We’re sometimes asked what “hosting” involves and what people are actually paying for, so we thought it would be a good idea to provide an explanation for what the annual charge of £200 covers.
We pay for server space and like any company who does this, we then charge clients who host with us, to “rent” server space so that your website can be seen and so that if your email address contains your domain name, you can successfully send and receive. However, we think we provide a little bit more value for money, as the annual charge also includes a “trouble-shooting” or advice service:
- We create, within reason, as many email addresses as you require to run your business successfully – we do not charge per email and you can subsequently add email addresses to your package without incurring additional charges;
- We help in the set up of your emails if necessary;
- We contact and liaise with our internet service provider, on your behalf, in the rare event of any server issues or any individual problems you may experience;
- We notify you when your inbox is reaching capacity – this is especially important if you don’t do any kind of regular house-keeping with your emails. If you are not in the habit of deleting old/obsolete emails and spam, saving attachments and generally just tidying up your inbox, you will reach your capacity very quickly, and you will find that one day, your emails stop working. You will not be able to send and receive. We’re on top of this for you, and we will advise you of the action you need to take before you run into any issues;
- We set up third party access for anyone subsequently working on your website eg SEO specialists.
We do need all clients to know that we appreciate the prompt payment of hosting invoices. In instances of late payment*, we have to spend admin time chasing invoices – when we’d much rather be designing. Thank you to all of our clients who do pay hosting promptly – you’re helping us to keep our hosting charges affordable.
*Unfortunately, if we have to keep chasing, our ONLY recourse/sanction, is to take down a website until payment is made. An admin fee of £40 will also be required, as well as the full hosting payment, to compensate for the time we have spent chasing the invoice and doing the necessary work to reupload the website. We categorically do NOT want to ever have to do this – please help us to not have to do this, by settling hosting invoices in a timely fashion. Especially as we will already have been invoiced by IONOS and paid, to ensure that your website remains online.