Thoughts on Growing - Where we are, where we'd like to be.

[Joe]

First off, I'd like to say that most of this post will be "off the cuff" and intends to express my feelings on where HOSTPC is, how far we'd like to grow, and plans for the future. Nothing here is set in stone, it's mostly just rambling and thinking.

HostPC started in 1998. We started off as resellers of services, and grew our to our current position as leased customers at Rackshack. We're responsible for our own servers, and thier reliability. I think, in four years, we've grown at a pace that we've been able to handle very well. We've established policies, gathered a loyal customer base, with almost 0% churn (customers leaving our service). In fact, we've had only 4 account cancellations in 3 years. Not one of them was because of server performance, or price. Unfortunately today, we lost a customer, which I tend to take "personally".

We recently had a "2 for 1 Sale" that brought a LOT of new customers to HostPC. We were able to get the new customers established and settled into their new "homes" within 4-6 hours of signup, most of them in less than an hour. I'm pretty happy with that record.

I'd like to run that promotion again. To do that, I'm looking for feedback. What would you like to see in a future sale? More disk space? More Transfer? More options? We can do just about "anything" within reason.

Pricing remains an issue. I feel we've got some of the lowest cost hosting costs on the net. Frankly, I don't WANT to be the cheapest, I just want to be the most stable and secure. I'm even considering a modest price increase (yes, I think our services are worth more than the fly-by-night hosts of days gone by ahem*cyber.....*ahem. Sure, there are always gonna be hosts that offer $10 a year hosting, or free hosting (with a $20 setup fee). Financially, we CANT do that, and I WONT do that. Our services have a value, costs to maintain a server, guarantee a certain level of uptime, etc are of value.

I'm pretty comfortable with the pricing structure we currently have. I think we've got enough diversity in pricing to make most people happy. Now, the question to you is: Do we have/offer what you need & want? I need to get your feedback. If you're just a visitor here, and don't have an account, I'd like to get your feedback also. What could HostPC do to entice you to use our service? What is it gonna take to make us "different" and more attractive than other hosts? More generic services for resellers? A scripting library? Preinstalled apps? Easier control panel?

By the end of 2003, I'd like to have HostPC spread throughout a farm of new servers... I invision (or dream) of 1000 customers by the end of year. No, we don't have anywhere NEAR 1000 customers at this point, but thats the pace I'd like to grow at. I also plan on not offering Front Page extensions during the first quarter of 2003. Customers that currently HAVE FP extensions will not be disabled, but I'm considering not offering them on future plans.

So, what do you think? Now's your chance to be in on the formation of our business - provide some input into what you'd like to see with your domains & business ventures. What can WE do to make YOU more successful?

Thanks for your input!

Joe

[bluesguy]

As a new customer, I have to say I'm amazed at the value you are giving for the amount you charge. Just keep on doing what you have to do to stay in business.. I won't drop my account over small price increases, but wouldn't mind having some added scripts that auto-install from the control panel. At first, I thought I wouldn't like Ensim as well as Cpanel, but I think it is better in some ways.

I am curious as to why the Frontpage extensions are a problem.. I don't use them very much as I hand code most of my websites... just wondering if they use too many resources?

About the only thing that I really think would help some people (including me) is a decent shopping cart script. Some companies give free shared SSL, but they charge a bit more than you do :)

[dbmasters]

I am curious as to why the Frontpage extensions are a problem.. I don't use them very much as I hand code most of my websites... just wondering if they use too many resources?
If I understand the prob, and I think I do, it is an issue more of platform compatibility. Running a Microshaft technology on a Linux platform is well, not perfect. Microsoft intentionally makes their technology very Windows dependant. Many companies try to make ASP/FrontPage emulators for unix/linux platforms and tho they are getting better andbetter they are not perfect, nor will they ever be. And now with MS dumping ASP and moving toward .NET the race will start all over again...

However, running on Linux is best in the big picture for security purposes, as it is a more secure system by default. Windows can be secure but too many admins don't take the time and effort to properly do it. And really, if MS knew how to package a server the admins wouldn't have to. Tho, from what I have seen of the new .NET server all that has changed.

Bottom ine is this, the problem lies with Microsofts inability to play well with others.

[tstern]

joe-
i think you should be clearer about how flexible you are with the hosting plans.

The set plans are great, but if someone walked in and needed 10MB of disk space, 150GB of bandwith, and exactly 236 mailboxes, I'm sure you'd create it and give them a great price.

I'd emphasize that a bit more.

-TS

[Joe]

Thanks for the comments TS - any idea how to further emphasize that? Maybe a java "build your own" package ? I think I could do that without too much trouble.

Joe

[starfighter]

Joe,
As a former customer of Your-Site.com I left there because of their attrocious service, it took at least a day to get an answer on anything no matter how simple. Here I have been more than impressed. All of the sites I have moved here both personally and as a part of my business have recieved the best service that I could have ever expected right from creation. Your attention to issues outside of normal hours is to be commended. I never expected to have some of the sites that i created after hours setup before i went to bed, I expected to not hear something until at least late the next day after my experiences with other hosts.
I think that a custom setup option would be a very cool idea, that would make sense I would think. A set of tools that we customers and especially resellers could deploy would greatly improve what is an already great set of services.
Overall Joe I fully support your expansion plans and hope that all of your dreams never compromise the things that have made you what you are so far.


Dan
Starfighter Design

[Joe]

Thanks Dan!! Appreciate the positive feedback.

I'm actually almost done with the custom package program - should be online by Monday.

As for adding scripts, thats REALLY difficult with Ensim. I AM however, putting together a couple of libraries of scripts... offering generic installation within 12 hrs, etc... If it weren't for the security issues and price with Cpanel, I'd consider switching - just for that ability. I'll look around and see what I can come up with.

Joe

[tstern]

I'm actually almost done with the custom package program - should be online by Monday.
Wow!

That's great. I didn't realize it was so formulaic -- that's a great idea.

-ts

ps - as to my original thought, i would have suggested a more prominent display regarding custom plans :).

[Joe]

Well, I ran into a roadblock with the javascript. Do we have any java experts here who might be up to helping out with some coding for us?

[dbmasters]

Uuummm, dude...I can prolly help with JavaScript. I won't touch Java, but JavaScript I will :P

[Anonymous]

I've always been thrilled with the timely responses I've received from HostPC support staff. The web services I receive have been very reliable and are an excellent value.

As a fairly inexperienced web programmer, the one thing I would love to see more of is webmaster tools - sample java scripts, etc.

[D9r]

What am I looking for? Good service, quick service, service from someone who knows what he's doing, (I detect a theme here), lots of uptime, security, stability, predictability, a host that I'll never want to leave.



I also plan on not offering Front Page extensions during the first quarter of 2003.


Is part of the reason for this because the allowance of FrontPage extensions opens security holes for executable virus-type programs? I thought I heard something like that recently.

dbmasters, are you saying that ASP is becoming obsolete? I haven't learned it yet, but I thought it was something I should plan to learn soon.

[Brandon]

PHP all the way. :)

[D9r]

Having this help forum is a good thing. I'll be using it for tips on PHP, and general server stuff.

[dbmasters]

dbmasters, are you saying that ASP is becoming obsolete? I haven't learned it yet, but I thought it was something I should plan to learn soon.

That is exactly what I am saying...go to MSDN, you will hardly even find a mention of ASP anymore, they are pushing STRONGLY for everyone to migrate to .NET.

Which is to bad, I am programming ASP based web-apps at least 20 hours out of every week, and it is capable of some great stuff, with only a couple major shortcomings, but MS has besided to pretend ASP never existed.

They are offering tons of free classes and info for migrating, I have been sent to a couple .NET classes, been given free software and everything else just to migrate to .NET andget off of the ASP platform. I suspect down the road a couple server version it won't even support ASP...

[Anonymous]

I also plan on not offering Front Page extensions during the first quarter of 2003. Customers that currently HAVE FP extensions will not be disabled, but I'm considering not offering them on future plans.

Thanks for your input!

Joe

Newbie question... Does this mean that you can't use FrontPage to upload your site? I use FrontPage with my current host and have very simple .htm pages. Will I have problems if I switch to HostPC?

[Nick]

hello

yes..that would mean FP could not be used at all. that is one of the many problems with FP. if you use FP..you are pretty much stuck with it. using another ftp client will mess your whole web content up and cause major problems. i do not believe joe has implemented this as of now...i believe it was just a thought for the future..

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Nick...

1. So, if Joe has not implemented the discontinuation of FP extensions then a FP user could switch to HostPC without problems???

2. Where does the problem lie with FP? designing my pages with FP? uploading using FP? or both?

3. If one doesn't use FP then what other alternatives are available for design? I know that there are tons of FTP packages.


I'd like to switch during your 2/1 promotion.

Thanks.......

[dbmasters]

1- in theory yes, but I am unsure if Joe's exact stance on the situation.

2- The problems lies in the fact the HostPC runs on Linux server, and any non-windows server has limitations in it's abilaity to work with Microsoft technologies such as ASP and Front Page Extensions (if one really considers FP a "technology")

3- The most obvious alternative is to actually learn web development coding and build you own pages and FTP them the way the majority of the development community does, whether that building and coding be with NotePad, Dreamweaver, HomeSite, HotMetal or any of a thousand other development environment options.

If not using NotePad, or other plain text editor, Macromedia DreamWeaver or Macromedia Ultradev has, or is quickly establishing itself as the industry standard for web development.

[Joe]

FP Extensions work, and will continue to work on all servers up to this point... we toyed with the idea of not offering them, but we still get enough of a call for them to continue offering them.

Joe

[Anonymous]

Thanks, Dan...

Thanks, Joe...

As I said earlier, my pages are very simple .html and I through some FP development classes, I know enough .html to maintain them. I was just concerned that I would have to stop using FP immediately if I switched.

I also use a add-on shopping cart from Digital Storefronts (www.digitalstorefronts.com) where I edit the .html code for each product.

Joe - looks like you'll be getting a new customer...

[Joe]

Glad to hear it Jim - Welcome to HostPC!

[Anonymous]

Joe,

Check your email.

Thanks...