Choosing the right service provider for your online services, such as domain registrations and website hosting, is a crucially important business decision. In the wake of recent events, many business owners are nervous and frightened of the repercussions their decisions may carry. Major domain registrars, such as Godaddy, have been attacked, taking down major networks of websites for hours at a time. Hosts have been compromised, causing innocent sites to be blocked for entire days.
Experiencing down time with your website may not sound like a big deal to some, but for those who make their living online, or companies that require their website to assist in the day-to-day functions of running their business, it can mean losing a lot of money.
In the wake of this news, many people are more interested in who controls their businesses livelihood. Savvy business owners are considering the processes involved, should their providers fall victim to hacking issues. If your registrar or host goes down, how much communication would you get? Would they call you personally to let you know, or are they too big? Is the host big enough to have a lot of enemies that want to cause disturbances to their customers?
Maybe Consider other Options
A prudent choice in times like these is to choose a host that is smaller and more local. A host that is located in the same city as you is ideal because if things go wrong, communication is open and easy. Not only that, with smaller companies you don’t have to worry about being associated with political movements they may support or advertising campaigns that don’t go well with your own ideals. At the same time, the company can’t be too small that they don’t invest in the right technologies, systems and safeguards.
Switching can be easy
Smaller to mid-sized web hosting companies tend to have a greater focus on customer service and will guide you through the process of switching your services to them. This process usually only takes a few minutes of your time and you will be assisted by your new service providers. The actual switch to the new DNS may take a few hours for propagation, but it should be a smooth transition.
Making DNS changes yourself is actually quite simple. Sign into your domain registrars website (the company you registered your domain name with) and look for a section marked ‘DNS’. There should be two to four URLs fields there. These are from your old website host. Simply get the new DNS URLs from your new host and replace the old ones with the new.
Note that this will mean that emails and your website will be directed to a new server, so it’s best to setup the website and email accounts on the new server before switching the DNS.
That’s it. Typically within 24-48 hours the changes are reflected around the world.
To Avoid Downtime…
Deciding to make the move is a personal decision that should consider the best solution for your business. You do NOT need to let your old host know that you are making this change.
If you have any questions about hosting, DNS or anything web related, you can give us a call at 1-(416) 923-9898
You should trust the web host you leave your website to. They are the ones who will be able to help you to make sure that your website is online.