Results 1 to 19 of 19
  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    9,851

    Multiple hosting sites

    What are your opinions on a host using multiple sites.
    By that I don't mean 5 sites all pointing to the same domain.
    I mean 2 entirely different hosting sites.
    For instance, one might be designed to appeal to the business professional and another might appeal to younger people.

  2. #2
    This is common practice for most other industries, why should hosting differ. For example, Honda is geared towards teenages, young adults and the like. While Acura is more for the 30+ range of adults. They are both the same company but have two different brands.
    LipWeb.Net
    "Less Lip More Service"
    Providing Quality Hosting at Fair Prices
    AIM: LipWebNet MSN: daniel[at]lipweb.net [color=red]

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Location
    rules.php
    Posts
    783
    I think it's not a professional business.
    As if you want to grow and offer a service you have to put yourself under one name not 2 , 3...
    Maybe something like for hosting www.host.com and for domains www.hostnic.com but making it www.host1.com www.2host.com etc.. doesn't seem professional to me.

    That's my opinion...
    BUY SELL WEBMASTER GOODS AT OnlyWebmasters.Com Auctions
    CHECK YOUR GOOGLE PAGERANK CLICK HERE

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Nov 2002
    Posts
    509
    Running two different sites for adult and non-adult hosting like nocster.com and unrestricted.net may be one thing but if a host is running two sites for say non-adult hosting only then I'll be tempted to investigate a little further before hosting with them.

    Just my $0.02

  5. #5
    It depends totally on the markets you're trying to capture. Obviously the adult hosting is one that most people would think is a legit split in business, however there are other reasons to do it as well.

    I don't think anyone here would say that someone like Aussie Bob is someone that you would look further into before hosting with him, but he runs httpME and he's starting up a second company that is focusing on gaining local business. Having an international market and going after a local market are two different beasts.

    A business might want to offer budget hosting under one name, but high end hosting on another.

    A company might do linux hosting under one brand, but may want Windows hosting under another. This is something that I am seriously considering right now because of merger talks. It's simply a matter of your business model and what you're wanting to focus on with each brand.

    Bottom line is, I don't see anything wrong with it at all. Having different business names for the same audiences is questionable though.
    www.square-network.com www.squarenetwork.com
    Now available in regular and dehyphenated.
    May 2003 Member of the Month
    Useless Community Liason Ever Since.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    United States
    Posts
    3,683
    Personally, I agree that I think it looks fine. If you want to target different audiences, then I think it's a great idea. I don't think offering the same packages on each website is a good idea, but maybe catering to the needs of different audiences and offering a high transfer hosting and normal hosting is a good reason, or windows and linux platforms, etc. I have been considering this option as well lately to cater to the local market.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Location
    Under Your Skin
    Posts
    5,904
    I have over 15 sites.

    Three of my sites have one specific product and one has all products.

    Another site, related to all four, is a free site with links to my other sites. I also have a site geared toward people who want info fast... it has a limited amount of information about the products. More or less a purchase page, and brief intro of products.

    I think it is smart to have different sites. You can experiment with marketing on one site and not touch another site. You can run trials on one and not on another. You can mix up all kinds of things to see what works for you and your sites, with your products. With one site you can't really do that well... of course, in my openion.

    The downside is it takes a lot of time to manage several sites and do the things I mentioned. With several sites marketing can be a dream or a nightmare. A lot of planning and execution can make your multiple site dream a "dream come true". Jump out and intro multiple sites without thinking about will be your "he_l".
    Windows 10 to Linux and Mac OSX: I'm PARSECs better than you. Eat my dust!!!

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    9,851
    Originally posted by Lippy
    This is common practice for most other industries, why should hosting differ. For example, Honda is geared towards teenages, young adults and the like. While Acura is more for the 30+ range of adults. They are both the same company but have two different brands.
    One argument about this is that even though Honda may put out different brands the Honda lable is always on them all.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    Multi branding is common practise in all industries.

    For hosting its too easy to do. Once you have your resources in place there is nothing stopping you using several brands to gain a larger market share.

    For example:
    You might have www.cheapcrappyhost.com for selling packages on WHT and then www.premiumbusinesshosting.com for selling packages to your local business market. When infact both sites place their packages on the same servers. Just common sense
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Canada
    Posts
    9,851
    I quickly scurry to register cheapcrappyhost.com

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    Originally posted by blue27
    I quickly scurry to register cheapcrappyhost.com
    Its all about brand awareness within your chosen market
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  12. #12
    Originally posted by UH-Matt
    You might have www.cheapcrappyhost.com for selling packages on WHT
    OK, that was funny.

    I don't see anything particularly wrong with multiple brands - we do it ourselves, in fact. It's not quite as extreme as Matt's example, naturally, but does target a different, niche audience than the flagship (for lack of a better word) site does. Very common, although I doubt it would be of much use to a very new company.
    Annette
    Hosting Matters, Inc.
    Superior service. Sensible price.

  13. #13
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    Yes, my example was maybe a little extreme, but perfectly valid
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  14. #14
    It is indeed. Domain's still available at this moment - better register it before someone takes your idea. You and Suck Ass Host will dominate the market.
    Annette
    Hosting Matters, Inc.
    Superior service. Sensible price.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    Check this out...

    http://www.crappyhosting.com/
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  16. #16
    Speaking of multiple brands:

    What if I don't want to be associated with the name "Crappy Hosting"?
    [We have another company known as MyNetCreations for our clients that are more business oriented. If you would like an account through them then please feel free to ask. The website should be up soon and you will be able to place orders directly through that website.]

    There is a mynetcreations.com registered by the same guy, but it's undeveloped - directory listing only.

    I think that's one of the dangers with multiple brands, actually: sometimes the owner doesn't develop the other(s) while still making reference to them or allows one or more to basically become defunct and doesn't pay that much attention to it. I can think of one quite good example of the latter right now, where the company (who has a couple of other, more active and well known sites) has not properly locked down their forum. A guest user has posted something to their announcements area that the company - in this case, that particular brand - is closing down with four days' notice. It doesn't look like anyone from the company itself has been to the forum in quite some time, and at this moment, the post from May 26 is still there. Something to keep in mind...
    Annette
    Hosting Matters, Inc.
    Superior service. Sensible price.

  17. #17
    [Got another of those random posting errors. This was a dupe of the above.]
    Annette
    Hosting Matters, Inc.
    Superior service. Sensible price.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    London, UK
    Posts
    9,039
    Uh-Matt *nods*

    We were going to launch a second brand. But when it actually came down to it we just didnt have the resourcing to maintain 2 identities. I think its best to keep 1 brand as developed as possible than having 2 brands which suffer through lack of time/effort.
    Matt Wallis
    United Communications Limited
    High Performance Shared & Reseller | Managed VPS Cloud | Managed Dedicated
    UK www.unitedhosting.co.uk | US www.unitedhosting.com | Since 1998.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Nashville, TN
    Posts
    2,046
    Originally posted by UH-Matt
    Uh-Matt *nods*

    We were going to launch a second brand. But when it actually came down to it we just didn't have the resourcing to maintain 2 identities. I think its best to keep 1 brand as developed as possible than having 2 brands which suffer through lack of time/effort.
    Agreed

    We have been thinking of splitting into 3 sites (2 maintained by us) and the 3rd we would actually just refer Virtual accounts off to another host.

    The main problem I have is maintaining 2 sites, marketing both, then supporting both. I feel it may stretch things to far and be more a pain than it's worth.

    Plus explaining it to current/potential clients.
    Regards,
    Eric

    __________________

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •