Readers of Online Marketing Blog for the past few months might remember our hosting trials and tribulations with a good but unprepared host and then the less than desirable activities of Pair Networks. We moved to a dedicated server with Minneapolis web site hosting company VISI for hosting OMB and since it’s been over a month I thought I’d give an update.
We currently use VISI for the hosting or our public relations firm web site, email and a dedicated server for Online Marketing Blog along with an array of support.
TopRank’s Online Marketing Blog is mission critical for our markting efforts. It’s one of the top 11,000 most trafficked sites on the internet according to Alexa (for whatever that’s worth) and is one of the top 100 favorited blogs out of 70 million tracked by Technorati. There are a lot of eyes on us, so a reliable and responsive host is a necessity. On short notice, VISI was there for us when we needed them and that says a lot.
Our experience with previous hosts has been mixed. We had a long term hosting relationship with one company, but as they grew and our needs grew, they simply could not provide the same kind of service.
As a result, we moved to a large hosting company (Pair Networks) because some other prominent search marketing blogs are hosted there. After a week or so, Pair literally turned off our blog without telling us until later in the day via automated message. When I complained, they said it was getting too much traffic, although bandwidth usage was below the advertised levels for our hosting package. After disabling the site, they had the gaul to solicit us to upgrade, multiple times. We were on a shared server, so apparently our site was dragging down other sites on the same box, but you’d think maybe the could at least have informed us before shutting the site off.
After contacting VISI about a hosting package with a dedicated server, we let them know we would need maximum levels of support and they delivered. If the support people didn’t know the answer to a particular issue, they found out and got back to us when they said they would. Site availability, uptime and performance have been great, even though our blog’s traffic has increased 20% in the past few months.
A lot of hosting services offer bulleted lists of bells and whistles to get you to sign up, but once you do, there are often sacrifices in the form of service and unexpected charges for services not included with the “bells and whistles” list. I know most site owners simply want a web host that delivers what they promise. I can honestly say that so far, VISI has met and exceeded our expectations and I have no problem recommending them.
