Webfusion's site rates the company's offerings against its competitors.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) – During tight economic times, while many companies are announcing cutbacks – and some filing for chapter 11, UK hosting provider Webfusion (www.webfusion.co.uk) is moving against the current, investing in a new project that could hold great reward for the company.
Last month, the company announced that it had expanded its services from the UK into the US, launching an American branch (www.webfusion.com), along with a limited-time promotional deal that provides a 99-cent domain name along with its hosting plans, which start at $2.99 per month.
While the US market is not exactly ripe for takeover, Webfusion may be one of the few companies equipped to take on the big players in this business and succeed. Founded in 1997, the company hosts 1.4 million websites and manages almost 2 million registered domains (more than all but a few of the largest registrars, though the company is a Tucows domain reseller).
Easily one of the largest hosting providers in the UK, Webfusion is owned by web solutions provider GX Networks (www.gxn.net), the parent company of Vialtus Solutions (www.vialtus.co.uk), 123-reg (123-reg.co.uk), Donhost (www.donhost.co.uk) and SupaNames (www.supanames.co.uk) brands.
But none of this means the company is assured success in the North American market at which it has taken aim.
“The American market is the biggest, most mature hosting market in the world,” says Thomas Vollrath, CEO of Webfusion. “It’s a market where a lot of people have failed in the past, and you have to respect and you have to have a product range that reflects what American customers want. In order to be successful in the US market you have to listen to what the US customer wants.”
The company researched the US market extensively, says Vollrath. And the company found that US customers are looking for more than just competitive prices. They want a web host that provides quality customer service and technical support – which may not be so different from customers outside the US after all.
Focusing on small business customers, the company has constructed an offering designed to appeal to users who may not be familiar with the web hosting market.
“We are looking at anybody who is out in the market, most likely it is people who have a need for a web presence, and generally they are small businesses,” says Vollrath. “We’ve done the homework for customers by showing them the price comparisons [with our competitors].”
Taking a page from the playbook of Progressive.com (the auto insurance provider), Webfusion built a section of its website that displays its own hosting plan features and prices next to those of the two largest web hosting providers in the US SMB market, Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com) and 1&1 Internet (www.1and1.com). While the company refrains from displaying any lower-priced or better-featured plans, its clear that its own packages are designed specifically to compare favorably with these two providers.
Webfusion currently only offers three packages, starting with the Newbie plan, which is aimed at beginner users. Priced at $2.99 per month, the Newbie plan includes 10GB web space and 300GB monthly traffic.
The Techie plan, designed for techies, is $6.99 per month and offers 200GB web space and 2,000GB monthly traffic. Finally, the business-targeted Guru plan is $14.99 per month and includes 400GB web space and 5,000GB monthly traffic.
All three plans include free technical support, with trained engineers reachable around the clock by phone or email, and are backed by a 30-day, money-back guarantee.
Vollrath says the company will add new features such as e-shops and domain mapping, each month to round out its hosting packages.
But the 99-cent domains aren’t here to stay, he says. The discounted domains are a promotion designed to draw some attention to the company in its new surroundings – much like 1&1 did when it made the trip across the Atlantic in 2004.
Ultimately, Webfusion intends to be a company that competes on features and functions – not just on price.
“There will always be some kind of domain promotion, but the $0.99 price is definitely for a limited time, just to attract more interest in the brand,” says Vollrath. “We don’t want to be seen a year from now in the budget hosting market where we always just talk about price.
