Say hello to my little friend! Rockaway Hosting
What's up, everyone? Happy Friday. Today, I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce you to a little friend of mine. My friend goes by the name of Rockaway Hosting.
Rockaway Hosting is the web hosting provider that hosts this website. If you've ever wondered why this blog has never been down, Rockaway Hosting is a big reason why. Their service just works.
By the way, if you sign up for web hosting through my affiliate link, you both help me out as well as get a 10% discount on any one, two or three year plans. Just use the ROCK10 discount code when you check out.
Okay - technically, you can use the ROCK10 discount code whether or not you use my affiliate link. But hey, come on now. Show a brother some love?
Why I switched web hosting providers
Before Rockaway Hosting, I used Digital Ocean as my hosting provider. They were good, but their services required a more hands-on approach to managing your digital stuff. They have what are called Droplets, which are little containers that you can pretty much do with however you like (to include hosting your very own website). But, there's no easy-to-use control panel (cPanel is basically the standard).
You gotta do everything yourself at the command line. Configure things by hand. And if something goes wrong, you're on the hook to fix it.
Several months ago, I wanted to switch my blog over to HTTPS. That was possible with Digital Ocean, but quite frankly, I didn't want the headache because there was no control panel or interface that I could use to point and click my way to an HTTPS web site. That, and my technical needs changed over the years of running this blog. I no longer wanted to do everything.
Once upon a time, I wanted the flexibility of complete root (administrative) access to the entire system. Digital Ocean provided that. But, I found that my desire to administer my own hosting environment was waning, and fast.
I wanted my time back. I wanted to point and click my way through everything, including setting up FTP accounts, email addresses and, yes, SSL certificates for HTTPS. I just want everything to be easy.
Rockaway Hosting is just that. Easy.
What is Rockaway Hosting?
Rockaway Hosting is run by two guys - Jim and Tim (yep, even their name's rhyme!). They've been in the hosting game since 2013 after discovering a need for low-cost hosting services within the educational community. Together, they started up Reclaim Hosting, a service designed for college students who need a place to house their digital products.
They rocked it for several years and finally, after a slew of questions and requests, extended their service offering to the general population. That extension is Rockaway Hosting. The service is fairly new, but the guys behind it are veterans. That's what I like the most about it.
What happens if you're running a popular blog somewhere else, but wanna move your digital stash over to Rockaway? It can be a bitch to migrate web hosting environments (trust me, I've done it a ton). They offer migration assistance to help move your stuff with virtually zero downtime.
Pretty damn cool.
By the way, flipping the switch to HTTPS was literally a 5-second change. They support the Let's Encrypt capability through cPanel, making the transition from HTTP over to HTTPS incredibly painless. Insanely easy. That alone made my decision to switch to Rockaway worth the effort.
I've easily done business with 15 or 20 different web hosting providers in my time online, and Rockaway Hosting has easily been the best. Their support has been excellent and nearly instant. Downtime is virtually nonexistent. And heck, it's a lot more satisfying to be treated like a person, not a number.
Give 'em a shot
Okay, I'll end the lovefest. If you're looking to make a switch, give Rockaway Hosting a try. Using my affiliate link helps me out, but you can use the ROCK10 discount code at checkout (even if you didn't use my link) and get 10% off any one, two or three year hosting plans.
Thanks for reading, and happy weekend!