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It should come as no surprise that you can find web hosting in almost any developed country that boasts an internet infrastructure. The costs, quality, features and benefits of these companies can vary widely, but the right one can provide excellent web hosting services often for much lower prices and hassle. Let’s take a look at why you might seek out web hosting overseas, and the concerns you should check out before signing up.
Why would anyone want to use an overseas web host? The primary reason that webmasters in the United States would seek to secure these services is to diversify their IP addresses. This is usually done when the webmaster is attempting to set up a network of sites, or a link farm. By diversifying IP addresses, they can generate favor from the search engines, at least until their ploy is discovered and removed.
Some may also want to host overseas for a break in price, especially if they are putting up a large number of sites. Sometimes, the lure of being able to run certain scripts or software programs may also factor into this decision. Web hosting companies overseas, in an effort to generate business, will work with webmasters, allowing them to install and run risky scripts or software. This should cause concern to others who may share the web hosting platform, but in reality they would likely not even be aware that this is the case.
These reasons aside, there are some very real concerns that you should know about when making a commitment of this sort. The first one is a very practical one: the further your site is way from your intended visitors the longer it will take to load. Yes, even on the internet! Website response time can vary wildly with foreign web hosts, and if it takes forever for your site to load, today’s web surfer, with the typical loading forgiveness of ten seconds or less, will not hang around waiting for your masterpiece to load. This doesn’t even take into account that the web hosts servers may well be overloaded, unbalanced, or have further unseen problems. If you site is likely to be accessed by users more in your own geographic area, this is something you’ll want to consider carefully.
Another point to think about is the level and speed of customer service. Since many countries overseas are customer service oriented, by virtue of the fact that much of the US customer service is outsourced abroad, they may well be very competent in this area. However, if you have outsourced before you know that sometimes there are differences on how you think about service, and how they do. This along with communication issues are two problems you may have to deal with.
Finding good reliable web hosting overseas is not impossible, and may well be worth it if you have specific needs that are hard to be accommodated in the US. Just make sure you check the host out as thoroughly as you can. Personal recommendations in an area like this are most welcome, and can most likely help you find a good overseas web hosting company.
