For your website to be seen on the Internet it has to be hosted somewhere. Choosing a hosting company for your website can be difficult. There are so many different companies out there offering varying levels of customer service, reliability and pricing. There are also many 3rd party hosting companies out there looking to make a quick Euro or 500 off unsuspecting clients.

Some factors to consider when choosing a host:

Server Location – When choosing a hosting company you should consider what country the host servers are in. If you are an Irish business then you should go with an Irish company who have their servers based in Ireland. Host location is a geo-targeting factor. If you want to rank well on Google.ie (local search engines) then the more clues you provide Google that you are an Irish based business the better. Other geo-targeting factors that Google are believed to consider when ranking your website are top level domains, link sources, addresses, language etc. This is not a geo-targeting article so I won’t be going into any more detail on that.

Support – is an essential hosting service. If things go wrong you want to know that your problem is taken seriously and it will be remedied immediately. If you are unsure how to set your account up then you want to know that the people who deal with you are patient and knowledgable.

Price – Purchasing the cheapest hosting package might not always be the best option. However, the hosting industry is so competitive that it is very easy to get a great deal from the top Irish companies. Shop around and compare prices. These are fees that you will pay annually so it is worth your while securing the best hosting for the best price. If you are interested in Google paid advertising then make sure to ask your hosting company about this. Most reputable hosting companies offer these vouchers and they are very useful if you want to dip your toes into PPC advertising with Google.

What price should I expect to pay?
Most clients with small websites should be looking at annual renewal fees of less than €50 a year for hosting and less than €30 for your domain. This is close to €100 VAT included. If you are paying much more than this then you are probably not getting value for money.

I have seen companies charging clients over €300 for basic hosting and domain renewal. This is €200 more than you should be paying. Multiply that by a website life expectancy of say…5 years and that is €1000 you have just over paid. In today’s business environment where value for money is essential, you cannot afford to be losing out on this amount.

Reliability – It is very important that your website stays live all day every day. If your website is constantly going down then you are losing out on business and your customers will not be very impressed.

So who do JumpStart host sites with?

Answer: Blacknight – www.blacknight.com

I would just like to state that we are in no way affiliated with Blacknight. This is just our honest opinion from having dealt with many of the major hosting companies in Ireland and Worldwide. We have set-up many of our web design clients on hosting companies over the years and provide this hosting service for all our clients.

First of all, I want to say that the main reason we choose Blacknight would have to be the customer service. These guys are very quick to respond, they are very polite and they will solve your problem. For the prices these guys charge for hosting it is a wonder how they make any profit at all. Other factors that I like about Blacknight are the easy to use control panel and the competitive prices.Their servers are based in Ireland and are reliable.

This is everything your website needs from a host to be successful.