Is it possible for small hosters to do business ?

[mokarrabin]

It seems that all small hosts future is doomed.

By small host, i mean companies with 50 to 5000 clients.

There are mainly two factors why small hosts might not survive.
Firstly there are big companies with bottomless funding who wants every client in their pocket.
They have the advertising capacity to reach all clients, for example godaddy or 1and1.
Not only will they eventually reach all clients but such companies ad campaigns will also make it impossible for smaller companies to advertise and get any clients at all. Just think about adwords or overture. Nobody is making profit for $15 per click but they are successfully blocking others.

Secoundly, they will get them as they will eventually offer the lowest price. They have their own data center and big volume , their bulk pricing will reach the bottom.

In the process of price cutting, all resellers will fall out of business first. Like resellers with a reseller account or with one or more dedi servers. Because they wont be able to advertise and they wont also be able to offer lower pricing at one stage. More importantly clients wont go to a reseller, when the branded ones are offering lower pricing.

Now lets see what the user wants. Definately the best, the better and the impossible for the least price. They just cant get a good nights sleep without signing up with the host thats giving 20 gig for $5, even though their site is only 1 mb. These customers will eventually realize that the bigger companies gives better uptime, support and over all servcies. Top hosters might even run on loss for years to do that but they will get every client first. At the same time customers will be bomberded by the massive campaigns of the bigboys and their daddies.

This is just an economic assumption... this is the same thing that happened to other sectors, just think!

So does anybody thinks that this wont be true and what should small hosters do to survive ?

[dasp]

You paint a very pessimistic picture for smaller hosters. However, I would disagree that the small host is doomed.

If you play the same game as the large hosters and talk the same talk, then a customer would most likely go for the lower pricing and higher specs. But if the smaller host can differentiate themselves and provide good customer service then I'm sure they can win loyal customers. The last thing a customer wants to do is to continue to transfer from one host to another.

Also, you assume that the large hosts offer good customer service. I have not found this to be the case in my experience with large hosters. You may get to talk to a warm body (after being on hold), but that doesn't mean you get support.

Finally, you are right that large hosts may have deep pockets to out advertise the smaller host. But that doesn't mean that they are spending money wisely or efficiently. If you play the same ad game as the large hosts then they will beat you, but your example of google and overture are not the only places that a small host can advertise.

Basically, the smaller host has to outsmart the larger hosts to survive.

DiscountASP.NET
http://www.DiscountASP.NET
The Power of ASP.NET for Less

[mokarrabin]

Originally Posted by dasp

You paint a very pessimistic picture for smaller hosters. However, I would disagree that the small host is doomed................................

DiscountASP.NET
http://www.DiscountASP.NET
The Power of ASP.NET for Less

Don't get me wrong, i am not promoting the larger hosts. You might even find out that some of them are loosing millions to keep up with their game & I think that not all of them will eventually survive by loosing.

I cant really consider your company as a small host. In fact you are a marketing leader in win hosting. Even then you might face trouble if you dont lower your prices soon, as some big ones have recently cut their prices to 1/3 of what you offer. So are you thinking of lowering prices or do you think customers would understand that good value offers better service.

[megabytehosting]

If you can survive for 2 years then you know you have a good thing. Dont let the fact that there is compition stop you. Sometimes the compitition gets lazy and over priced.

[mokarrabin]

Originally Posted by megabytehosting

If you can survive for 2 years then you know you have a good thing. Dont let the fact that there is compition stop you. Sometimes the compitition gets lazy and over priced.

Thats a wrong idea. Specially if you are dealing with customers who are hungry for lower prices. They will jump away as soon as some one else is offering a dollar less. In the hosting industry the price never goes up. If some one is competing low the whole marekt goes down with it.

[IndigoHosts]

As a new hosting providor, I would say that it is hard these days to get going but we are slowly but surely building our client base. As long as you offer decent support and packages you'll do OK

[hyipjh]

Is it possible for small hosters to do business ?

Any profitable business we do, surely there is a big company already around.
The big one is always getting bigger and bigger by takeover or acquire other product, services or technology that they don't have to satisfy stakeholder.

As a small and medium business, I believe, we must at least achieve
- a good rating and reviews from web publisher.
- provide good customer service and fast respond.
- to have most or more features than the Big hosters, ex.. video/ flash training or guide for the product and services
- Continuing carry out site branding execises. Learn how to bring more web traffic to the website.

Knowing your customer needs well and to provide more custom feature to them will make you standout from the big company..

------------------
The fast and easy and free way to drive thousands of visitors to your website:
Join TS25 Surf, Hit Pulse, Traffic Pods

[redmetal]

For new and small host company, it will be a tough fight. Even if you provide the best service and your marketing strategy is not sound, then it will not work too.

[theheavenly]

Low prices makes all clients satisfied at the start. But they get truly satisfied only when there are good quality and service. Lets see some of the things which brings in the true quality to any Hosting provider,

- Fast in your service to your customers
- Intelligent in providing support to your customer
- Good in giving up ideal plans to your customers
- Technologically updated in upgrading your services
- Expert in providing security from hackers, viruses etc
- Reliable in providing service without any interruptions

More inputs appreciated...