A few months ago, Bambi Francisco from MarketWatch wrote a really interesting article on Google's success. Google beat Yahoo, Lycos, Excite, Netscape, AltaVista, etc because its search-based approach to monetization is better aligned with end users' natural behavior. The other search engines focused on funneling search traffic into portals and selling banner ads on those portals. It's much tougher to make money from an audience whose behavior you first have to modify.
I think Bambi might approve of SixApart's latest announcement that its blogging platform is integrated with Windows Vista and Office 2007. (I read about it on Larry Dignan's ZDNet post.) Users can post to their blogs from Microsoft Word, set up RSS feeds so that new blog posts appear in certain Outlook folders, download blog archives into Word documents, etc. SixApart VP Anil Dash says he won't be happy until every company can have a blog. To reach that goal, he's bringing blogs into an environment that prospective new bloggers are already familiar with.
I feel like this is a significant challenge that web hosting providers need to tackle. During the mid-1990s, the consensus within the industry was that we've only seen the tip of the iceberg in terms of web hosting demand. And as recently as three weeks ago, Lou from HostMySite commented on one of my posts that vast opportunities lie ahead still. After all, most consumers still don't know what web hosting is. And every other small business still doesn't have a website. And 90% of all web servers are hosted in-house. And 50% of enterprise data centers will become obsolete in the near future....
These are encouraging stats, but during his HostingCon CEO panel last year, David asked whether we're counting unicorns. What will it take to bring these folks into the web hosting market? Some of the panelists said it's about trust: we've got to convince the public that our infrastructure is reliable and secure! Other said it's about customer service: we need to have friendly reps on hand to patiently explain how our services work! But how come nobody mentioned the importance of better aligning our way of doing business with customers' natural behavior?
The average consumer probably doesn't know how to install scripts. The average small business owner most likely isn't an expert on securing/patching servers. The average enterprise IT manager might think of his operating expenses in different terms than your colo packages. The question is, should the goal be for customers to adapt to what web hosting providers have to offer - or could web hosting be adapted for their worlds?
#1: Most people that aren't techies don't see the value in blogging yet. They see it is as a fad and a bit of a waste of their time.
#2: Many businesses still see blogs as a potential liability.
#3: Many laypeople that I meet think that a blog is too large of a commitment for their time to keep a blog up.
#4: Many people hear FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) spread by the mass media about blogs, and they assume that bloggers are people with too much time on their hands.
Over the last six months or so I have begun questioning new clients about blogs to see what their thoughts on them are. Most have the concerns that I listed above. I usually end up admitting to them that I too, at one point, saw blogging as a waste of time. Its at that point that the conversation shifts to me describing the Folksonomy that categorizing blogs posts is bringing, and how blog content affects democratic search. It also doesn't hurt to have a blog since search engines give blog content special treatment. This is why we see more and more "splogs". A splog is an automatic blog rung by link farmers to catch search engine traffic. If you have ever seen a blog that has content gathered from all over the net but is barely readable, then you have witnessed a splog.
My basic advice to businesspeople is that if they view themselves as an expert in their field, then they need a blog. I let them know that it is OK if they can't write articles - posting comments regarding other goings-on in their respective industry is probably still good blog content, as long as it is customer-focused content.
I also show then sites like Technorati and how democratic search will one day be a threat to Google unless they also integrate it into their product offerings. In fact, Google has just such a product in beta (isn't all of Google in beta?). At the end of the conversation, my client usually says "set me up with one of those blog things too". No matter how automated or ubiquitous the technology becomes, customers still want an expert that can explain things like business blogs to them.
Not every web hosting CEO has a blog though. Those who don't wouldn't be in a position to offer the kinds of advice you can give. And not every web hosting salesperson is a developer. Or designer. Or online retailer. This means they may not be well equipped to talk to customers about their business.
I read somewhere that Burton, the snowboard company, only hires snowboarders, because they want to make sure that every person customers could come in contact with is excited about its product. And the latest issue of FastCompany has an article on MusicToday, a company that runs the ecommerce backend for bands. All of their employees are musicians and/or avid concert-goers, so that they can bond with customers as fellow fans.
In contrast, why do so many web hosting providers sell one-size-fits-all packages to whomever comes along?
“why do so many web hosting providers sell one-size-fits-all packages to whomever comes along? “
The answer is that they MUST sell one-size-fits-all software and service solutions because they are easier to setup, run, and support.
The one-size-fits-all (OSFA) approach is one way of doing business - the commodity way. Web hosting companies are typically more interested in good phone support and hosting panel automation because their margins are so thin. It takes a lot of volume in the commodity business to make money. And this will get worse when the need for datacenters disappears, and hosting becomes even more of a commodity than it is today. A case in point is someone that runs Plesk or CPanel on Amazon’s Cloud. This IS possible and I have seen it done. That alone should make ANY hosting company VERY nervous.
Businesses that need a customized solution (something more than the OSFA can provide), have to look elsewhere, and this creates more churn for the OSFA. The OSFA hosting company knows this and doesn't really care because they are selling on price, specs, and what they call service. What they call “service”, I call “reactionary support”.
If the majority of an OSFA host’s employees are tech support people that are helping people setup and run their standard web hosting, then you are in BIG trouble. Why? Because those hurdles won’t be there forever when it comes to applications. Here is the difference between a OSFA and a truly service-oriented host: OSFA hosting companies make sure that the utility of the service is running, instead of the messy business of helping businesses to solve their IT problems - which is something that is the complete opposite of OSFA.
Software As A Sevice (SAAS) IS happening, and it is a lot more than installing something off the shelf for a client. There is no bigger threat to hosting companies than SAAS. Your blog post here about blogs being embedded into Windows is a good example of a threat to hosting companies.. Google bringing office apps to the web is another.
1. For info on Ensim, Plesk, cPanel, Helm, DirectAdmin and Interworx on EC2, click here: http://www.elasticlive.com
2. For a customer's comparison of 1&1 vs The Planet vs Amazon's EC2, click here: http://www.kf6nvr.net/blog/archives/000772.html
3. For a venture capitalist's view on what abundant bandwidth/storage and excellent uptime is worth, click here: http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/01/whats_n...
It doesn't add up to a very optimistic outlook for OSFA hosting...
http://www.spittleandink.com/isis/img/wordblogging...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/obharath/sets/7215759...
http://www.gmicc.com
http://www.cnnvideo.cn