Re: Off-topic: Cheap hosting (but not webdna) ...
This WebDNA talk-list message is from 2002
It keeps the original formatting.
numero = 43095
interpreted = N
texte = On Tuesday, September 3, 2002, at 09:16 PM, Kenneth Grome wrote:> Here is one reason why webdna is harder to sell than other solutions > when the client is savvy enough to recognize the ongoing cost of > hosting. Competition like this makes other solutions appear to be far > more flexible and adaptable than webdna: > > www.infohometech.net/webhostingpromo/ > > Is there anyone who is running webdna hosting services that provides > similar features at a price anywhere near these rates? > Ken, This is an inevitability of marketing on the internet. In an arena where the cost of marketing is almost zero, there is no longer a barrier or perceived barrier to those who would otherwise be working at McDonalds from opening a Web based buisiness such as a hosting company. I've had some experiences regarding companies like this one that I can cite personally when talking to potential customers and that has helped open some eyes. But the otherwise gullible masses have a hard enough time comprehending bogus chain e-mail, let alone the real cost of web hosting. Although common perception would have many believing that the cost of hosting is that low and heading lower, it is just not going to happen in the business customer world. It will probably continue to some extent in the home/hobbyist/college student world, but who cares. The NetZero model failed. Why? Because they really did net zero. Now they charge for their service. If you have potential customers that are dumb enough to entrust their online identity and presence to a company who's revenue model is arguably too low to sustain them long term, then you will have to ask yourself how much time and effort do you want to put into educating them. Will that even be worth it. Personally, I can't justify the cost of acquiring a customer like that, although I have had many customers _come_ from one of these low-cost hosting companies after bad experiences.Here's an experience I had: A friend called me last year who was hosting a site on his DSL line at home (you know, to save a buck or two). His site was listed on the Yahoo! front page one morning causing a huge surge in traffic. His server had slowed to a crawl and his bandwidth was completely maxed out. To 'fix' the situation he set up a $4.95 account at one of these low-cost hosting companies and asked if I would write a redirect script for all his images, which he had ftp'd there. His theory was that the html pages alone would not eat up his bandwidth so he would off-load all the images to another server on a high speed connection. As soon as I activated my script his server and DSL line were happy and all the people trying to visit from Yahoo! could finally see his site. Success, yes? No. Half an hour later, the low-cost hosting company's server went down. Half an hour later, it was back up. But the images weren't there. He called. They said they had a system failure and had to restore from a backup. Five minutes later, they called him. Seems he was using more than the allotted bandwidth and they would have to send him over to their business partner, UUNet. UUNet rep called. Only it wasn't really UUNet. It was someone downstream who 'had a relationship' with UUNet. They quoted him $49.99/month for the kind of bandwidth you are using. He said no thanks, I'll find another way. He found another low-budget company. Got his images uploaded to that server. That server's connection speed was horrible and half his images loaded half the time. The next day, he called and got ahold of the owner- a 19 year old kid who was kind enough to admit that he was running his company out of his parent's basement over an ADSL line! At that point I convinced my friend to pay a bit more and host with my company. His traffic increased as more visitors could actually view the site without slow loading. His epiphany came later that day after receiving several phone calls from potential customers about his services (movie production) and all mentioned that they had almost given up on his site earlier that day but were glad when they tried back and got the site immediately.Well, after that experience, I just look at these cheap-o hosting sites and their SPAM and laugh. Most people they host may never know the difference between hosting with one of them and hosting with a company like most of us on this list. They won't notice when their site slows down or goes off-line. That's because their web site is mostly irrelivent and, more importantly, has no visitors/traffic aside from the occasional visit from their mother-in-law. Let them host there. That is what the low-cost hosting company is counting on, someone willing to pay very little for just about nothing. You don't want those customers. You want the customers who are serious about their internet presence. You won't have trouble convincing them to pay a reasonable monthly fee, because they understand the value. Mike------------------------------------------------------------- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list
. To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to Web Archive of this list is at: http://search.smithmicro.com/
Associated Messages, from the most recent to the oldest:
On Tuesday, September 3, 2002, at 09:16 PM, Kenneth Grome wrote:> Here is one reason why webdna is harder to sell than other solutions > when the client is savvy enough to recognize the ongoing cost of > hosting. Competition like this makes other solutions appear to be far > more flexible and adaptable than webdna: > > www.infohometech.net/webhostingpromo/ > > Is there anyone who is running webdna hosting services that provides > similar features at a price anywhere near these rates? > Ken, This is an inevitability of marketing on the internet. In an arena where the cost of marketing is almost zero, there is no longer a barrier or perceived barrier to those who would otherwise be working at McDonalds from opening a Web based buisiness such as a hosting company. I've had some experiences regarding companies like this one that I can cite personally when talking to potential customers and that has helped open some eyes. But the otherwise gullible masses have a hard enough time comprehending bogus chain e-mail, let alone the real cost of web hosting. Although common perception would have many believing that the cost of hosting is that low and heading lower, it is just not going to happen in the business customer world. It will probably continue to some extent in the home/hobbyist/college student world, but who cares. The NetZero model failed. Why? Because they really did net zero. Now they charge for their service. If you have potential customers that are dumb enough to entrust their online identity and presence to a company who's revenue model is arguably too low to sustain them long term, then you will have to ask yourself how much time and effort do you want to put into educating them. Will that even be worth it. Personally, I can't justify the cost of acquiring a customer like that, although I have had many customers _come_ from one of these low-cost hosting companies after bad experiences.Here's an experience I had: A friend called me last year who was hosting a site on his DSL line at home (you know, to save a buck or two). His site was listed on the Yahoo! front page one morning causing a huge surge in traffic. His server had slowed to a crawl and his bandwidth was completely maxed out. To 'fix' the situation he set up a $4.95 account at one of these low-cost hosting companies and asked if I would write a redirect script for all his images, which he had ftp'd there. His theory was that the html pages alone would not eat up his bandwidth so he would off-load all the images to another server on a high speed connection. As soon as I activated my script his server and DSL line were happy and all the people trying to visit from Yahoo! could finally see his site. Success, yes? No. Half an hour later, the low-cost hosting company's server went down. Half an hour later, it was back up. But the images weren't there. He called. They said they had a system failure and had to restore from a backup. Five minutes later, they called him. Seems he was using more than the allotted bandwidth and they would have to send him over to their business partner, UUNet. UUNet rep called. Only it wasn't really UUNet. It was someone downstream who 'had a relationship' with UUNet. They quoted him $49.99/month for the kind of bandwidth you are using. He said no thanks, I'll find another way. He found another low-budget company. Got his images uploaded to that server. That server's connection speed was horrible and half his images loaded half the time. The next day, he called and got ahold of the owner- a 19 year old kid who was kind enough to admit that he was running his company out of his parent's basement over an ADSL line! At that point I convinced my friend to pay a bit more and host with my company. His traffic increased as more visitors could actually view the site without slow loading. His epiphany came later that day after receiving several phone calls from potential customers about his services (movie production) and all mentioned that they had almost given up on his site earlier that day but were glad when they tried back and got the site immediately.Well, after that experience, I just look at these cheap-o hosting sites and their SPAM and laugh. Most people they host may never know the difference between hosting with one of them and hosting with a company like most of us on this list. They won't notice when their site slows down or goes off-line. That's because their web site is mostly irrelivent and, more importantly, has no visitors/traffic aside from the occasional visit from their mother-in-law. Let them host there. That is what the low-cost hosting company is counting on, someone willing to pay very little for just about nothing. You don't want those customers. You want the customers who are serious about their internet presence. You won't have trouble convincing them to pay a reasonable monthly fee, because they understand the value. Mike------------------------------------------------------------- This message is sent to you because you are subscribed to the mailing list . To unsubscribe, E-mail to: To switch to the DIGEST mode, E-mail to Web Archive of this list is at: http://search.smithmicro.com/
Michael Davis
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