Customer service is key for me. I carefully choose businesses and service providers that make me happy. I value it deeply and aim to pass along the same to my clients.
I’ve had a website for about 6 or 7 years now. By default I initially picked GoDaddy as my host. As the years went by I heard many people complain about them, but I was satisfied and rarely ever needed interaction. Last year after moving, something with the address change screwed up my credit card with their system. I was out of town on a family emergency when this happened and therefore did not get a chance to return their phone call.
A week later I got home and back to work. I discovered my website had been taken down. When I called customer service they told me it was due to non-payment. I owed them $4.95 (yes less than $5) after being a customer for over 5 years and they cut off my website with only one phone call. I paid they got my site back online within 24 hours. I decided it was time to finally change hosts.
(I didn’t write this to bash GoDaddy, but it was part of the story.)
I did a little research and everyone seemed happy with Bluehost. I’ve been with them now since March and just have to say they are awesome! I know a lot of photographers and other creative small business owners read my blog, so I just want to spread the word. They are affordable and reliable. For the photographers out there, they are in no way affiliated with Bludomain.
What is most fabulous about Bluehost is their technical support. I use their live chat all the time. Within 20 seconds to 2 minutes, a knowledgeable tech is chatting with me. They have always been able to answer my often complicated questions. I am one of those people with enough technical knowledge to be dangerous and try to do complicated things, but not enough to always fix the things I break. The person I talk to is always very polite and usually has my issue resolved in 5 minutes.
So if you are thinking of changing web hosts, or setting up a site for the first time, I strongly recommend Bluehost.
