From www.TechRepublic.com. What do you think?

Is Web hosting rebounding?

Things may be looking up for the Web hosting industry. Over the past few weeks, I've noticed a marked upturn in requests for services. Also, there seems to be more interest from those who want to go into the Web hosting business. Is this surge in interest due to a boom in new business upstarts? I'm not sure, but personally I feel it's more than that.

We have all heard that the economy is hurting. Things appear especially bad in the IT sector. Although this is due to many factors, the dot-com fallout compounded the situation. Regional ISPs, which rely heavily on hosting Web pages, watched new sign-ups slow over the past year. During this slowdown, most new Web hosting business came from customers changing hosts because they are not happy with their current service. But these are normal, transition customers, not new customers in a growing and expanding industry. The good news is that in the past two to three weeks, there has been a sudden burst of inquiries and sign-ups that are representative of a possible rebound. Even better, I've received many calls from existing customers inquiring about enhancing their services, such as adding database capabilities.

The fact that consumers are contemplating new businesses or want to invest in site improvements speaks volumes about a potential economy rebound and its positive impact on the Web hosting industry. All indications are that customers who use baseline-hosting services are ready to invest in more complicated Web solutions.

So let's assume that the economy is rebounding and the second wave of e-business is upon us. Many businesses are just beginning to delve into the potentials of interactive Web pages, and they will need enhanced Web hosting offerings to do this. What types of services will these companies need? First they will need to expand their Web sites' capabilities from being mostly static sites. This means a need for a healthy influx of SQL and other types of specialty hosting, in particular, the Microsoft platform, the open source platforms, Cold Fusion, Streaming, and SSL services.

As the economy improves, many companies will make the choice to collocate their servers. The reasoning is that they're tired of dealing with ISP administrators who impose restrictive rules and guidelines on shared servers. Some Web hosts may view collocation as a threat. But for every one company that collocates, three more sign up for basic hosting services. There is plenty of room for growth in an expanding hosting market.

I believe the regional hosting industry should see continued growth in the marketplace. I also foresee more specialty providers beginning to materialize as we grow. The Web hosting industry is a marketplace where intelligence and service will count as much as big equipment, big network, and branding. There's room for everyone and also room for expansion. The only hosts that have a need for concern are the hosts that do not provide specialty or high-end services. These hosts might see customers move on to better things.

Norman Schippert is CEO of BluegrassNet, a regional Internet service provider in Louisville, KY.

I can't keep up with the new orders, I'm fixing to have to hire someone to help out.

Getting 10-20 per day the last few weeks. I'm looking at critical mass in literally 6 more weeks or so. I've discovered how much fun word of mouth can be!

I'm quite ecstatic at the success.

Would you care to share any of your secrets on having such great success with word of mouth??? Ie... do you have any referral programs in place, etc?

I am sure all of us would love a few pointers on how to get the most from our current client base!

Thanks!

WOF

Word Of Mouth

simple

Mike from adehost

My company Adehost.com

Originally posted by mpope
Would you care to share any of your secrets on having such great success with word of mouth??? Ie... do you have any referral programs in place, etc?

I am sure all of us would love a few pointers on how to get the most from our current client base!

Thanks!

http://www.dixiesys.com/index.php?display=referral

Funny thing is, most don't bother with chasing down their referral. :eek:

I try to keep extremely fast response times on email enquiries. Most people seemed honestly surprised when they call and someone answers the phone.

There isn't a lot you can do to seperate yourself from all the other web hosting companies. Price? Someone will be cheaper. Bandwidth? Someone will offer more. Diskspace? same. Features? Someone will add more. So customer service is the one thing you can do to make yourself stand out in the crowded market.

I just hope I can find some help that will be as worried as I am about customer satisfaction...

The advent of disruptive technologies like WSDL (Web Services)
Many applications will now need to be hosted. Of course smaller hosting companies will still grow, this is now the time of bigger hosting companies to get back to their previosly failed ASP model.

Originally posted by Dixiesys

Most people seemed honestly surprised when they call and someone answers the phone.

Lol i cant tell you how many hosts i used to go threw that had that great 24-7 tech phone support but, when u call anytime outside of 12-3 no one answered

if i was back in those days and called and u answered id be jumping up and down to

I am completely disgusted to have to say this, but it's the truth. Website design goes a long way, if you have a really flashy website, and it is advertised in many places, and gives off that "big corporate feel" you will likely find yourself with more business. I do small amounts of "technical support" for a small corporation consisting of < 5 employee's which uses this method. To be blunt, their services are second rate, their technical support is nearly non existant, and their telephone support is 95% answering machine, 5% chance you will get the owner.

When you look at them from the distance you wonder how soon they will fall, but they simply do not, and the only explanation i can give is the fancy website design and promotion. Don't ask me how or why, but my guess is since they give off a large corporate feel, many clients won't leave them because they fear the rest of the market must be in the same shape.

This is not by any means encouragement for a company to drop tech support and service quality in exchange for a fancy site design, but i've seen it with my own two eyes, it's completely disgusting, but it's the truth, I kid you not.

:sickface:

For the majority of hosts the business has remained good-the only exception being immediately after 911 at which time there was little interest in anything.

Unless you are hosting one of the huge dot.com failures you really aren't affected by all thats going on. On the other hand, some who targeted only a large complex corporate market with lots of start up high techs may be.

I believe our biggest economic concern as hosts is the health of our suppliers. As such, having all your eggs in one basket is flirting with disaster. Some of the largest, most renowned NOC's and Telecommunication providers have serious financial problems.

Hi all, its interesting reading what you are saying, I have just set up a new website www.ukspace4u.co.uk and i need some customers..........the word of mouth concept is true its what most people say, but how do you find the first few customers to start spreading the word.....I ran a small hosting site before and had a few customers, mainly uni students etc who need space for their coursework.
I am on AOL and am a regular in their webbuilding chat room where there are often people looking for hosting, however i have a mate who runs a company called hostone and most people go to him as they know about him.
I have a couple of posters put up by a friend and am working on getting some business cards made, but i really do need some customers and i only have a small budget so i cant afford high profile website advertising.

Jo

tazd9t9: check my post in the running a webhosting biz about advertising. I am approaching the same dilema as you on some level, but I've been making plans regarding it for some time. Hosting in exchange of banner advertising for high traffic sites is a good way to start, but eats your resources naturally.

Hi Jo,

Just a few things:

1) VAT - unless you're registered for VAT then you can't charge it, on your site you say all prices exclude VAT @ 17.5%

2) You have a few spelling mistakes in various areas on your site.

3) Nochex and PayPal don't look professional to the customer as ways of payment, they are fine for auctions but they don't give that business image.

.. whats VAT? (never heard of that term before, is that some kinda american term? sounds a little high to be a tax =)

VAT = Value Added Tax

Companies can claim back VAT on goods they purchase for their business.

Originally posted by porcupine
.. whats VAT? (never heard of that term before, is that some kinda american term? sounds a little high to be a tax =)

VAT is only applicable to residents in the UK, people who are not British can claim it back.
If a company is VAT registered (which means, in general, your annual turnover must be £50,000+), then they can claim it back.

VAT is the equivalent to sales tax in the US.

Hi the VAT Isn't charged by me it is charged by the company i buy the domain names off
and i can't afford a merchant account

I take it that you charge the customers for the domains? If so then you have to take the VAT into account on the prices you charge your customers.

Hi, ive fixed the spelling an included the VAT i am just about to upload the pages again:o
I meant that about the merchant account tho, i cant afford the high prices banks etc charge

Hi i have one more thing about this board not hosting, how long do u have to be on here or how many posts do you have to make to go up from newbie?

30 posts brings you to the next level... junior guru wannab i believe.

Originally posted by Dixiesys


http://www.dixiesys.com/index.php?display=referral

Funny thing is, most don't bother with chasing down their referral. :eek:


Hey we have set up the exact same referral system a couple months ago. And, yes, we get new clients who mention being sent by 'x' and then 'x' never applies for their refund.

Duh?

Hi, whats your view on referals as it is a thing i have considered doing on my site.

You cant charge vat unless your vat registered. If you try to do so you will get people trying to claim back the vat.

Hi, I am not charging VAT it was from my domain company but i have now taken it off and given the full price