A host/client relationship is a partnership. Yes, the client is the one paying the host the money and, yes, the host has a lot of responsibilities over the server, the network and site itself, but, as a client, you have responsibilities and duties as well.

Even the best Web host can not adequately serve a bad client. In fact, a bad client can actually harm other customers on the Web host by causing reliability and other issues that detract from their experience.

So how can you tell if you are a bad hosting client? Here are five warning sights to watch out for.

1. You Change Hosts Constantly

A host/client relationship is supposed to be a long-term one. Changing hosts is a terrible pain and hosts are only able to keep their costs low by having long-term customers (thus spreading out the costs of acquiring new ones).

If you haven’t completed a six-month contract with a single host, it may be time to rethink your hosting strategy. Sure, sometimes things don’t work out and end early, sometimes very early, but a good host should be able to keep their customers almost indefinitely or at least until the customer’s need radically change.

Ask yourself why your previous hosting relationships have ended and if, perhaps, there is something on your end that you can change. Are you constantly switching for a better price? Are you constantly under-estimating your needs?

2. You File Support Requests Regularly

How many support requests do you file per month (not counting server reboots if applicable)? If the answer is more than a couple, you probably are in over your head and leaning on the support staff too hard.

Yes, the staff is there to help, but answering your questions cost money so wasting their time with simple questions or problems that you could easily answer on your own. As a client, you have a responsibility to try and understand your own Web site and be able to fix at least some of the problems yourself. Not only is it better for the host, but faster for you.

Some hosts are known to drop clients that send too much unneeded support requests while others will downgrade the priority of those who send too many issues. This can keep actual hosting issues, such as site outages, from being addressed quickly.

Try to keep your support requests to a minimum and always research the problem yourself if possible. A basic understanding of your site can save you and your host a lot of headache.

3. Your Site Goes Down Regularly

There’s a lot of reasons your site might go down, but many of them are related to what you have on it and the number of people who visit it.

If your site is routinely going down and you’re being chastised for using too much bandwidth or server resources, it is time to rethink your hosting. Some applications such as forums and chatrooms, are extremely resource intensive and should only be used hosting accounts that can handle them.

Putting too much strain on a shared hosting account can negatively impact the others on the same server, causing their sites to slow down or even stop responding. So be very sure you have enough power for your server to keep plugging along.

4. You’re Insecure

Do you use bad passwords on your programs and and/or your account? Do you not update your software regularly? If so, you may be creating security headaches for both you and your host.

Security blunders are easy to make, but they can be very costly. Not only do they usually require help from the support staff to rectify and repair, but they can, in some cases, put other accounts on the server at risk.

Though your host is responsible for a lot of security precautions, you have your duties too. Sadly, many blame their hosts when they are hacked, even if it is their own error that lead to the problem.

5. You Expect Too Much

Any host that charges a reasonably monthly fee is going to have problems. Hard drives will die, networks will go down and outages will occur. Furthermore, there are technical limitations to what a host can do. For example, if you are in New York, a host in London is always going to be slower than one down the road.

Even Google suffers from downtimes on occasion so it is important to recognize that even the best host will not be perfect.

Downtimes alone are rarely a reason to leave a host. If they become frequent due to causes under the host’s control or the host handles them poorly, that’s a different issue. But if a hard drive dies, the host works quickly to repair it and has the sites back up in a reasonable amount of time, there is little reason to get upset.

Though you should expect uptime well above 99.5% (mine is currently 99.83% for the past 30 days), no one can expect 100% reasonably. Keep this in mind before leaving a host after a simple outage.

Bottom Line

Being a Web host is difficult work, but being a good client requires a little effort as well. It requires a cool head, some basic knowledge and a realistic outlook.

Imagine that your host is like your house or apartment and the host is your city. You don’t move if the power goes out for a while, if you get robbed because you left the door unlocked and you certainly don’t call the police for every little thing.

Sure, some hosts, like some cities, are terrible to live in. But when you find one that’s a good home, you shouldn’t leave at the first problem. That’s the time for the two of you to work together.

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