We had some serious trouble with GoDaddy this week. We have recommended GoDaddy on numerous occasions, both in our blog and in-person. But our days of recommending GoDaddy are over. We had a terrible experience with them this week in which a mission-critical application was down, and it took two whole days of repeated calls before we finally talked to someone in their technical support department who knew what he was talking about. Our problem could have been fixed in a few hours, rather than three days (Sunday through Tuesday).
So…GoDaddy is probably fine for registering your domain names, but I would be careful about using them for hosting or running a server. I think they probably just have too much business to handle. The company has obviously been very successful. Too successful.
Who would we recommend? Heck if I know. The hosting companies we have worked with include DataPipe, HostNexus, 1and1, and GoDaddy. With both 1and1 and GoDaddy, we had a dedicated or virtual dedicated server. In both cases, customer support has been pathetic. With HostNexus, we had a bad experience involving the time difference between us and them (they are in Australia). DataPipe is probably be the best of the group.
If it is critical that your site not go down, your email always work, and that customer service be an option, then you should probably look for a local company. You may end up paying more, but we have definitely learned that you get what you pay for. Don’t make the same mistakes we have made. Bad hosting can make your company look very bad.
Although this post may not seem like it has anything to do with Internet marketing, it does. You must protect your image, and you must be responsive to your customers and prospects. This means your web site must be up. Your email must work. You must be able to deliver on your promises, but if your technology is bad, that becomes much more difficult. All the search engine marketing in the world won’t do you any good if your prospects have a bad experience.
If you need some help with your search engine optimization or pay per click management (or making technology decisions as discussed in this article), please contact us at 888-299-4837 or email Info@WorkMedia.net.