To Host or Not To Host

That is the question...

We have, and we're sure you have, seen when a company website goes down because of using external hosting and the hosting company goes "belly up". It happens all the time, especially in this economy. It happens with the biggest of web hosting corporations.


The question to ponder is, should I host my own site?


The answer...maybe, but probably not!!!


REASONS TO HOST:

• Features of your website are integrated with other applications or features that are proprietary or confidential. ( i.e. legal, governmental, medical or anything that involves you to store important client information securely)
  
  
• You deliver specialized features or services on your site that you have developed yourself and you want to keep track of your intellectual property. (got an app or service that is YOURS and you dont want to have the world see it or have access)
  
  
• You are using specialized technologies or applications delivered through your website that requires you to host it yourself. (this one is rare, but does happen...if your at this level you probably have a team of programmers)
  
  
• Hosting your website in-house, you'll always know what is happening to your data. You can fix problems on your time, not according to a host's schedule.
  
  
• As long as your company's not going anywhere either is your website.
  

REASONS NOT TO HOST:

• Equipment costs (dedicated computers, firewalls, software, etc)
  
  
• Bandwidth (if you have lots of visitors to your site, you better have at least a T1 connection)
  
  
• Technology (when it comes to hosting, you need someone who trained - and certified - in web server technology, computer systems...and even knows what a T1 connection is!!!)
  
  
• Availability (hosting companies usually have staff there 24/7, especially on busy "shopping" holidays)
  

All in all, your company, your pocketbook and your sanity, is generally better off with using an outside company to host your website.

Is there a chance that your host will do a disappearing act and go "poof". It is a possibility, but for the cost of hosting your own, your company might also.

Remember to keep copies of your website locally, just incase this should happen or even better. You can have your website "live" with one hosting company and keep it on another server (remember to update both when making changes) then if your "live" host goes under, you can simply point your domain name to a different address and bam, your up and running.

Always ask your web designer for copies of your site, at least if anything should happen to your host...or your designer...you wont be starting from complete scratch.

If you have any questions about our hosting options or what we offer our client when it comes to web design, please feel free to contact us.

THE LONGHORN DESIGN TEAM
www.longhorndesign.com