While it is difficult enough to find one reliable host in the mass of hosting companies trading today is it sensible to have all of your sites with one company or should you spread the risk?

The first rule of any business is not to put all of your eggs on basket, because you would not run a business around one customer, so why one let one host look after all of your sites? The main problem with the hosting business is the reliability factor, with many hosts either too expensive or not reliable enough – it can be very difficult finding that balance. So what are the options?

Using One Host

If you use one host to look after all of your sites, with the best will in the world there will be times when the host will be down, and your sites will not be available. While it does depend a lot on their reaction times with regard to sorting out problems, it is inevitable that there is downtime, whether through maintenance, short term problems or cyber attacks. Could you cope if all of your sites were down for one day, one week, etc, etc?

Using A Group Of Hosts

The problem with using a group of hosts is the fact that some will be more reliable than others, but many people seem to find it useful to separate their highest earning sites and spread them between different hosts (as long as the quality of service is there). By doing this you are at least ensuring that you get some income, even when one host is down. It may be a little more costly, it may not be as reliable as one good host, but it does reduce your dependence on one host - something that may prove crucial over time.

Conclusion

Where possible, and depending upon the number of sites you have, it may prove worthwhile splitting them into small groups of hosting accounts with different companies. Peace of mind in the business world can often be priceless!