Hosting & Maintenance
Two of the most important steps in building your website are deciding on your domain name and your web hosting. Your domain name is crucial, as it will be the masthead under which all of your online branding and communications are disseminated... www.yourcompany.com for web, yourname@yourcompany.com for email, etc.
Your web host is the company that will store your website's files on its servers and deliver them to your readers' and customers' browsers. Web hosting services offer varying amounts of monthly data transfers, storage, email, and other features. Even how you pay (month-to-month vs. annual payments) can vary, so taking the time to plot out exactly what your company needs for online success is essential.
If you have an existing domain name and web host, I can implement your new or updated website with them. If not, I offer worry-free domain name acquisition and activation, along with reliable hosting on a superfast virtual private server (VPS) system.
I have hosted websites with a number of shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting companies. Exhaustive research and real-world experience led me a few years ago to setting up a VPS with one of the most highly rated managed hosting companies in the industry, KnownHost. On their servers, my clients and I can count on speed, reliability, support, and 99.996% proven uptime. During the years I have hosted my sites at their data center in Dallas, Texas, neither I nor my clients have experienced any known downtime. The hosting is far superior to that of typical shared hosting plans.
Whether you choose to host with Lost Highway Media or another company, I recommend that you consider the following features that are important with any hosting plan:
Security
All of the websites I host are protected under SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and use the HTTPS protocol. This offers dual benefits to my clients—it (a). effectively shields their sites from hackers and other security threats, and (b). improves their search engine rankings, as Google and other search engines now prescribe, and give ranking preference to, sites secured with SSL and HTTPS.
Email hosting
Not all web hosts include email in the prices of their hosting plans. In such instances, you must obtain email accounts from a company other than your your web host. GoDaddy, for instance, charges for email accounts per user, per month. Some web hosting companies offer unlimited email account creation (which is great for future growth) while others offer limited numbers of accounts.
Website updates
If you are busy running and growing a business, chances are you will find it inconvenient and time-consuming to have to login to a cPanel, negotiate the technical language, and select the right options for making changes and updates to your website without "breaking" something. I can simplify that process for you by providing (a). a custom content management back-end for your website that makes adding, deleting, and editing content as easy as composing and sending an email, and (b). taking care of the technical minutiae associated with web updates, which brings us to...
Technical (and non-technical) fluency
Developers and their clients often seem to speak two entirely different languages, and nowhere is this more apparent than in web hosting, administration, and maintenance. 35 years of development experience have allowed me to gain a proficiency at bridging that communications gap—one thing all of my clients agree on is that I understand their needs and speak their language regardless of their level of technical expertise.
In the grand scheme of your company's success, your web hosting, maintenance, and administration are ongoing processes that will remain crucial from the moment you deploy your site. Whether you host with Lost Highway Media or another preferred or existing host, I can help take the worry out of lifting your brand... out of the white noise and into the vista.