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1. Uptime, I pay for a service (show my pages on the web) and expect that service to be fully functioning. If an uptime is guaranteed, offer an incentive. Most 99,9% uptime garantees are often useless as there is no statement about what the compensation would be, should the host not be able to provide the guarantee. So show that you're serious about the guarantee.
2. Tech support, depending on the size of your hosting company, why not show pictures and names, could as far as I'm concerned be screen names, of the tech support. Like Bradlee, certified Microsoft server technician and also Cisco CCNA certified. Specialty: PHP scripts. Gives a much more personal feeling and trust.
3. Different payment options. Credit card is a given, Paypal preferred and maybe ePass and some others. Also the choice of not receiving bills every now and then, so the option to choose say 3, 6 and 12 months payment cycles.
4. A thourough walk through of exactly how the back up works, if I can recover my files myself or how long it would take to have it done for me, i.e. how long down time can be accepted should that occur. Costs associated with restoring back ups and for how long they are saved, seven days at a different location is somewhat of a minimum.
5. Always keep a backup on an external hard drive that you own. Should the host disappear, or heaven would just implode and you wouldn't reach your files or sites, you never want to have to just drop it and restart completely. A 1TB hard drive is quite cheap now, there's no excuse for not having one of those on your desk and just keep a backup there. You don't even need to do it right, just one backup every month or every second week will save you should the worst happen. That life insurance is worth a few hundred.
6. Do any of my friends have a story with this host? If so, what are their opinions? That matters a lot. Secondly, other people that I trust or respect, what do they say, for example here on GFY?
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