percentage, however, through our Dual Hosting product we offer complete data geo-redundancy to our customers which results in constant uptime. Many Web hosts are very similar. What sets some like 1&1 apart though, is unique features like geo-redundancy which allow some providers to differentiate their product from most in the market.
Bryan: Do you offer simplified blog setup/hosting/maintenance?
Lauren: At this time, we do not offer blog-specific options. That said however, users can adapt the 1&1 MyWebsite to look and act more like a blog by limiting the number of pages and updating on a regular basis. Blog capabilities are something that 1&1 is looking into for future product enhancements.
Bryan: What backup tool do you recommend for Word Press blogs?
Lauren: The backup of the Word Press blog should be part of the hosting package where the blog is hosted. If the customer is using a leading hosting company, all of the data should be automatically saved on secure servers to protect against data loss.
Bryan: Can a site hosted elsewhere be moved to your servers? How can this be done?
Lauren: Yes, websites that are hosted elsewhere can be moved to a 1&1 Web hosting package relatively easily, as can domains and email. If the site is static, the data files need to be migrated to a 1&1 Web Hosting package via FTP. If the site is more complicated and utilizes a database in addition to static files, it will be necessary to export and import the data between the old and new databases used in the hosting packages. Once all of the information is transferred, the customer can either switch their domain as well to 1&1 or just point their existing domain to the 1&1 server to complete the process.
Bryan: How do you qualify your claim to be the: “World’s #1 Web Hosting Company”?
Lauren: What we feel makes us the #1 Web host is related to our level of service and quality of our products. From servers and hosting to eCommerce and e-marketing, our solutions have proven to exceed the needs of our customers world-wide. The quality features supporting each product provide users with the ability to not only get their business online, but to succeed online. 1&1 has structured its products so that customers have room to grow with us as their needs change. Coupled with affordability, we are confident in our products and feel this is true in light of what we offer to the Web hosting community.
