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The UK has been pounded with bad weather the past week and a half and it’s been interesting in terms of “up-time” for some geographical areas, with power and phone lines.

This may or not be the case for two massive issues we have had in the past week with hosting facilities - one ours, and another belong to a company we use and recommend, both of which have suffered down-time.

Web hosting is often viewed as a cheap and cheerful, what can I get away with, situation, partly because it is something you don’t physically see, so why pay over the odds? When it works, there are now worries.

The problem comes, when you do get a problem. Suddenly, the value of the hosting seems so much more important, especially for an e-commerce website on a wet weekend.

The importance placed, not only on hosting, but also on backup contingencies of your hosting provider, can have serious repercussions for your web presence if you ever get a problem.

I don’t believe any hosting company can offer 100% - there are far too many factors involved - electricity, phone lines, etc. - but if your website has value to the ongoing running and marketing of your business - it’s time to invest that little bit more in some managed hosting with good (reliable) back-up systems.