Hi all,

I am based in the UK and is thinking of becoming a reseller for a few of my clients.

I have heard a lot of good things about hostgator .com and is considering to go with them but they are in the US. Does it matter where your hosting company is? Waht are the pro and cons of choosing a host which is not based in your own country?

Sorry if this is a stupid question or it has been asked many time. It's because i couldn't find any post on this and wanted to make sure i find out the pros and cons before taking that plunge.

Thank you,

S

Waht are the pro and cons of choosing a host which is not based in your own country?Things I can think of:

1. It's harder to find the host and give them a smack if they're in a whole other country. ;)
2. Suing your provider (hopefully you'll never have to consider this) will likely mean a higher cost.
3. If you target UK, some of your potential customers will require UK based hosting (servers in the UK) for various reasons (slightly faster connections, SEO benefits).
4. US based hosting is generally cheaper than US based hosting. This can help make your offer a bit more competitive.

What Dan said pretty much sums it up, and I think he meant US Based hosting is generally cheaper than UK Based hosting. I'd say do your search and if you dont have any personal preferences on the location I'd say just go for the host you think is the best for you with the best package/features etc.. Good luck

and I think he meant US Based hosting is generally cheaper than UK Based hosting.Yes, that's what I meant. :) I'm very very tired for some reason, and I lack concentration.

Also maintenance is usually done at night in the US, which is day time in the UK.

I'd say that as long as they are able to support you in your time zone, and provide descent services, then it's no problem. Now days, most companies have 24/7 'advirtised' support.

But as Dan said, depending on what audience you're hitting, you could be at a disadvantage. (EX. If you are doing local advirtising, your customers are likely going to want the servers based in your area instead of overseas)

I have to agree with Dan, those are very important points for geographical location.

What about being able to be index and searched on a search engine (SEO) within your own location?

Thank you,

S

1. It's harder to find the host and give them a smack if they're in a whole other country. ;)
2. Suing your provider (hopefully you'll never have to consider this) will likely mean a higher cost.

indeed, but if you haven't developed confidence in a company to a point where you're no longer thinking about the above, you should keep looking - regardless of country. ;)

Also maintenance is usually done at night in the US, which is day time in the UK.

true, but ideally you'll choose a provider with a redundant architecture from top to bottom - where maintenance windows don't effect uptime.

good luck with your search!

indeed, but if you haven't developed confidence in a company to a point where you're no longer thinking about the above, you should keep looking - regardless of country.You're definitely right in a way. However, "life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get."

For example, most people choose with some care the person they will marry, but statistics show a high percent of them discover later on that they have actually made the wrong choice - and they end up in court to end their marriage. :)