Web Host Industry Review Magazine

In pursuit of some inspiration for your killer business model, we sought out some of the really cool things being done in the hosting space by providers trying to stand out from the crowd. They’re not all huge companies yet, but they’ve all got some really interesting ideas, and more importantly, they’re looking at innovating in a way that could inspire some really original thinking from you.

In creating this issue of WHIR magazine, we provide a series of profiles to illustrate in great detail the variety in small business IT needs, and the hosting relationships that develop out of those needs.

In creating this issue of WHIR magazine, we set out to address what, in some ways, is just a fundamental function for your hosting business – that is, spotting the opportunities available to you, right now, in the small and medium-sized market for hosted services.

We started putting together our Hottest Hosts web hosting services directory – now a sure-thing annual project here at the WHIR – back in 2008. Each year I’ve mentioned the fact that for us, this project isn’t about repetition, but ongoing evolution and refinement of the idea. Last year, that refinement took us to the smaller-format book with the flat spine, emphasizing the notion that this is something you’ll want to put on the shelf and refer to over the course of the year.

If you have been to a hosting-related tradeshow in the last three years, or picked up an IT-related publication (including this one) at any point during that time, you have probably already heard the predictions about how the cloud model is going to change the hosting business. For the great bulk of vendors, analysts and commenters of other kinds, the change will be profound, and for many it will be downright fundamental to the way hosting providers do business in the future.

Technically, there’s nothing new about us posing the question, “what are the next steps hosting providers must take to capitalize on the opportunities available in the business?” From the 10,000-foot view, that’s the basic premise that underlies just about everything the WHIR publishes or produces. In this particular case, however, we’re looking at it through an extremely significant contextual lens. That is, for much of the last two years, hosting providers have been operating in a business climate defined by an economy in crisis.

Europe cuts an interesting figure in our coverage of the web hosting industry. From a purely news standpoint, it is very possible to treat Europe in more or less the same way that we treat North America – that is, report the facts, ask the right questions, try to anticipate the issues raised. From an analytical standpoint, however, we present a distinctly North American point of view – this being the product of circumstances (our location), rather than a bias.

In 2008, in our inaugural Hottest Hosts guide, I wrote that we were exploring a new format with the first in-print directory of web hosting services. And last year, I discussed the project in the context of an ongoing project, and a growing tradition here at the Web Host Industry Review. The objective, however, is not to repeat ourselves, but to help the directory evolve into a more valuable resource – something that’s going to help you with your purchasing decisions, and something you’re going to hold on to for the duration of the year.

This has been, for us, one of the most interesting, exciting and challenging build-ups to an issue of the magazine yet, Web Hosting’s All Star Team. The balloting process was our first experiment with a kind of user participation we’re planning to do a lot more with in the months to come. We had thousands of ballots submitted, with hundreds of write-in suggestions and a demonstration of user engagement that has us feeling super positive about the project.

One of the interesting luxuries of working on a project like the printed WHIR magazine is that it allows us to play with things like our point of view from one issue to the next. In recent months we’ve been giving added attention to the kind of practical and applicable advice aimed at smaller hosts and resellers. This issue carries on with that point of view, asking, in our cover story, “what am I worth?” It’s a complicated question without a clear-cut answer.

I was a little surprised by how difficult it became to see this idea through. We set out to assemble a blueprint for a small hosting business, but butted up pretty quickly against the general impossibility of covering all the territory that was out there to be covered. The basic constraints of a printed magazine, and the less-than-infinite amount of time we had available forced us to face the fact that we could never produce an exhaustive guide to starting a hosting company.

In the past we’ve looked at devising a marketing plan, and we’ve looked at the specific tools available to marketers. With our March 2009 issue, we set out to address some basic either-or questions web hosts face in their marketing endeavors. There are a few choices at the heart of any marketing plan. And we hope this issue of WHIR magazine will help you to be a bit more informed in the making of those choices.

The January 2009 issue’s premise is to distribute information about hosting providers among people that wouldn’t regularly be readers of our content. We want to introduce the hosting community, and hosting services, to an audience that may not be thinking of itself necessarily as hosting customers – but that has the potential to benefit from the hosting relationship. It’s the case that web hosts are making every day.

The October 2008 issue of WHIR magazine focuses on the growing influence of outside investment in the hosting business – how recent acquisitions and investments are affecting the operations of the companies that benefited from them, and how the potential for acquisition is affecting the operations of hosts looking to be acquired. We also examine the changing role of Rackspace following its recent IPO.

The July 2008 issue of WHIR includes a cover story on the recently re-established significance of the physical security issue at data centers, as well as a long feature covering the evolving attitude toward the software as a service model in the hosting space. It also includes a guide to this year’s HostingCon event, as well as a series of event-related notes throughout the issue.

With our May 2008 green issue we look at the green hosting discussion from every angle – covering the regulatory and policy work going on among industry associations and government groups; data center design, where energy efficiency is not just good for the planet, but good for the bottom line; and the marketing challenge, where customers aren’t necessarily quick to accept offers of “green” services.

With the March 2008 issue returns the WHIR marketing issue. Rather than practical how-to type advice, this time around we offer up several examples of businesses building new messages that should serve as practical advice for hosts looking to refine their own marketing messages. In this issue we cover the process of hosting software firm SWsoft re-branding as Parallels, and we look at the new environment at merger-produced hosting giant The Planet.

The first of what we intend to be an annual exercise, the Hottest Hosts guide to Web hosting services. This particular directory is unique to the printed medium, and an interesting extension of the hosting directory ecosystem into a new format. We’ll be going to great lengths to put this issue in the hands of new users, particularly those who might be unfamiliar with theWHIR’s work.

Departing somewhat from our more common coverage of Web hosting events and trends, with this issue, we set out to profile some of the most notable characters in the hosting business, representing some of its biggest personalities, its brightest ideas and its most compelling stories. In doing so, we paint a portrait of the business from an unusual point of view.

The subject has been discussed, but the notion of the value-added service has never been more critical to the hosting model than it is now. In a market where competing on price is all but impossible, Web hosts are faced with finding new ways to maximize their relationships with customers by adding value around the basic hosting product.

With our building blocks issue we look at the ways that Web hosts can build their platform to accommodate the software as a service application delivery model, as well as the hosting provider’s role in the new Web 2.0 world, in which users assemble their experiences out of hosted parts.

Our marketing toolbox includes four parts: a guide to designing your Web site for search engine optimization; a guide to using adCenter, Microsoft’s offering in the pay-per-click ad network space; a guide to designing your Web site to increase its performance in converting sales; and a guide to promoting your hosting company with banner advertising and listing in paid directories. The goal of this issue is to help you start making improvements to your online marketing efforts today, and to begin seeing returns immediately.

In this issue, we examine hosting’s relationship with the education business, looking at hosting for online education, hosting in the classroom and training your employees. We also offer a look at third-party tutorials, and an interview with hosting CEO Douglas J. Erwin.

In this issue, we look into the hosting market behind the massively popular world of online gaming. We also offer a look inside the game server; strategy on beating the summer slowdown; tips for encouraging referrals; and an interview with hosting expert Isabel Wang.

Our integration issue. In two separate features we attempt to combat the epidemic of sloppy back-end integration in Web hosting. This issue also includes a feature on offshore Web hosting; an interview with Web.com’s Jeffrey Stibel; and business blogging tools.

We help get you prepared for your 2006 marketing plan. This issue also features offering SSL security; adult and Christian hosting; an interview with Elliott Noss of Tucows; new management at WebHosting Talk; and telcos adding new hosting capabilities.

With some of the biggest names in the Internet business rumored to be looking into Web hosting, smaller hosts are wondering just how they will fit into a new hosting landscape. This issue also features a look at Web hosting and VoIP; moving up the value chain; selling your hosting company; and an interview with Andreas Gauger, CEO of Web host 1&1 Internet.

We look at some of the tools that are powering new modes of management in hosting. This issue also features outsourcing support; learning to delegate responsibility; server seizures at Rackspace; and an interview with the Jason Hendeles of the .xxx domain’s ICM Registry.

A surge in interest in online advertising comes just as Web hosts search for the next product opportunity. This issue also features a Web marketing toolbox; taking care of taxes; community service at EV1Servers; and an interview with Travis Hayes, Human Billboard. This back issue is SOLD OUT!

A passionate and technology savvy audience drives NASCAR.com, the online operation of one of America’s most popular sports. This issue also features a spring conference primer; hosting voice over IP services; the FTC and Internet law; and an interview with the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

Our seventh issue featured a cover story on Texas, examining some of the characteristics that have made the state such fertile ground for Web hosting, with a local business lineup that includes Rackspace, The Planet, VeriCenter, C I Host and EV1 Servers. The issue also features a story on other hosting hotspots around the US; the Internet’s role in the tsunami disaster’s recovery effort; hosting the Grammys; and tips for insuring your hosting business.

Our issue six cover story dealt with the Super Bowl, the biggest single event in sports, and one of the biggest events in media, which drives an enormous flood of traffic to a few key Web sites. This issue also includes features on how Web hosts handle the flood of traffic to Super Bowl advertisers’ sites; the impact that the biggest event in betting has on online sportsbooks; and a look at technology for monitoring Web site and Web hosting performance.

Another themed issue, our fifth issue featured a cover story in segments – a guide to getting your hosting business up to code, focused on illustrating the standards being imposed on Web hosts and their customers in the areas of finance, government and medicine. This issue also includes articles on hosting Microsoft Exchange; the new data center technology startups; and the role of the Web hosting company in the world of search engine marketing.

Our fourth Issue features a cover story deals with the international opportunities for the expanding Web hosting business in markets like England, China, India, Germany and Northern Island, as well as articles on preventing and dealing with credit card fraud; the Internet’s involvement in the 2004 US presidential election; identifying and handling problem customers, and the impending release of the Data Center Markup Language standard.

For this special issue, we assembled an expert panel of Web hosting luminaries to help us create and explore a list of ten of the most critical influences on the history of the Web hosting business, including: automation technology; the discount dedicated server model; the rise and fall of Exodus; the dot-com boom and bust; the reseller hosting model; site-building software; affordable bandwidth; the hosting price war; the WebHostingTalk forums; and the free hosting era.

Our second issue featured a cover story dealing with the most outrageous stunts and guerilla marketing tactics employed by Web hosting companies in an effort to capture attention and customers, and features on organized crime’s increasing involvement in the world of cyber-crime; tips on recognizing the possibility that you may already be a reseller; and the development of add-on private label Web hosting solutions for technology companies.

Our inaugural issue featured a cover story on the construction and launch of EV1 Servers’ $20,000,000 second data center facility, along with features on SAVVIS’s acquisition of Cable & Wireless’s US assets in a bankruptcy auction; the Major League Baseball subsidiary created to handle the operation of the league’s massive Web operation; and some of the tactics hosts should take in protecting their networks from worms and viruses.