In the past many years, I’ve worked with dozens of website hosting services to launch sites for clients. Some do well to provide a mediocre service. Others are just plain terrible. But — thankfully — I have found one that pretty much rocks my socks.
Media Temple was discovered on a whim. A developer coworker was helping me to choose to a new host and recommended it after using it for years. At the time, he really seemed to love it. I signed on to give it a go.
I quickly learned that my friend shared a very common opinion on the company. It turns out, Media Temple is the hosting company of choice for web developers, designers and creative agencies. Their premium hosting products focus on delivering exceptional quality products and unbelievable 24/7 customer support. Which, you’d better believe, I’ve tested on countless occasions.
And I think that may be the truest difference between Media Temple and other website hosting services. The Media Temple interface is very straightforward. You can typically find what you’re looking for within a few clicks. But, in the event that you can’t, help is a literal click away.
I’ve used their chat support at all hours of the day and night. Situations in which I would have throw my hands in the air out of frustration, they’ve offered simple solutions and explanations so that I could learn to make fixes myself. Details for the support chat, call and email are all easily accessible on every page of the dashboard and you get to talk to real people that are incredibly well versed in the development world. It’s nice for a change.
The cons? They’re few and far between, but there are a few. First, Media Temple was bought by GoDaddy years ago. I know, gag. GoDaddy is notorious in the web design and development community for pretty much sucking on every level and being an absolute pain in the ass to work with. That being said, I’ve yet to notice a dramatic difference in the service I receive. The customer support is still top notch and I really don’t have any complaints about my hosting in general. So, yea. Shocker.
I’ll also add, though, that Media Temple is expensive by web hosting standards. Where you can typically host a website for a promotional price around $3-8 per month in other places, Media Temple will start at $20. Worth it? Depends on the experience you want, but I’d say “yes, absolutely.” In fact, I have for about 5 years and don’t regret it for a minute.
Everyone once in awhile there is a random pretentious customer support guy who will talk to you like you’re stupid. In his defense, the questions I ask at 2 a.m. wouldn’t give you reason to believe otherwise. This still doesn’t ruin the customer service experience for me — most of the support contacts are the bomb. And if you happen to get Tristan W., you’re in for a real treat. That guy is the most helpful and friendly support guy you will talk to anywhere, ever. Be sure to say “hi” for me.
On support alone, I would wholeheartedly recommend giving Media Temple a try. It’s well worth the cost to have that team at your fingertips. You’ll be shocked by how much easier it is to achieve just about anything while working on the back end of your website.
Those Media Temple links up there are affiliate links. You should know that if you click them and then subscribe to their service, their company will toss me some spare change for being cool and helping them advertise. I’d still recommend their services even without that — but as a marketing educator, I feel obligated to make sure you know what you’re clicking on. Cheers!