Recommending a web host is not the type of post that I ever thought I’d be writing, but sometimes a company comes along that just blows you away with fantastic customer service and the only right thing to do is tell everyone you know how great they are. Black Chicken Host is just such a company, and Erin, the founder, delivers the best service I’ve found anywhere.
When I was looking for a web host a year ago, I looked into Black Chicken Host because I liked the idea of supporting a small business that catered to those with websites related to sustainable living. I knew next to nothing about web hosts; when I sent an email inquiring about their service, I was happy with the quick, personal reply I received. Erin was willing to take the time to answer all of my questions even though she knew I would only be purchasing their smallest package if I did choose them.
I’m not really all that interested in the technical side of things and when I made the switch to a self-hosted site, Erin took care of everything for me. Their website says, “If you’re interested in learning more about how your website works so you can be more self-sufficient, we are happy to teach you. If you’d rather not know, and just want us to do the dirty work for you, that’s ok, too!” Erin knew I would rather be out in the garden and when I checked on the progress of my website, it looked perfect. She even added an email sign-up with Feedburner to my site, and got me set up with Google Analytics so that I could track my stats.
Every time I have contacted Black Chicken Host with questions, I receive a quick response. No question is too small. I recently decided to switch my email list manager from Feedburner to MailChimp. Some strange problems cropped up that I couldn’t solve on my own, so I contacted Black Chicken Host to see if they could help. Despite the fact that this problem had nothing to do with their service and was not their problem, Erin quickly and happily found the problem and fixed it. When I thanked her for her help, she had this to say, “This is why I’m in the business – to help people like you who want to share information with the world, but who aren’t computer nerds. I love your blog, and I’m so happy to be a small part of helping you!” Who says such things? Try getting that kind of service from one of the big guys!
Erin has a great sense of humor, too. This was Black Chicken Host‘s facebook page status recently:
We read logfiles every day, so you don’t have to! I know, I know – the life of a systems administrator *sounds* glamorous and elegant (ha,) but (spoiler alert) it’s not. Leave the nerdery to us, so you can focus on your content.
If you want to know all of their services and all of the technical details, check out Black Chicken Host’s website. It’s all over my head and I’d just mess it up if I tried to explain. But really, this is a company you won’t be sorry you did business with!
