Now you'd think a seasoned (Internet marketing) pro like myself would be immune to the disaster of losing his website. Quite frankly I thought so too. But on one spring day in April it was not the case.

If you think this can't happen to you, think again.

Let my mistakes help you save time, aggravation and money. Yes I'll have to admit there were some basic procedures I could have done to avoid all this.

My website crashed the first weekend in April. I discovered it one morning after I went into my office and fired up my computer. My morning ritual is to read my email first thing and then plan my workday. But on this day I couldn't. At first I thought there was a temporary disruption within the network. I wasn't too concerned then. I told myself "the network would be up again shortly no big deal."

Wrong! I tried later that morning and found the same situation.

This worried me so I tried to call my hosting company and couldn't get through. I left a message. I then started to think about all the terrible things that could go wrong and would go wrong. I guess that's the pessimist in me. The day went by and still there was no word from my hosting company. Now I was really getting antsy. I was beginning to think, "I must have a major disaster on my hands". I kept calling and calling. Finally I was able to speak with John the owner of my hosting service.

John told me that they were experiencing some hardware problems and my site would be up and running later that day. He apologized for not getting back to me sooner and assured me that everything was under control.

Do you know what?

This didn't cut it. You see every minute I was off line not only was I losing potential sales but my site was unavailable to tens of thousands of people who would visit it for all the free resources it offered, but was denied.

Well another day went by. By now my situation was really getting serious. I don't know about you but my income stream was being blocked and I couldn't take it any more. It's just as if someone placed a dam in a river and stopped the flow of water. This mess was getting more costly each and every minute of the day.

Two days later, finally my site was up and running. I was furious that it took four days to get back online. And the disturbing part was that I lost valuable data and work on my site:

1. My e-mail panel was wiped out.

2. I had to rebuild all of my e-mail accounts.

3. I lost several days of work to my website because my hosting company didn't backup my files as I was led to believe.

4. I lost my list-Server and my entire subscribers list. Again I was relying on someone else to back up my data.

Up until that week I was doing business with three hosting companies. But now I'm down to two. That's because I got so furious with Johns company I pulled the plug and transferred my site to one my other hosting companies.

My hosting company is making it easy for me to sleep again. My website is hosted by a company I trust and most importantly I can contact whenever I need to.

My ordeal was so traumatic I vowed that I'd help everyone I could so they wouldn't experience the week I'll never forget.

In order for me to help you avoid the mistakes I made, I've developed a concise list of "always do" strategies, a checklist if you will, concerning what you should expect from your hosting company and yourself.

Always signup with a web hosting company that offers 24/7 support. That’s right you must demand 7 days a week, 24 hours a day technical support from your hosting company. Believe me you need a live telephone contact support and not an answering service that relays your problem. This is what cost me days of being left in the dark.

Always contact current customers of the hosting company you are considering to sign up with. Ask them about their experience with their hosting company's support. Be sure you are talking to people you contacted on your own. Don't just read a few testimonial letters the company has posted on their website or included in their sales literature. I have found it best to talk to people in chat rooms. A hosting company that offers a chat room is always money ahead. This is where they'll receive their best-unsolicited references.

Always keep your own back-up copy of your site. I relied on the promise of John's company to back-up my web files and customer list and look where it got me. This was by far the biggest mistake I ever made.

Now that you've read my nightmare in cyberspace, I hope you can use my experience to avoid your own nightmare. If you are currently with a hosting company try contacting your support team and see how long it takes them to react to your call. If you are a little concerned, then my recommendation is to start looking for a new hosting company.