Nobody wants to have their hosting suspended. Aside from the trouble it’ll take to get it back up, it can be a serious setback for your website, and it could even mean that your rankings on Google and other search engines will take a hit.
Your customers will be unable to gain access to your site as well.
This not only means that you could be missing out on new customers, but existing ones might struggle to settle their business with you. This is a black spot on your reputation that it could take a long time to repair.
In this article, we’ll help you to make sure nothing like this ever happens to you by making sure you understand why sites get their hosting suspended. This will allow you to make sure you don’t make the same mistakes.
1. Not Paying Your Bill
It won’t come as a surprise that you need to pay your bills to keep your site up. Web hosting costs money, so don’t forget to make your payments when they’re due.
Keep in mind that there might be hidden costs in the fine print of your contract.
It’s very important that you make yourself aware of these things before they have time to bite you, so make sure you know what you’re agreeing to and can comply before you sign anything.
Of course, it’s also possible that you might just have missed an invoice, so check your email – including your spam folder – regularly.
2. The Content You Hosted Was Illegal
Of course, laws differ around the world, so what this content might have been depends on the laws of the country doing this hosting.
In practice, however, it usually means that you were hosting something pirated, or were hosting something that facilitates piracy in some way.
For instance, if you were allowing visitors to stream movies without permission, you would probably have fallen foul of copyright law.
There are some other possibilities though, depending on the circumstances. These might include hate speech, pornography, and so on.
3. You Violated Copyright
This one overlaps with the last one somewhat. You cannot, of course, just take somebody else’s intellectual property and then use it as if it were yours.
If you are caught, then if you’re lucky, you might just get asked to stop.
However, it’s just as likely that the aggrieved party will contact your host to inform them that they’re hosting stolen content, meaning that they’ll likely stop hosting your site.
Whether they give you a warning and an opportunity to rectify the situation depends on the host. Hosting content like this also puts you at risk of legal action, so be careful with what you allow onto your site.
4. Violating The Host’s Terms Of Service
This is another case where there might be some overlap with the last two, since violating copyright and hosting illegal content will almost certainly constitute a violation of the host’s terms of service in themselves.
That’s not all, however. Web hosts will also have other rules, and their interpretation of these rules is usually the one that matters.
So, again, it’s a case of making sure you know what you’re agreeing to before you sign any legal documents.
Note also that specific requirements can vary between different hosts, so if you have experience with one, don’t assume that you already know everything you need to about another.
Otherwise, you might find yourself on the wrong end of a suspension.
5. Your Website Consumed More Than Its Share Of Resources
This condition only usually applies if your website is hosted on a shared server and it’s consuming server or CPU resources to the extent that other websites sharing the same server are being negatively impacted as a result.
This might happen because you’re getting a high amount of traffic, or the traffic is of a dynamic nature.
Consider that this can sometimes be the result of bots, so make sure your firewall’s working properly.
Otherwise, the best solution here is to get a better web hosting package that will allow you to use more resources, whether that’s with the same host or another one.
6. Your Site Is Involved In Spamming
While spamming isn’t actually illegal, generally speaking, it’s still something that nobody likes. As a result, it’s common for web hosting companies to suspend sites that engage in it.
If you’re thinking about a campaign of unsolicited emails to promote your site, or are going to other sites to post annoying messages promoting your own, think twice.
You might end up with your site suspended rather than more visitors.
7. Your Site Is Involved In Phishing
Spamming is irritating and could get your site suspended on that basis alone, but phishing isn’t just annoying – it’s actually illegal as well.
In case you didn’t know, phishing is the practice of dishonestly collecting people’s bank details or other financial information using fake websites or services.
These details are then typically used in other crimes like scams or identity theft.
If you get caught phishing, having your website suspended will probably be the least of your worries, as the police will also be likely to take an interest in you.
Thankfully, it’s pretty difficult to engage in phishing accidentally, so for most people, this isn’t something they’ll need to spend much time worrying about.
Final Thoughts
So, as you can see, there are several different reasons why a host might suspend your website. It could be as simple as forgetting to pay your bill, or there could be something more serious at work.
In any case, it’s a good idea to be aware of your site: the activity it hosts, how it’s used, and who it’s used by. Keeping on top of all these things should keep your site online.
While it’s understandable to panic if you suddenly find that your site’s been taken offline, most issues are temporary and can be easily resolved once you’ve identified the problem.
Hello, my name is Matthew Jacobs and I have made a living on various blogs and websites. But, trust me, I haven’t always been able to say that with such confidence.
Hopefully this website can teach others and help you in getting your blog out there, capitalizing on it as much as you can, and can serve as the kind of resource I wish I had had. So, what are you waiting for? Get out there and make a name for yourself!
