Backups are ESSENTIAL!
Doesn't matter how you manage to backup your files, it needs to be done regularly and methodicaly!
We have just completed what I hope is our last migration of all our properties and related sites. Content migration from a host to another has been greatly simplified over the past years and this means there is intense competition to get and KEEP customers.
Why is there so much hosting competition?
The main reason why there is so much hosting competition is because the price of entry has fallen off the map! Hardware and bandwidth costs use to be stratospheric but now, the cost of bandwidth drops along with hardware while both their speeds goes up. There are also a lot more options out there, from cloud computing, resellers and even the big guys themselves diversifying into the field. For example, Amazon has made available their cloud computing system which they, themselves use, for their online store for well over a year now.
Why are local ISPs so expensive!
As national and increasingly, international hosting providers proliferate onto the scene, I find it odd that most small, Mom and Pop ISPs still charge an arm and a leg for their hosting solutions! If the 30-60$ per year domain registration charges don’t give you any hints, their monthly 10-30$ hosting bills should. Up to this point, I still can’t figure-out why people even use them anymore. The big guys who specialize in hosting like MediaTemple, SimpleHelix and even GoDaddy all offer incredible value and service for rock bottom hosting charges… some as low as under 5$ a month!
Now… why are backups so essential!
I can’t describe the number of times, in my own online businesses, where digging-up an old backup of some of our systems saved us a heck of a lot of grief, pain and suffering in lost data and man hours. The fact that so few people backup their own computers is scary but what is even scarier is losing an entire online business you spent years establishing, growing and promoting! I even had one customer go bankrupt because of their lack of attention regarding backups (long story I will tell another time)! If you don’t have any backups of your online systems and you live off the income they generate, you are nothing short of stupid. Backups, sequential, daily and yes, in many different places (computer, other hosting providers etc.) are ESSENTIAL! Especially if your ISP or hosting provider say they already do this!
The return of this blog
Our buzvia blog has been on hiatus for a few months now and I am happy to announce we are back. During the past few months, we had two complete server migrations due hosting and service issues but we have found a fantastic host now whom we look forward to creating a long lasting business relationship with. Growing an portfolio of online companies is difficult, doing it with an unresponsive hosting provider just makes things even more so. We have tried a number of hosting providers through the years as well as maintaining our own clustered systems but through all that time, when ever a provider becomes unresponsive to our concerns, we learned it’s always best to drop them ASAP and move-on.
The Bottom Line
A good hosting provider is as important as backups!
Buzvia: MediaTemple, SimpleHelix, GoDaddy
