February 23rd, 2010
Hartland, thank you for taking the time to speak with us we really appreciate the opportunity.
Why don’t you start off by telling our readers a little about yourself? How did you find yourself in the web hosting industry? What did you do before the web hosting industry?
I began working in the technology industry, specifically internet marketing and advertising in 1998 and was charged with all Business Development tasks and revenue generation for a banner network located here in Vancouver, BC. The company was the exclusive agent for all Canadian ad inventory on the Doubleclick ad network (was sold off). As the internet bubble burst, the company was unable to secure any additional necessary financing. As a result of many inquiries for advertising that we were not able to fulfill at the time, I saw that an opportunity existed for marketing services aimed at small and medium sized technology companies of which web hosts are of course included. Our services however are not limited to the hosting industry. I don’t consider us to be in the hosting industry but rather a partner to the industry.
Why don’t you tell us more about eBridge Marketing Solutions? What do you do? What type of clients do you service? How do you help your clients?
Our experience has shown that many small and medium sized companies struggle with managing all components of their operations. Many are spending the majority of their time focusing on both the day-to-day management of their businesses as well as trying to grow their businesses (often referred to as working in the business vs on the business). Multi tasking is all too common and can limit the necessary and more detailed analysis and research process involved in making marketing related decisions such as those we help our clients with.
Our focus is working with small to medium sized B2B technology companies helping them to generate sales or leads or both through online initiatives. There are many ad agencies working with larger companies but the small to medium sized businesses are often neglected and task their marketing manager (if they have one) to drive their marketing efforts. These managers are often overworked and unable to allocate time to research their options little alone implement them. Our core services are media buying and planning (sourcing, evaluating and recommending online advertising options) and search engine marketing however we provide additional supporting services around copywriting, web design and web development work.
From being the president of eBridge and having marketing experience is there any advice that you can provide to our readers?
I would encourage any business to ensure they are very clear on who their target audience is and to then decide how that will affect their marketing strategy and tactics employed. Being clear on this will allow you to be very focused on your marketing tactics (trade shows vs online vs sponsorships) as well as messaging. Too frequently we receive requests from clients who aren’t clear and this will generally result in a less than satisfactory campaign.
Is eBridge Marketing Solutions exhibiting at any tradeshows this year in case any of our readers would like to stop by and say hi?
We are going to be exhibiting at Hostingcon in Austin Texas again this year ( http://www.hostingcon.com/account/exhibitors/view/16 ), both Web Host Boot Camps and will also be at some other events. At this point our 2010 schedule has not been finalized but we will be at some other events even if we aren’t exhibiting. Previous years have seen us at Pubcon, WebhostingDay and OMMA Hollywood.
What can we expect to see out of eBridge Marketing Solutions in 2010?
Our focus this year (the year of conversion optimization) is around usability and optimization. Too often the focus is around driving more traffic and not on converting more of this same traffic. We would like to work more on improving the conversion rates and encourage our clients to see the value in this. If you were to calculate the returns on improving conversions rates (for ex from 2% to 3% or 4%), what sort of impact would that have to your bottom line? One could easily run this number and see the power in it. What I don’t understand is why not spend some time and energy towards increasing the number of conversions (could be sales or leads) for the same marketing spend? We will be pushing this isue. Step 1 is implementing best practices and addressing fundamental issues and step 2 is to use optimization tools to gather enough data to be able to make statistically relevant conclusions.
Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers?
If you are a hosting company or any company for that matter, I encourage you to focus on adding value to your customers. This means when you tweet, tweet with value by providing links to articles, useful resources, common questions etc rather than always focusing on the latest deal you have. Email your customers with helpful tips and suggestions or suggest partners or resources that will be helpful to them even if this doesn’t generate direct revenue. This will often come down from management or an owner however it will be maintained by the team you hire. I like Tony Hsieh of Zappos’ philosophy of hiring for culture fit first rather than skills. You can read more about this at http://about.zappos.com/our-unique-culture/zappos-core-values
Tags: advertising, eBridge Marketing Solutions, Hartland Ross, Marketing, seo, trade shows, web host boot camp, web hosting
Posted in Industry News | No Comments »
September 30th, 2009
Total cost of ownership (TCO) in Information Technology (IT) is the total cost of the staff and infrastructure to support your business. When crunching numbers to determine the TCO of your IT department, and how that fits into your day to day operations, disaster recovery and business continuity plans, take that one step further to compare those numbers versus colocating your servers in a data center.
Let’s say your business earns $5 million in annual revenues, with very aggressive plans to grow to $6 million. That extra $1 million will be the result of realized growth opportunities and a reduction in expenditures / streamlining your operations.
Most small businesses of this size employ one or two technicians to manage their servers, desktops, laptops, switches, hubs, printers, phone systems, email, applications, backups, etc. Your annualized investment can easily exceed $300,000. Your business data needs to be communicated internally as well as externally, so the applications and hardware can’t be scaled back, although they may be optimized by upgrading to more efficient services.
This is the scenario thousands of small businesses find themselves in today – only with scaled back growth projections due to the credit crunch. So how could these companies lower their Total Cost of Ownership by colocating their servers in a data center? What do data centers have that aren’t part of their existing department.
Servers colocated in a data center are normally secured in a cage or rack, with regulated power, dedicated connectivity, layered security and on-site support services 24×7×365. Data centers typically have alarms monitored for fire, smoke and moisture, and power is backed up by a UPS and diesel fuel generator – greatly diminishing any loss of mission critical data due to fire, theft, vandalism or loss of power.
To your success
- Steve
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
September 28th, 2009
Hostirian, L.L.C., a leading provider of business class shared, dedicated and colocation Web hosting, is proud to announce a partnership with SmarterTools, Inc. to provide a new line of Web hosting software for its Windows dedicated server customers.
St. Louis, MO, September 18, 2009 – (PR.com) – Hostirian, L.L.C., a leading provider of business class shared, dedicated and colocation Web hosting, is proud to announce a partnership with SmarterTools, Inc. to provide a new line of Web hosting software for its Windows dedicated server customers.
The software (SmarterBundle Pro) includes professional editions of SmarterMail, a cost-effective Windows mail server; SmarterStats, a robust and comprehensive Web log analytics tool; and SmarterTrack, a complete customer service software solution. The SmarterBundle Pro is valued at approximately $800 and will be included with every Windows dedicated server at no additional cost.
“At Hostirian, we’ve been very hands-on providing our customers with exceptional value for their money,” said Ken Cox, Hostirian’s vice president of operations. “Our partnership with SmarterTools complements our Windows dedicated server product line perfectly. We’ve found that SmarterTools products are by far the most feature-rich and easy-to-use products on the market.”
SmarterMail is a cost-effective Microsoft Exchange alternative, bringing enterprise-level functionality to businesses, ISPs, and Web hosting environments. With features like detailed reporting, events/notifications, throttling, email archiving, intrusion detection/prevention, advanced synchronization, out-of-the-box antispam and antivirus, Hostirian customers will be able to enjoy an effective and user-friendly mail server application.
SmarterStats is a complete Web log analytics solution that supports various log file types, including Internet Information Server (IIS) and Apache, on Windows and Linux operating systems. In addition, SmarterStats provides detailed Web site statistics for both small and enterprise-level businesses while reducing disk space utilization by 85%.
SmarterTrack is a powerful help desk application built for tracking, managing, and reporting on customer service and communications, including sales and support issues. Features include a Ticket system, Live Chat, WhosOn, branding and language support, cost analysis, data mining, reporting, surveys, and a Knowledge Base.
About SmarterTools Inc.
SmarterTools (www.smartertools.com) is an information technology (IT) management software company that builds applications to simplify and automate the day-to-day operation of business. With a diverse product line including SmarterMail mail server, SmarterTrack customer service software, and SmarterStats Web log analytics, SmarterTools has targeted various small businesses, Web hosts and internet service providers and has grown its install base with customers in over 100 countries. SmarterTools was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona.
About Hostirian, L.L.C
Hostirian (http://www.hostirian.com) is a leading Web hosting and colocation provider in the Saint Louis area. By focusing only on Web hosting and colocation, Hostirian is able to provide a level of customer support and consultation that remains unmatched by other providers at a cost substantially less than national Web hosting companies. Hostirian offers business class shared, fully managed Web hosting, dedicated servers and colocation services to businesses operating mission critical systems. Hostirian also offers Web hosting services to a growing number of application service providers, enabling them to more efficiently deliver application services to their customers over the Internet. In addition, Hostirian offers related value-added services, such as fully managed firewall services, and consulting services (including capacity and migration planning).
Posted in Industry News | No Comments »
September 22nd, 2009
Search engine optimization is a useful marketing tool for web hosting companies to drive traffic to their pages and turn visitors into paying customers. A good way to improve your search engine optimization scores and Google rankings is through building of backlinks. The basics of backlinks include relevancy, quantity and quality. Backlinks require structure though, as you will not receive the same amount of SEO points for a grandma’s cat blog pointing to your reseller hosting page as you would with a technology niche blog pointing to the same url. At the same time, keyword phrases and anchor text used to link to a web hosting business can improve your Google rankings when web users are searching for those terms. Quality backlinks with relevant keyword phrases can make Google consider you as an authority in your niche, thus sending more traffic and interested buyers to your website.
Building backlinks for your web hosting company can occur naturally. If your grandma really does have a blog about cats, she should be linking to you. It may not bring in the same SEO scoring, but it will help. Friends, family and websites you network with will often link to your website naturally or as a favor. Customers will often link to their web hosting company’s site as a thank you, or to tell other users where their website is hosted at. You can even encourage this to happen by providing buttons and banners for them to use. The other way to build backlinks is to buy them, and the easiest way to do so is to look for blogs who sell sidebar links or sponsored blog posts. Prefer that those websites do not use “nofollow” linking system and provide relevant anchor text.
When buying backlinks, it also matters what the Google score of the website linking to you is like. Google Page Ranks are a secretive algorithm and scoring system by Google itself, but page rankings are public knowledge. Research quality blogs and their Google PR at prchecker.info, and then ask those websites to link to you. Page rank of 4 and above will be better for your SEO score but the fee for those links will cost more.
What works for one web hosting company in terms of SEO and backlink building may not work for your business strategy. Do not be afraid to test the waters and build up backlinks every month. It may be a process at first but it will pay off in the end.
Tags: backlinks, building backlinks, buying links, company, how to build backlinks, Marketing, search engine optimization, seo, web hosting
Posted in How-To's, Marketing | No Comments »
September 21st, 2009
Every successful business has its niche (a place, employment, status, or activity for which a person or thing is best fit). Marketing materials are carefully written to emphasize a business’s strengths and their competitor’s weaknesses. A great example that comes to mind was one brand of typesetter which was capable of producing point sizes in tenths of an inch (unique to that brand).
Another was capable of zooming horizontally independent of vertical, in one percent increments (great for Rx labels). When the time came to upgrade or renew leases, thousands of existing documents had been produced using their unique parameters. To maintain uniformity, all new bids had to confirm to those same standards – effectively locking that client into their brand. In document imaging, one brand of copier could produce banner advertisements. Another could direct print PDF documents without opening them first. My point? There is a niche unique to your industry. Have you identified your niche, and are you marketing what makes your products and services unique?
The niche doesn’t have to be technical in nature
A niche could be how fast you deliver, the quality of your work, the level of support you provide, your pre-sales advertising venues, and any number of other things – anything that sets you apart from your competition. In web hosting, most niches relate to more bang for the buck – in bandwidth, RAM, disk space, add-ons and so forth.
The Web Hosting Industry
The web hosting industry is fiercely competitive, just as in many other industries. Web hosting continues to be a mystery to most new entrepreneurs though, even as prospects are rapidly becoming more computer and Internet savvy. My own grandchildren are extremely Internet savvy, but couldn’t tell you the difference between Linux and Windows, or ASP and PHP. Most prospects understand the need for an online presence, but are lost when it comes to how to select a decent provider.
Branding
In terms of mass appeal, branding is paramount. Here again, an integral piece of branding is your niche. I can think of a few web hosting providers who own their niche, not financially, but in the mindset of prospects, just as Kleenex and Xerox own their niche. If I were to ask someone if they’ve heard of your company, would they be like, “Yeah, they’re highly recommended,” or “Never heard of them.” Getting from Point ‘Unknown” to Point “Highly Recommended” requires more than competing with similar packages, which I see a lot of online. When prospects compare your website against all the other sites they’ve just visited, is there anything that definitively sets you apart?
To your success
-Steve
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
September 18th, 2009
Web design has become a hot topic recently
Everywhere you look, there’s advice on what works and what doesn’t work in web design (including coding for SEO). While the intent of websites is to convey information, the design of your site weighs heavily whether anyone will actually find and read your content. If you’re running ecommerce, design becomes critical.
Users spend most of their time on OTHER websites
Their experiences on other websites form their expectations for YOUR website. Take some time to research what others in your industry are posting. Your competitor may market inferior products and services, but still outsell you online. Why? The perceived value of their products and services may be enhanced because of the way they’re presented online.
What turns users OFF?
Excessive use of flash
Poor navigation
Unreadable font and background color combinations
Long page load times
Clutter
Irrelevant content based on their search query
Broken links
No way back to the previous page
For ecommerce – NO PRICING
Poor grammar
Audio with no OFF option
Loooooooooooong paragraphs
What turns users ON?
This ties directly to what users become accustomed to on other sites. You don’t have to spend thousands on design work – just enough to give you an edge or a niche. Of course, these help:
Effective use of flash
Fast page load times
Appropriate amount of white space
Relevant content based on search query
For ecommerce – PRICING
Inuitive navigation
Unique theme with READABLE font and background color combinations
Professionally written content
Easy to get from Point “Search Query” to Point “Buy”
To your success
- Steve
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
September 17th, 2009
What type of attitude?
Of course, I mean the RIGHT attitude sells. Even the perception of a poor attitude can sour prospects and clients, leading to increased customer churn and diminished sales. Every contact with a prospect or client is an opportunity, if not immediately, then certainly in 30, 60, 90 days or down the road. Every objection is an opportunity, whether it’s in sales or service and your attitude plays heavily on the outcome.
As Web Hosting Providers
In webhosting, sales and service efforts are largely conducted via telephone conversations, email messages or live chat. Do you present an attitude of “I care about you?” in your written or spoken words? Phrases like, “Thank you for this opportunity to help,” and “What can I do to remedy your problem?’ help seal your path to success.
From the Prospects and Customers Point of View
It’s become very clear that prospects and clients want results and not excuses. They don’t want to know what you can’t do, rather what you CAN do for them. They don’t care WHY your network is down. They just want their site online NOW. They expect you to be professional. What they don’t expect is for you to go that one percent extra to solve their issue or needs. Why? Because so few ever have!!
Customers that don’t complain are not necessarily satisfied customers.
How would you know if your customers are satisfied? Ask them, but rephrase your wording to, “Have we exceeded your expectations?” Most clients are brutally honest when asked. There’s a perceived (winning) attitude when you’re friendly, offer to help, follow through on your promises and deliver results to solutions you’ve both agreed upon.
Attitude Check
As evidenced on quite a few web hosting forums, your prospect or client starts talking about you AFTER their dealings with you, sometimes good – sometimes bad. What they say either leads to future opportunities, either with you or your competition. I’ve always heard the the biggest enemy in sales is complacency, but I contend that attitude is the make or break factor – up, down and across your organization.
To your success
- Steve
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
September 17th, 2009
Web hosting companies offering unlimited disk space and bandwidth as parts of their plans still exist, despite numerous companies going down under as a result of offering impossible services. Selling unlimited disk space and bandwidth as a marketing gimmick does not work, because it is not a sustainable service and causes financial troubles for a web host that is unable to profit. Think about how it would affect you in the long-term and financially before attempting to sell unlimited disk space and bandwidth on your hosting plans
Web hosts offering unlimited disk space and/or bandwidth are not practical or realistic. Offering impossible is not possible, unless you have found a way to defy physics. A server with a 160GB hard drive has an obvious space limit – 160GB. This does not include the basic setup files, Apache, CPanel and everything else required for the server to be operational for hosting services. Therefore, offering unlimited disk space is physically impossible. Offering unlimited data or bandwidth transfer is equally impossible, especially if you are leasing a dedicated server from a datacenter that caps a servers data transfer at 2000 GB a month.
Customers will take advantage of the offer, especially entertainment blogs or popular message boards. You as the web host will be responsible for delivering promised services, while the customer’s website eats up CPU and memory resources. Server overloads, Apache crashes and downtime can result from hosting websites that expect unlimited access to bandwidth usage. Suspending or refusing to render further service to the said customer would then cause them to post negative and public reviews about your services. Thus, offering unlimited disk space and bandwidth for the sake of getting more customers turns potential buyers away as they are reading bad reviews of your web hosting service.
Moving a high resource usage customer to a different server is not ideal, as customers are frequently opposed to changes. Their claim will be that they purchased and have been paying for “unlimited services”, therefore services should be properly rendered without penalization.
Causes potential customers to question your business practices. A customer will read “unlimited disk space and bandwidth” which will immediately trigger a “this is a scam” flag. They will also be discouraged from buying by their friends, who may have had a bad experience from a different unlimited host.
Bottom line; It looks bad for the industry. Offering impossible for nothing looks bad for the entire web hosting industry, causing customers to suspect the worst from honest web hosting business owners.
Tags: business, caution, company, danger, disk space, hosting, unlimited, warning, web host
Posted in How-To's | No Comments »
September 17th, 2009
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!
Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »
September 14th, 2009
The short answer would be: every business needs business cards, even a web hosting company. A web host may deal with clients primarily online, however their basic business dealings should not be limited to internet only. Business cards are cheap yet effective ways to promote and market a web hosting business to an offline customer base. Business cards can even be sent to your clientele in the mail, as a contact reference or a future reminder for available services.
Business cards are also professional, even a web host company should hand out business cards to contacts. If you are introducing yourself to another business owner, their reaction will usually be to ask you for a business card. It can be embarassing to say that you do not have any. You are a business owner, yet you do not have business cards?
As a sales strategy, business cards can be handed out to friends and family to hand out to anyone who may be interested in your services. This method works especially well if you are offering other business solutions, such as a web design package. It is convenient for someone to pull out one of your business cards during a conversation about websites, and get you a new customer.
Business cards are also extremely easy to design, you can do this yourself especially if you have some graphic design experience. As a web host, you should already have a logo associated with the company. The logo should be clearly visible on the business card, but do not graphically overpower your information. The customers should still clearly see the contact information and most importantly your web hosting company’s name. This helps with spreading the word out about your web hosting, build a brand and place the logo in the back of a customer’s mind for future reference.
A well-designed business card can also impress a customer. If you are professional in your business card approach, you will appear professional in overall business practices. A well-designed card also tells customer that you can do the same for them, giving the customer that same professional feel to their website and graphic design needs.
Tags: business, business card, company, Marketing, web host
Posted in Marketing | No Comments »
