Do you think having a forum for your hosting buisness is a good or bad idea, i see companies like burst and hg running them with good sucsess, it seems to me it allows customers to get to know staff and feel part of a community within your company, aswell customers can get support from other customers instead of opening tickets.
I think it also allows potential clients to see what existing clients feel about your service and allows them to see how helpfull support can be

What are your views on company forums, if you run one how sucsessful do you find it being?

It depends if its active, We have one and it works.. but it looks stupid without active users.

every forum though would have 0 users to start unless you had some sort of login share with your billing system

I think any option you can give your customer to choose from is a plus as long as its not a major expense. I just setup our forum, hoping that it will help once were up. Id say forum is a plus, better to try it and remove it than not at all.

As additional channel to support customers and as a result creating something like broadened FAQ

Also it helps with search engines, our forum gets good traffic from google.

Definitely a bad thing. Won't recommend it. A blog is enough to keep clients updated. For support that's why you have support tickets systems.

But are you speaking from experiance from chineese hosting, i think uk/uk markets find forums more helpful

I agree it seem to have more bad potential then good.

You risk having every customer with a complaint posting and leaving a lasting history of problems. Assuming you don't go through and delete threads, which would be looked upon negatively, you're going to end up scaring off potential customers who are seeing all the negative problem threads. Even if you promptly reply, people will look at the title and assume something is wrong. Not everyone is going to bother to read some random thread to see if you replied in a prompt and professional manner or if the problem was legit or customer pebkac.

As well, if I noticed that the support forums was getting more replies from other customers then a paid support staff... I would think something is wrong with that situation.

Free Dedicated Server Support 24/7: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2 :p

You could always adopt a feedback policy and feedback system, to assure that such comments wouldnt be permitted on the forum, quick fix and keep the public forum support open.

If you are responsive there then it will be fine. The problem you could potentially run into if it isn't used often is not being very responsive. Which is basically there for all to see.

I agree it seem to have more bad potential then good.

You risk having every customer with a complaint posting and leaving a lasting history of problems. Assuming you don't go through and delete threads, which would be looked upon negatively, you're going to end up scaring off potential customers who are seeing all the negative problem threads. Even if you promptly reply, people will look at the title and assume something is wrong. Not everyone is going to bother to read some random thread to see if you replied in a prompt and professional manner or if the problem was legit or customer pebkac.

As well, if I noticed that the support forums was getting more replies from other customers then a paid support staff... I would think something is wrong with that situation.

Free Dedicated Server Support 24/7: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=2 :p

This was my initial thinking whenever the idea of a forum was brought up but when it comes down to it, I don't think the above situation would happen often if you're a legit / honest host.

I would like to think of us as a very honest company yet we've had our dealing with some pretty pissed clients who walk away from our service. With that said, if they ever went public with a post or anything I'd be 100% willing to support my comments and decisions. Simply reply to their thread with your side of the story and move on. Just look how many companies in the past have had their name splashed all over WHT in a negative manner... they're still in business and doing fine.

As for your clients providing more support then your paid staff. This isn't a problem. It's a forum! The whole idea is to get help quickly... regardless of who it's from. If you need instant support, create a ticket.

I vote that a forum is a good idea!

Company forums are only ideal and beneficial when you have enough users that will participate.

In which case, it is a great addition since you are giving your customers the ability to discuss/share ideas that they have and also about your company.

Crissic has a forums, but rarely is it used yet. it is a good idea, but I would wait until you had more customers.

If you already have the customer base to use it then yes, if you dont then no, potential customers who visit will always look at an active forum positively and a very quiet one negatively.

They will use a forum to assess how good you are. Negative comments are not always a bad thing as long as they are dealt with correctly, you cant keep everyone happy all of the time and you will get complaints, its all about the way you deal with them in an open environment.

Stick to good informative content thats date stamped showing when it went on and make sure its regularly updated to display there are people working the site until you have enough customers to make a forum worthy.

Its not about number of customers its also having a customer base that would take advantage of company forums.

When you have some good numbers open one and let people know and see if its not used much close it pretty quickly, nothing worse than a half empty forum.

When you have some good numbers open one and let people know and see if its not used much close it pretty quickly, nothing worse than a half empty forum.

My hosting company uses the forum as a way to comunicate if things go wrong... I believe it is still hosted off-site in another datacenter...

That way if things go wrong, they can communicate with customers.

Plus, the only time I see "active" hosting forums is when people are dazed and confused about what is being offered or having "little" or "major" issues here and there. lol... I like hosting forums without much activity (although, it could mean they don't have a lot of customers.. lol)

I'll be brief, because I could seriously write pages and pages about this subject. :)

I have had great success with using a forum for hosting, infact I built a community (HTTPme) around a hosting service, and have duplicated that since.

Potential hosting clients love to see a forum, and so do existing clients. If you have a section where clients can post a review, and update their review, that's pure marketing gold. A forum says to a potential client that you're confident and don't mind exposing yourself to a level of vulnerability, so long as you don't go deleting everything that's negative. Negative posts can be a huge asset, in that others can see how you handle such incidents in public. Keep your cool, apologise if you've stuffed up, admit if you're wrong. That's ok, folks accept that.

Your forum can serve as a communications channel between you and your clients, and it can be a very efficient channel in times of server issues etc. Each server forum can be subscribed to by email by your clients, and if a server has an issue, post a quick 5 second announcement, and then work hard on fixing the issue. Yes, hosts can walk and chew gum at the same time, believe it or not. You'd be amazed at how many tickets this will stop from hitting your helpdesk, provided you make your clients aware to subscribe to their server forum, and provided you're quick on the announcements.

Your forum can also facilitate user to user support, which can be a good level of support before your helpdesk. You could also build your knowledgebase in your forum too. This not only helps clients but can give your forum a sense of not being a ghosttown, if you're just starting out. You should be able to add around 50 posts in a knowledgebase, if you do it right.

Your forum connects you to your clients in a deeper way, especially if you are active on the forum and create a sense of community. You need to be very professional, yet you can have some fun too. We humans crave a sense of belonging, and this transpires online with online communities.

Google loves content, and you'd be amazed at how much traffic Google can drive to a fairly large forum, deep with content. Add a product like VBSEO to that, and it's like a forum on sterioids, as far as Google is concerned.

How do I know if a forum is right for my business? Good question, as not everyone has the personality necessary to run a successful forum. Some hosts would do more damage to their brand with a forum, because they lack the necessary people skills and diplomacy. It takes a LOT of effort to build a good forum, that produces a good vibe, but the rewards are great and worth the effort.

and Bob knows how to run a forum better than most of us ;)

Indeed he does.

Your absolutely right Bob but especially the part about how a forum does not suit every host. I would go as far to say that it suits a minority. But if done right as you say it can be very rewarding in more ways than one.

If your concerned about it being negative i guess you could dip your toes in the water.

Have the support section customers only so its not available to Google/Guests. Then have other sections like tutorials, webmaster marketplace and other positive sections opened up to grab search traffic.

If the support section works out as having a good, helpful vibe open it up as this has lots of keyword rich text and creates a family atmosphere to potential customers.

I like hosts with a forum, when i have issues i head there before creating a ticket and normally solve my own problem.

. . . Your absolutely right Bob but especially the part about how a forum does not suit every host. I would go as far to say that it suits a minority.
I'd agree with that, mostly. I think the minority could be a little more in the middle, but it does take a certain personality to create and maintain a (good) forum, if you're a host. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but I thrive on it. :)

We just recently added a forum and to be honest its not really my thing. I hope it works out and know it will take some time for it to start being active.

Its a good idea to keep people informed and help build a place for people to exchange ideas. But its a lot of work and can get tedious. A blog might give you the exposure you are looking for without the need for ongoing attention for a forum.

I vote for the forum

Extra channel of support, allows you to chat with the clients, make sure they are happy. The social chat makes them feel more welcome.

With regards to the workload, generally you will find theres a couple of very knowledgeable members who love to help out and answer questions which takes the workload off.

On one of my hosts about 95% of the technical question threads are answered by a few of the members. Anything requiring the host to correct issues they advise the user to create a ticket and tell them what to say.

The benefit to this is the tickets get crafted with specific details and terminology instead of a non-technical users 3 page biography you cant understand.

The system works exceptionally well, you could even go one step further and give these users a forum helper tag and a small reduction on their hosting.

I too vote for a forum.

It will help both clients and business owners. They can reduce the follow of tickets, when a down time happens, just make a Flash news! But a lot of home work needed to buildup an ACTIVE forum.

A forum is a good idea given you have the people skills and the time/staff to manage the forum.

If a potential client views your forum to see 250 spam threads... You're probably less likely to close the deal than you would have been otherwise.

It can be a good thing or a bad thing and it is all in how the forum is managed.