What do internet marketers want in a hosting package?

[mookinman]

I realise everybody's needs are different - so I'm trying to put together the perfect web hosting package to suit the needs of the internet marketer. I have a reseller account with one of the big hosting suppliers, which allows me to provide a very feature-packed and reliable service, and I can charge very competitive prices.

So my question is, what are the top 5 things you'd like to see in the ultimate web hosting package for internet marketers.

Here's one to start you off: Personally I like to have things such as one-click installations of popular scripts (Wordpress, Cubecart etc) at my fingertips, so I can set up new sites quickly and easily.

[debra]

Originally Posted by mookinman

I realise everybody's needs are different - so I'm trying to put together the perfect web hosting package to suit the needs of the internet marketer. I have a reseller account with one of the big hosting suppliers, which allows me to provide a very feature-packed and reliable service, and I can charge very competitive prices.

So my question is, what are the top 5 things you'd like to see in the ultimate web hosting package for internet marketers.

Here's one to start you off: Personally I like to have things such as one-click installations of popular scripts (Wordpress, Cubecart etc) at my fingertips, so I can set up new sites quickly and easily.

1. Unlimited domains
2. Unlimited subdomains
3. Unlimited MySql
4. Generous Bandwidth and burstable
5. Unlimited redirects
6. Buildt in autoresponder (a real one)
7. Generous Storage
8. First response contact before jumping to conclusions like a members spam issue or a decent campaign that overloads servers temperarily.

Hum...a bunch more but it's to early.

[John Henderson]

Thanks for asking, MookinMan. I've already had a good moan about this very subject on a different forum, so I'll just cut-and-paste my previous rant:

I long for the day when web hosting companies look at their products from the perspective of the small or home business owner rather than from the perspective of the 'techie'. As an example, it's very common to see web services described as a list of features: sub-domains, SSL, IMAP, FTP, PHP, Ruby on Rails, CGI, MySQL and so on and so on....

However, it would be really great to entrepreneurs if hosting services were explained as a list of benefits:
"Our website templates enable you to design a site in an hour with no web design experience..."
"Our mailing list management software allows you to collect e-mail addresses from your site to create a mailing list of potential customers..."
"Our forum software allows your customers to log onto a message board to leave feedback for you and have conversations with each other..."
"Our blogging software means that you can..."
"Our shopping cart software permits you to..."

This would reassure potential customers that the hosting service had thought about how to fulfil business functions, rather than providing a playground for people who get excited about databases and programming languages.

Okay. I'll stop here, before I start to sound like a grumpy curmudgeon... ;-)

[Quang Van]

Originally Posted by debra

1. Unlimited domains
2. Unlimited subdomains
3. Unlimited MySql
4. Generous Bandwidth and burstable
5. Unlimited redirects
6. Buildt in autoresponder (a real one)
7. Generous Storage
8. First response contact before jumping to conclusions like a members spam issue or a decent campaign that overloads servers temperarily.

Hum...a bunch more but it's to early.

Nice list. Not sure about auto-responders... because I doubt anything could beat Aweber.

I would add Stats... and Shell access for quick development, but that is only my personal taste...

[mookinman]

Originally Posted by John Henderson

Thanks for asking, MookinMan. I've already had a good moan about this very subject on a different forum, so I'll just cut-and-paste my previous rant:

John this is a brilliant list and a fantastic way of selling things. Thank you so much for the tip.

[John Henderson]

Originally Posted by mookinman

John this is a brilliant list and a fantastic way of selling things. Thank you so much for the tip.

Crumbs David, I'm really flattered that you think so!

In truth, my view has been influenced by my own experiences of trying to find a hosting package.

I first stumbled upon IM when I read "Internet Riches" by Scott Fox. Fox not only explained the importance of blogging, mailing lists, autoresponders, etc., he also created a "recommended" list for providers of these services as a website: Scott Fox's Web Site Tools Reviews: Welcome to Scott Fox?s New Web Site Tools Reviews & Recommendations Site

The list of recommended web services was great, but at the back of my mind was the question "How do I put all of this together into a single system that's easy for me to manage and provides a seamless customer experience?". I felt sure that I would be able to find a hosting company that would understand the importance of fitting these pieces of the puzzle (site, blog, e-mail list, etc.) together for prospective IMers.

However, when I started to look around at companies that were offering hosting packages, it became obvious that there was a big gap between what Scott Fox said that I needed (blogs, autoresponders, and so on) and what the hosting companies like GoDaddy were offering (2 jigabytes of web space and 493,000 e-mail inboxes).

I couldn't understand why the hosting companies weren't talking the same language as Scott Fox. If they could just forget about trying to compete on how many e-mail inboxes they'll provide, and start to offer what the IM gurus say that noobs need, together in one package and all in one place, then the customers will come.

Fundamentally, noobs like me are not looking for the cheapest deal. Even $5 per month is a waste of money if we don't know what to do with what we get in return. Nor are we interested in whether the web technology that we're paying for is PHP, MySQL or CGI. Sales figures are not affected by whether a server is MS or Linux, so I couldn't care less about that. Nor do I want a ridiculous number of e-mail inboxes.

What newcomers like me DO want to see is:

• All of the pieces of a money-making website together in one place and explained in a way that relates to their internet business, their products and their customers.
• Maximum security
• Maximum reliability

I believe that many would be happy to pay a premium for a hosting service like this.

[Steve.S.]

Sending an instant email when there is server downtime.
Reliability and speed.
Multiple domains, and of course...
transparency (or predictability) : at what point is "using too many resources" one too many?

[mookinman]

Originally Posted by Steve.S.

Sending an instant email when there is server downtime.
Reliability and speed.
Multiple domains, and of course...
transparency (or predictability) : at what point is "using too many resources" one too many?

I found a service called MONTASTIC that sends an email when the server goes down, it's fantastic and it's free.

[TheVCF]

Our #1, from having gone through Many web hosting providers over the years until we Finally found a Good One! is ...

Responsive, Quality and Friendly Support / Service!!!

We hope this helps and Have a Great Day!

[indexphp]

Different Ip's !!!!

[ScottFox]

Thanks to John Henderson for the huge shout-out above.
I totally agree that web hosting companies need to change their marketing approach. Competing on the basis of techie features leaves most marketers confused and scares newbies. Instead, they should focus on the benefits of how their tools can be used to cost-effectively create attractive and high-converting marketing campaigns.
Scott Fox
Author of "Internet Riches" and "e-Riches 2.0: Next Generation Online Marketing Strategies"

[indexphp]

Nice job resurrecting a 7-month old thread.

[AlfredKo]

Reliability.

And no shared hosting can offer 100% reliability because the fact that hundreds of clients (if not thousand) are hosted on 1 server.