Shared Web hosting is arguably the most important segment of the Internet infrastructure industry. Shared hosting customers are the foundation – the engine that keeps growing and churning as Small Businesses are created and closed. I have been monitoring and keeping tabs on the shared hosting competitive landscape since I worked at ValueWeb in the late ‘90s on through the other hosters I have worked for.
Since the late 90’s we have seen the competition evolve. Some of the highlights I recall include:
· The maturing of the shared hosting market with ValueWeb, Verio and Interland leading the way in the late 1990’s.
· The Free Hosters before the dotcom bust – BizLand and others
· The major platforms and the OEM’s and resellers they created including Alabanza, InQuent, viaVerio, Hostopia and others.
· The arrival of 1&1, and creation of GoDaddy, HostGator, Endurance, Network Solutions, Deluxe and the mega hosts we have today.
· The yearly crop of “hot” hosting providers – LunarPages, Dream Host, Bluehost and others.
However, in 2011 there are fundamental changes adrift that I think will change the landscape forever.
First off, we have everyone’s favorite SMB software company, Intuit, heavily marketing Websites and hosting for small business. Their giant market share in the SMB space, and the opportunity to tie Qucikbooks to ecommerce, CRM and the back-office is very interesting – to not just the SMB, but the professional organizations that advise and service them. I believe this is Intuit’s 3rd attempt at delivering shared hosting services and undoubtedly these offers are resonating more than previous attempts.
Secondly, I see the major Telco’s finally getting the message and momentum behind their offerings. I often see Verizon FIOS for Business advertising website hosting services (provided by Intuit) on TV commercials very frequently. I suspect Comcast Business Class and others are also seeing some momentum.
Third, I see the rapid growth of the CMS based hoster. While WordPress is the most successful and easy to spot competitor – I also see companies like Acquia (Drupal Gardens) and Volusion (ecommerce) gaining more traction and winning over the hearts and minds of the developers and Web design firms.
Finally – the big giants. Beyond Microsoft’s mildly successful OfficeLive for Small Business, we can potentially see a new crop of resellers and platforms built on Amazon’s cloud. Recent changes to the AWS offerings are very conducive to enabling shared Web hosting on AWS. Even Google App Engine, through Accenture, was selected to host the Royal Wedding website.
2011 is shaping up to be a key year for shared hosting. While all shared hosting platforms have a relatively stable customer bases (barring downtime issues or support issues) – things will not change overnight. What will change is where the approximately 1 million NEW small businesses will be hosted. Many smaller and even the larger hosts are vulnerable to these new hosting options highlighted above. However, hosters with strong relationships with their customers, and hosters with segmented and targeted offerings will grow and prosper.
What will your company do as new and existing web design and development teams select functional hosters (Drupal Gardens) or full service hosters that offer a suite of add-ons for marketing, collaboration, communication and more?
About William Toll
William Toll, VP, Marketing at Yottaa, Inc., has held Marketing and Product Management positions in the Web hosting and Internet infrastructure industry since the late 1990s. Currently William is driving the marketing strategy and implementation for Yottaa, Inc. Yottaa, The Web Performance Company, provides innovative cloud services enabling its customers to assess, benchmark, monitor and optimize their websites and Web applications for a better user experience and improved ROI. Most recently William was at the leading managed hosting and cloud services provider, NaviSite. At NaviSite, William was responsible for developing and marketing the company's hosted product lines, including managed cloud services, managed hosting, managed business applications and shared and dedicated hosting for SMBs. In past positions at companies such as Affinity Internet, Inc., Intermedia.NET, and NTT/VERIO, William was the driving force in launching and enhancing successful SMB focused services including: Shared Hosting services, Microsoft Exchange and hosting add-on services like Online Marketing and Web Design. William received a BA in Marketing from New England College. William Toll can be found on Twitter: @utollwi
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