Advantages and disadvantages of a web hosting company forum
Some web hosting providers have a forum for their clients, and other web hosts sometimes ask whether a forum for their company is a good idea. In this article, we cover the advantages and disadvantages of web hosts having forums, from the perspectives of web hosts, clients, and perspective clients.
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Advantages of having a web hosting company forum
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Advantages for the web host and clients
- Staff can post announcements in the forum, such about outages, which clients can read even if their email isn't working (as long as the forum isn't on the same server as clients' sites).
- Clients can help each other with questions about hosting (e.g., about email setup or problems) and save your support staff time.
- Clients can help each other with web development questions and provide feedback on each other's sites.
- Clients can read answers to previous questions that they may also have and thus get answers faster without asking the same questions again.
- The company owner and staff can interact with clients in a forum atmosphere, develop better working relationships, and have fun together.
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Advantages for the web host
- A site with an active forum has more content and active content for bots to index, so it'll appear more often in search results (if the forum is public).
- Active forums develop a sense of community, and clients or more likely to feel loyal to a community than to a faceless company.
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Advantages for prospective clients
These are advantages only if the forum is public.
- Prospective clients can see what the company is like from clients' points of view.
- Prospective clients can observe how staff responds to clients, in particular when addressing problems and criticism.
- Prospective clients can ask pre-sales questions in the forum.
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Disadvantages of having a web hosting company forum
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Disadvantages for the web host
- If the forum isn't active, it'll look bad for your company. Having no forum is better than having a dead forum.
- A forum takes ongoing time and work. Once it's built up, you still need to take part regularly. You also need to moderate the forum for spam and misplaced posts.
- Not everyone is comfortable with handling criticism in public. Some posts will be negative about your services. If you remove those posts, members will notice and perhaps comment on your actions elsewhere. If you don't handle the criticism well, you'll look bad too.
- A forum won't appeal to all clientele. All your work may be wasted if your clients aren't interested in interacting with each other online.
- Not everyone makes a good impression in forum interactions, including some web hosts and staff. Technical skills and social skills don't necessarily go together.
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Disadvantages for clients and prospective clients
- Some clients prefer asking for support on a helpdesk than in a forum. If the forum is the only support avenue, some people will go elsewhere.
- If clients have to check the forum for updates and they don't frequent forums, they won't appreciate the extra step for them.
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