1st Jun 2023
Website hosting can seem like a bit of a mystery can't it? But we don't want that to be the case with Green Hosting. We believe it's better when our clients understand their hosting account and what to expect from our service so they can make informed choices and comparisons.
So, we have compiled some of the questions we are often asked by clients and people making enquiries with us.
We hope you will find them useful...
Website hosting is how you make your website available online. As a web hosting provider, we allocate space for your website on our hosting server, this is your hosting account. A server is a powerful computer that stores the files that make up your website and then 'serves' them to the internet, where a visitor then accesses pages of your site via their browser. Your e-mails can also be stored and processed at your hosting account.
Green Hosting is powered by renewable energy, generated here in the UK. The data centre where our servers are housed is also designed to run very efficiently. As a Green Hosting client you are supporting us to make an impact in other areas too, such as our charitable donations and voluntary work for local organisations. We also work to run our business responsibly and in a way that contributes to positive change. We really do have a lot to say about all of these things, so head over to our Impact section to find out more.
You can see our hosting plans here. If you already have a website you will need to choose a plan that can accommodate your current usage (disk space and data transfer) or additional usage if you are expanding your website for example. If you're not sure or can't see what your current usage is, we can help you find out. You can easily upgrade or downgrade your Green Hosting plan at a later date.
Yes, as long as the system that runs your website (e.g. WordPress) is compatible with Green Hosting. Green Hosting provides all of the features and services of other regular hosting. We have transferred hundreds of our clients' websites to us. This is a popular service that we provide. Whether you want to transfer a website yourself or let us handle it for you, here is a useful checklist on how to prepare for moving to Green Hosting.
Yes you can and in fact Green Hosting includes auto-installers for various Content Management Systems such as Drupal, WordPress, ExpressionEngine, Joomla, Silverstripe and lots more. If you have a specific CMS in mind and want to know if it will run on Green Hosting, do contact us.
Yes, we can register a domain for you and you can pay for it alongside your hosting account. We are not a domain registrar and so we purchase domains from a third party registrar on your behalf. You do not have to purchase your domain through us and can buy directly from a domain registrar of your choice. If you do this, you will just need to change the domain nameserver details of your domain so that it 'points' to Green Hosting. We will provide the details for you to do this.
Yes, absolutely! You will just need to change the domain nameserver details of your domain so that it 'points' to Green Hosting. We will provide the details for you to do this.
You might need a few extra items as well as your hosting plan. Here are some things you can add:
Simply add these in the shopping cart during the checkout process (prices are shown in the checkout).
Yes, with up to two Add On domains you can run a total of 3 websites at your hosting account. You will need to make sure that these websites do not exceed the resources (disk space and data transfer) available within your hosting plan.
Yes, you can have multiple e-mail addresses with all of our Green Hosting plans.
We provide helpful and clear support for our Green Hosting clients. You can see the positive feedback we have received on our Testimonials page. Support is provided securely via our helpdesk, which is separate from your hosting account and means that we can still communicate with each other if you're having problems with your e-mails. If you are not a Green Hosting client yet but have a question, please use our contact form to get in touch.
You can find more in-depth information about the support we provide in our Support section.
If you have any other questions about Green Hosting, do get in touch.
24th May 2023
The League Against Cruel Sports have been working to protect animals from hunting, shooting and animal fighting since 1927. They have lead and facilitated some amazing achievements in those decades and continue to do so.
Here at Make Hay and Green Hosting, with our 18 years of business, we are mere youngsters in comparison. However, from the day we founded our company we decided that we would not provide services for any organisation or individual that uses animals in sports and certainly never blood sports. This is still included in our ethical policy today.
We are now delighted to have joined with The League Against Cruel Sports and many other ethical businesses to pledge that we do not and will not promote, support or enable blood sports. Together we can send a clear message that these vile practices are not wanted and should not be a part of our society.
Visit the Business Without Blood Sports Pledge page to find out more and to sign up.
20th Apr 2023
If you're thinking of moving your website to Green Hosting, that's great news. We are here to answer your questions, offer support and make the process as smooth as possible.
When you transfer to us, you may wish to handle the move yourself or we can do it for you. Either way, there are some things that are useful to have ready in advance to make sure the transition happens quickly and without unnecessary hitches.
Here's a useful checklist to prepare for moving to Green Hosting:
Take an inventory of what you have and what you would like to transfer.
So you can get a clear picture of the work involved (especially if someone is transferring the website for you) it is useful to check and list all the things you need to transfer. Are you moving one or more websites and how many e-mail accounts? Do you have add-on domains? What are the files and databases?
Make sure you have access to your current website files and e-mails
Do you or someone who looks after the website for you have the log-in details for your current website hosting account and e-mail accounts? Check that the log-in details work and that you can see everything that you wish to move (website files, databases, e-mails etc).
Make sure you have access to your domain account
Do you have the log-in details for your domain account? This may be part of your website hosting account or with a separate provider. You will need to be able to change the settings of your domain to 'point' it to Green Hosting once your website and e-mails have moved to us.
Check which Green Hosting plan you need
You can see our hosting plans here. You will need to choose a plan than can accommodate your current usage (disk space and data transfer) or additional usage if you are expanding your website for example. If you're not sure and can't see what your current usage is, we can help you find out. You can easily upgrade or downgrade your Green Hosting plan at a later date.
I'd rather not handle the transfer myself, can Green Hosting do this for me?
Yes, we will need to establish all of the above and with those details we can take care of the transfer for you. See our testimonials page for clients' feedback on our transfer service.
How much does it cost for Green Hosting to handle the website transfer?
Transfer from another web host is £25 per website and £10 per e-mail account. For websites hosted at WordPress.com this is a more complex and involved process and starts at £99.
My current website hosting is due to expire and I want to move. How close to the expiry date should I do this?
We suggest a minimum of two weeks before your current hosting expiry. This allows time to transfer the website without being in a rush. It also means you can make sure the website is running smoothly and check that nothing has been left behind at the previous hosting account.
How much down time will there be?
When we handle the transfer for you, we aim for no downtime. We do this by making sure that the website and e-mails are all in place at Green Hosting before changing the domain nameserver details. We will agree a suitable time for this to happen so that it doesn't coincide with anything else you have scheduled for your website.
How do I get started?
Sign up for one of our hosting plans and select 'Website Transfer Service' (or Transfer from WordPress.com) in the checkout. We will then get in touch with you to arrange the transfer.
When will Green Hosting start charging me?
As soon as you sign up for your hosting account with us, you will pay for the first month or a whole year (plus website transfer fee if needed), depending on how you choose to pay. Paying for a full year gives a discount and you can get a further 20% discount on all annual plans by using the code WINDPOWER in the checkout.
If there is anything else you'd like to know, please get in touch.
17th Apr 2023
When I first read this client origin story from the founders of Thinking Outside, I could feel their energy bouncing through their words. Here they are with a refreshing, effective, important and frankly fun sounding way to do things differently...
Hello. We’re Sophie Lovejoy and Sara Corcoran from Thinking Outside Ltd, and we passionately believe that you and your team would do well to get out more.
Do you dread team days? Stuck inside a meeting room all day and often not covering the topics that really need to be discussed, do they really deliver what businesses need? Often the louder voices dominate the conversation, and it can be harder to engage the full breadth of ideas and experience present. Many people feel uncomfortable talking in this setting and dread being asked to contribute, preferring to keep quiet.
There is growing evidence that taking your thinking outside in nature gives better and longer-lasting results than traditional team events. More and more businesses are adopting this approach and seeing an increase in productivity, creativity and wellbeing as a result.
Thinking Outside clients talk about the richer and deeper conversations that are possible walking side by side and how the use of outdoor spaces results in deeper relationship building and more innovative thinking. What we do is especially relevant to the post covid world, building strong relationships across members of teams who spend much of their time interacting through their screens.
As well as providing team days – clients find our approach particularly effective for teams that aren’t running as smoothly as they might like – we can support with formulating strategy, developing a vision or reimagining a process. Our events are designed to be inclusive so all members of your team can be equally heard and involved. What we don’t do is outward bound-style challenges… we walk, talk, build connections and get commitment to action.
Our office can be field, forest, riverside, hill or park. In fact anywhere that works for our clients.
We have known each other for over 20 years and both have a focus on developing teams and individuals, despite having done different things throughout our careers.
Sara has a background in Organisational Development (OD) and HR so making workplaces the best they can be and developing organisations, teams and individuals has long been at the heart of her purpose. After a career culminating as Director of HR and OD helping to establish a new university, Sara qualified in 2020 as a Coach and established a private practice, working with Senior Executives and their teams.
Sophie has had a portfolio career and alongside her OD work in and with universities, she has done a range of things, from running rocket car workshops in schools for Bloodhound Education, to managing a café at a music festival for a few years. She’s also conducted over three hundred funerals in two decades working as an independent Humanist celebrant.
When Sara was introduced to the concept of coaching “in and with nature”, they soon discovered that this way of working played to both their strengths. This led to a conversation in early 2021 about working together and the creation of Thinking Outside.
Since then, we have worked in various locations across the UK with clients from a variety of sectors. In every case, we’ve found that getting teams and groups to take their thinking outside has deep and lasting results. An added bonus is that we reckon that happens around three times as quickly as we could achieve inside a meeting room. Our clients tell us that working in this way is hugely beneficial, and even the most sceptical of attendees have become converts to our approach. In fact, sometimes they become our biggest advocates and want to know when we’ll be working with them again!
Our passion and purpose is about helping teams and organisations develop and meet their goals alongside enjoying, appreciating and nurturing our natural world, having a heap of fun along the way. We still can’t believe how lucky we are to wear hiking boots to work!
Find Thinking Outside online:
Website: thinking-outside.co.uk
Instagram: instagram.com/thinkingout2021
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/thinking-outside-ltd
Facebook: facebook.com/ThinkingOut2021
5th Apr 2023
Last May we shared how we are focussing our efforts on supporting clean energy and nature, in addition to what we do via our core services and business practice. Nearly a year on we feel that these issues are just as important as ever, if not more. So here's an update on how we are expanding on what we already do and the causes and organisations we are backing.
It is now commonly understood that access to green spaces positively affects our wellbeing. Better still, real connection, such as conservation activities and growing food and flowers in harmony with nature brings a whole new level of understanding about the natural world and our place in it.
Keep nature healthy = keep ourselves healthy.
I (Vic) am a keen nature lover. I garden at home and I spend time walking with our dog in various natural environments. Additionally, over the past few years I have been involved in local urban community gardens and gardening. I know how fortunate I am and I know all too well that there are many people who do not have this kind of access to nature. On top of this, nature is being threatened by harmful legislation, corporates prioritising profit over the planet and the continuation of destructive developments like HS2.
There are individuals and organisations everywhere who are experts in nature conservation and organic food growing, particularly the unsung heroes in inner-city community gardens. Here you will find a wealth of knowledge and experience that anyone can tap into for free, not to mention a fierce passion for the environment and a deep care for people and their access to healthy food and time outdoors. On a wider scale there are regional and national charities working hard to shine a light on eco injustices and tackling them head on. These are the people we look to for guidance on how best to support.
So below, is an outline of where we are focussing our support this year and will review again next year to see what is effective, how we can best help and more we can do in our capacity as a small business.
The food system is quite broken. Out of season fruit and veg are flown thousands of miles to be packaged and then to a supermarket shelf. Soils are massively depleted, harmful chemicals are sprayed on crops and bees are farmed at industrial levels to pollinate fruit grown in unnatural environments. At a time when people are going hungry, there needs to be more accessible, affordable food that isn't just healthier for the people but for the planet too.
Current renewable energy solutions may not be perfect but we believe we should continue to support it's growth.
Through the activies listed above, we are working towards Sustainable Development Goal 15 'Life on Land'. See our Impact page for details about the sustainable development goals we focus on.
Green Hosting works handsomely with:
Auto-installer now available on all accounts
