Three reasons to NOT use SiteGround - Review as a customer

So, we have been using SiteGround for web hosting. There were several issues that came up during hosting - but most of them were quickly resolved by the technical support. What went unnoticed that the issue resolutions were not permanent fixes but were 'patches'.

Anyway, two days, I realised that I am not assured an FTP slot to Siteground at all times! I do have a shared server but still, I do not think it is fair to me that I am denied FTP access to my server at any point in time.

The explanation given to me involved talking about number of possible connections and perhaps SiteGround increasing the limit of users -- should it concern me how Siteground manages issues internally? I mean, I have my stuff to take care  -- I do not need to worry about things that should be working normally!

To be fair, I was quite happy with a LOT of things that SiteGround tech support team did.
Tech Support Review:
1) Fast response time - Awesome
2) Helpful responses - Awesome
3) More than one person handling your request (at times) which means you need to explain your issue again because there is a good chance that the third developer (perhaps in the next shift) does not know what transpired before - VERY BAD.
4) Supervisors try to not say things straight up when they know they are mistaken. (This could be a personal observation)

Anyway, the sales team at SiteGround should make it abundantly clear that when a customer signs up to use semi-dedicated hosting services, it does not mean that we are able to connect to the server using FTP at all times. When we are able to connect, it cannot be assured that connections wont drop (given that you are not inactive). However, from observation - I have seen that once I am connected to the server, I am normally able to stay in without a problem.


Conclusion: Be careful of what you are getting into when you begin using SiteGround as your hosting service provider. Their lack of
1) Transparency and inability to give straight answers
2) Resources to ensure seamless functioning and
3) Servers not doing 99% availability. (I have reported several times when our blogging platform was not available - this was reported by customers -- imagine how embarassing it is for a new start-up?)

I have not decided who I am going to approach but I will move out of SiteGround's services very soon.

5 tips on how to engage customers using social media marketing

Have you decided to jump on the social media bandwagon (good for you) ? Do you find yourself complaining that no one comments on our posts, no one shares your updates or re-tweets your tweets, etc.  Without any interaction or payoff, it is normal to begin to wonder if social media is really worth the effort.

What’s lacking is ‘customer engagement’.  Without customer engagement, social media becomes tiresome and boring. Over time, people will stop paying attention.

Question: How do you stimulate engagement?
If you're a small business, before you throw in the towel, I’d like to encourage you read the following engagement suggestions and test them out with your social media audiences.