A maturing market?

[James]

I know its not directly related to hosting, but is does show further evidence of the way the online industry is maturing. http://www.online-publishers.org/

[Phoenix]

I have a feeling we will be seeing more of these new professional organizations as the Internet matures and people become more 'wired'.

Many new professions have come in to being, and many old professions have been redefined, as a result of this new communications medium.

The Internet is still in the experimental phase-as evinced by the recent dotcom boom and bust...new technologies are still being experimented with to provide the high-speed connectivity that businesses and consumers demand-as evinced by the recent DSL boom and bust...

Internet advertising still is in the testing phase, too-as evinced by the recent boom and bust in ad rates, and the many different methods being tried to see what works best.

Many small to medium businesses (and some corporations) still haven't properly integrated the Internet into their business processes, heck some of them haven't gotten the hang of using computers in their daily operations. One of the many reasons for the current demand for cheap hosting-web sites for most businesses are not paying for themselves. Once they realize just how vital a good quality web site is to their business, that will change, but it is still a few years away.

It's a shame that the bottom fell out of the Internet strategy consulting market (mostly due to the fact they were glorified, overpriced web designers, not strategic thinkers), that's something that every business needs.

And when they do, a mature Internet industry, dominated by experienced professionals will be waiting for them, people they can trust to give them top quality, guaranteed service and consulting (either in-house or in partnership with other professionals).

Cheap hosting will always have its place-it's ideal for consumers, resume sites, or testing new sites. Just as the very expensive hosting companies like Exodus and Conxion provide, will always have its place for companies with very large hosting budgets.

Those of us who fall in the middle, will come to dominate the market. Especially when society becomes wired enough for the pure-play Internet businesses to actually be profitable.

We just have to wait out the cheap hosting boom and bust, first.

[thecomputerguy]

i am glad maybe I can take the 7 dollar hosting off my site....LOL, everyone want the 30 dollar package I wish...but that doesnt happen over night

[Phoenix]

The hard part is definitely the waiting, and keeping things going while the rest of the business world catches up to the larger business who early on realized the strategic importance of using the web as part of their business practices-okay, so most of them have made colossal, expensive mistakes as part of that process, but at least they recognize that it's something they need to devote adequate resources to.

Most businesses in this country are not big corporate entities, but small businesses. And small businesses are notorious for being late adopters of technology. As well as for wanting to spend as little as possible on anything they don't view as 'business critical'.

Small businesses usually put up static sites that are fancy business cards because that's all they know. No one seems to be telling them that they can use their web sites as a way of improving their relationships with their existing customers and making things easier for them.

There are also few hosted ecommerce applications for service businesses, and they are one of the largest sectors of the small business market. Right now the only way for a small service business to have an application is to have a developer custom-build one for them. One of my colleagues is doing just that for a railroad that runs an upscale dinner train down the cape-he's building them an online reservation system so that people can book their tickets, choose their entree, and it will assign them a car and a table according to their party's size, process their credit card and generate the reports needed for the train and station crews.

Unfortunately , most small businesses can't afford to pay for a SQL developer's time (you don't want to know what he charges for time & materials), so they make do, and their sites are just not effective, so they might as well be using the cheapest hosting.

Once those types of applications join the traditional catalogue and shopping cart used by product-oriented businesses, there will be another boom in hosting and those that are using the ASP (application service provider) business model for service businesses, should be ahead of the pack and able to charge more than the 'cheap' hosts. Especially if they make service businesses their target market, instead of just anyone who needs hosting.

[akashik]

tell me about it. I sold off one of our pro plans today and I had to doublecheck I was reading it right I was doubly excited then, as it's a current customer with a good billing history.

I think it may be starting to happen though. I can't speak for anyone else, but we've seen a growth in the higher end plans lately, and less of the $7.95 ones. Whether that's consumer confidence in us, or the net in general is open to debate.

Looking through WHT's ad section makes you want to weep. Looking at a post for someone looking for hosting, then seeing the offers is an exercise in frustration. You *know* you can give these people a great service and they'd be happy with the company, but the thread is just full of cowboys outgunning each other with $3 a month plans, so you don't bother...

I have seen the odd post where people looking hosting have openly turned their noses up at the cheap offers though which is heart warming.

Greg Moore

[allera]

Originally posted by akashik
You *know* you can give these people a great service and they'd be happy with the company, but the thread is just full of cowboys outgunning each other with $3 a month plans, so you don't bother...

I have seen the odd post where people looking hosting have openly turned their noses up at the cheap offers though which is heart warming.

I as well see those posts. I still give the poster a quote, higher than the $1/gig quotes on there, and sometimes I get the customer. But it is very frustrating seeing hosts offer a whole lot for a whole little. I just don't see how it's possible to offer those prices and expect any kind of profit, if not breaking even. Unless you own your own Networking Center with full authority over the lines you provide, sub-$1/gig prices are extremely hard to find, let alone resell them for under $1/gig and still make any profit.

Although, I must say, I have seen quite a few hosts drop like flies in the last few months. They were up maybe a month or two and just disappeared. At least that is something we can all look forward to. I know I will be.

I will support any reputable host and treat them as a peer, but the little 12 gigs for $10/mo hosts just have to go. Just my opinion, of course.

[akashik]

In general it appears that Donhost and their ilk have a lot of answer for in that regard, allowing resellers to offer insane deals that no-one else can match in a blue fit. Of course they're also the first people to get 'uppy' when Donhost shuts off an account for using more than a flatline of resources.

I remember getting a PM at WHT a while back from some guy thinking a muct be crazy to pay for expensive servers when I could just geta Donhost account for next to nothing. I gave him the 'quality Vs quantity' reply, but we still thought there must be something wrong with me. Well, I'm still here and I haven't heard from him in a few weeks now.

Everything in the world of business tends to flow in waves. I think we're just starting on the downside of the cheapo host wave at the moment, where unlimited accounts are being seen as a liability, and solid mid priced accounts are being seen as a serious option again. I figure I'll just keep the bills paid, and keep our name out there, and things will start to grow again as we all start to pick up the refugees from all these sinking ships.

Homestead has been great for business lately

Greg Moore