Suggest You - Why Should We Be Concerned With The Evolution Of The Web Hosting Industry

There are fascinating aspects of the web hosting industry which will dictate its future. First is the up-sell potential. Web hosting is experiencing an incredible phenomenon, which is the recurring revenue per client per month is still increasing after the introductory stage for the higher end managed hosting. No one knows how many services and applications we can attach to a corporation's web site. So, we can alter the aforementioned quote to read, "Sell it once, up-sell it and collect until it churns". Sure, other industries up-sell their customers, but nothing like this. This is a major difference from other recurring revenue businesses, such as cellular and long distance where prices started high then immediately started their linear journey downward. As far as the effect of the up-selling aspect of managed web hosting services, if the average monthly price continues much longer, much more supply will come to the market and possibly increase the magnitude of the commodity effect later on.

The second fascinating aspect is the portable nature of a web hosting business. As we all know, the (rookie) end user has no idea where the web site is hosted, neither should he care as far as geographic location. He should, however, care what country the host's servers reside in for obvious reasons. The portable nature of the web hosting business will be a key force in the mergers and acquisition phase of the evolution. For example, let's look at the post acquisition integration aspects of the ISP, paging and cellular industries. The customers, systems equipment, and the sales staff have to remain in the market (MSA), but customer service calls and the accounting and management teams can be moved to the corporate office. Note, there will still be considerable investment in the selling company's market. This has been the case with many industry roll-up scenarios. One of the major criterions in a company's acquisition strategy is the geographic location it wishes to be in. For the most part, web hosting doesn't experience nearly as much of the geographic restriction. Get Your Visitors To Voluntarily Give You Their Contact Information
If you listen to a group of website designers and developers you will notice a sound coming from them that sounds suspiciously like a Mantra. "Content is king. Content is king."If you believe what they pitch, all you need to do to succeed is to find a way to make your website "sticky". The idea is that your visitors will not be able to resist coming back, over and over, until they buy.It's a great theory. But a little observation combined with a little knowledge of human behaviour puts the lie to their nice little theory. Look at your own behaviour. How many websites have you bookmarked in your browser? I have over 500.Of these, how many do you remember why you bookmarked them? I know with my own, I'm lucky if I can remember 50% of them. And of the sites I do remember, I only regularly visit 5 or 10 sites. That's 5 or 10 sites out of 500. Those other sites were all "sticky" too. What happened to them?Real life is what happened. Your target market doesn't have the time to revisit all of the sites that interest them. So what happens to the "sticky" site you've invested so much time making so? It gets forgotten by all those people who should be your clients.There's a simple way to remedy the situation. Capture your visitors' e-mail address so that you can keep up a regular dialogue with them.Now you have two questions: How do I capture my visitors' addresses, and what do I send them?The answer to the first is found via the answer to the second. Offer them something they'll value, on a continual basis. This newsletter you are reading is an example of one of the most common items you can offer. People are on the Web searching for valuable information. If you offer to deliver it to them on a regular basis, many of your visitors will volunteer their contact information.Newsletters work well for products and services that have depth and dimension to them. I could write on marketing issues fo recurring revenue business model: "Sell it once and collect until it churns". The evolution of industries occurs at different rates for different reasons. Attempting to quantify the future change in each of the value drivers is the science. Why should we be concerned with the evolution of the industry we work in? The answer depends on which stakeholder group you are in: employees; equity owners (passive or active); debt holders (bank, bond or preferred); senior or middle management (different implications for each); family; communities; equipment supplier, service supplier, customers, or a government agency. The value to each of these stakeholders changes over time through the evolution. It is important to note some industries evolve from the creation of a new technology such as paging, cellular, PCS, Internet access and web hosting, while others evolve from deregulation such as long distance, power suppliers and the CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier).

There are fascinating aspects of the web hosting industry which will dictate its future. First is the up-sell potential. Web hosting is experiencing an incredible phenomenon, which is the recurring revenue per client per month is still increasing after the introductory stage for the higher end managed hosting. No one knows how many services and applications we can attach to a corporation's web site. So, we can alter the aforementioned quote to read, "Sell it once, up-sell it and collect until it churns". Sure, other industries up-sell their customers, but nothing like this. This is a major difference from other recurring revenue businesses, such as cellular and long distance where prices started high then immediately started their linear journey downward. As far as the effect of the up-selling aspect of managed web hosting services, if the average monthly price continues much longer, much more supply will come to the market and possibly increase the magnitude of the commodity effect later on.

The second fascinating aspect is the portable nature of a web hosting business. As we all know, the (rookie) end user has no idea where the web site is hosted, neither should he care as far as geographic location. He should, however, care what country the host's servers reside in for obvious reasons. The portable nature of the web hosting business will be a key force in the mergers and acquisition phase of the evolution. For example, let's look at the post acquisition integration aspects of the ISP, paging and cellular industries. The customers, systems equipment, and the sales staff have to remain in the market (MSA), but customer service calls and the accounting and management teams can be moved to the corporate office. Note, there will still be considerable investment in the selling company's market. This has been the case with many industry roll-up scenarios. One of the major criterions in a company's acquisition strategy is the geographic location it wishes to be in. For the most part, web hosting doesn't experience nearly as much of the geographic restriction. Customer Relationship Management For A Higher Level Of Customer Service
For businesses large and small, their profitability and success depends upon customer retention, customer relationship enhancements and customer acquisition. This is often known as Customer Relationship Management or CRM. CRM is the managing of all business and interactions with customers. The main purpose of Customer Relationship Management is to allow businesses to better manage their customers through the introduction of reliable systems, processes and procedures for interacting with those customers. A good CRM program helps the business acquire customers and service the customers. Good CRM also helps retain good customers, and identify which customers can be given a higher level of service.CRM is a complex mix of business processes, enterprise strategies and information technologies, which are used to study customers' needs and behaviors to help businesses develop more substantial relationships with them in order to get greater results.In the late 90's, customer relationship management mainly consisted of just an index file, an answering machine and a telephone. Today, an advanced CRM system has evolved into an Excel spreadsheet and more. CRM systems normally consist of email and/or snail mail, marketing campaigns, contact manager programs, sales tracking program, and multi-media contact center or voice mail system.A successful CRM strategy doesn't just mean simply installing and integrating a software package; it also involves a wider approach including modifying business processes based on the needs of customer, training of employees, adopting relevant IT systems and software, and IT services that allows firms to track their CRM strategies.Good CRM software can help run an entire business by allowing companies to maintain all customer records in one centralized location that is accessible to the whole organization. Front line offices have systems that are set up to collect data from the customers for processing at the data warehouse where datew technology such as paging, cellular, PCS, Internet access and web hosting, while others evolve from deregulation such as long distance, power suppliers and the CLEC (competitive local exchange carrier).

There are fascinating aspects of the web hosting industry which will dictate its future. First is the up-sell potential. Web hosting is experiencing an incredible phenomenon, which is the recurring revenue per client per month is still increasing after the introductory stage for the higher end managed hosting. No one knows how many services and applications we can attach to a corporation's web site. So, we can alter the aforementioned quote to read, "Sell it once, up-sell it and collect until it churns". Sure, other industries up-sell their customers, but nothing like this. This is a major difference from other recurring revenue businesses, such as cellular and long distance where prices started high then immediately started their linear journey downward. As far as the effect of the up-selling aspect of managed web hosting services, if the average monthly price continues much longer, much more supply will come to the market and possibly increase the magnitude of the commodity effect later on.

The second fascinating aspect is the portable nature of a web hosting business. As we all know, the (rookie) end user has no idea where the web site is hosted, neither should he care as far as geographic location. He should, however, care what country the host's servers reside in for obvious reasons. The portable nature of the web hosting business will be a key force in the mergers and acquisition phase of the evolution. For example, let's look at the post acquisition integration aspects of the ISP, paging and cellular industries. The customers, systems equipment, and the sales staff have to remain in the market (MSA), but customer service calls and the accounting and management teams can be moved to the corporate office. Note, there will still be considerable investment in the selling company's market. This has been the case with many industry roll-up scenarios. One of the major criterions in a company's acquisition strategy is the geographic location it wishes to be in. For the most part, web hosting doesn't experience nearly as much of the geographic restriction. How to Start a Virtual Assistant Business
“Falling into” a position such as a Virtual Assistant is not how it happens for everyone; I was very lucky. When I was starting out, I didn’t even realize the career path that I was choosing. My husband was working for a small web services firm as head of their web design department. They were often asked if they offered services such as web content writing, editing and proofreading and/or data capturing services for order forms or entry forms. This is where I came in; I had found my niche. I was working from home as a data capturer for a local company. I knew that I had the experience for what his clients were looking for, and with the data capturing position, I knew I had the discipline and time management skills needed to work from home. Offering to help with a few minor projects, I didn’t realize that a few years from that meager start, I would be working full-time (or at least as full-time as I’d like) from home as a Virtual Assistant, fully self-employed. Since 2000 when this started, I’ve expanded my services and my office. I now enjoy more writing & editing assignments and helping others establish their Virtual Assistant practices.What is a VA?A Virtual Assistant, or VA, is an independent contractor who provides administrative, secretarial, creative and/or organizational services to his/her clients viathe internet, email, snail mail, fax and telephone, whatever gets the job done! VAs can provide nearly all of the services of an in-house assistant at a fraction of the cost! Virtual Assistants have a vested interest in their clients’ success. The more a VA learns about a client’s business, the more valuable he/she becomes.Utilizing advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from her own office on a contractual basis. Working together virtually opens up a whole new talent pool to draw from that was previously unavailable to professionals and smalbut nothing like this. This is a major difference from other recurring revenue businesses, such as cellular and long distance where prices started high then immediately started their linear journey downward. As far as the effect of the up-selling aspect of managed web hosting services, if the average monthly price continues much longer, much more supply will come to the market and possibly increase the magnitude of the commodity effect later on.

The second fascinating aspect is the portable nature of a web hosting business. As we all know, the (rookie) end user has no idea where the web site is hosted, neither should he care as far as geographic location. He should, however, care what country the host's servers reside in for obvious reasons. The portable nature of the web hosting business will be a key force in the mergers and acquisition phase of the evolution. For example, let's look at the post acquisition integration aspects of the ISP, paging and cellular industries. The customers, systems equipment, and the sales staff have to remain in the market (MSA), but customer service calls and the accounting and management teams can be moved to the corporate office. Note, there will still be considerable investment in the selling company's market. This has been the case with many industry roll-up scenarios. One of the major criterions in a company's acquisition strategy is the geographic location it wishes to be in. For the most part, web hosting doesn't experience nearly as much of the geographic restriction. The End of an Era and the Death of the Financial Planner Solo Professional
The Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC has been adding new regulations to the books at the rate of one every 6 days for 3-years in the running and they are running the Financial Planners out of business due to the all the paper work. Is this the End of an Era and the Death of the Financial Planner Solo Professional, thanks to The Securities and Exchange Commission? Many believe it is and it is unfortunate too as the wire house and stock brokerage firms get away with murder and fraud on a daily basis.Unfortunately as Former Federal Reserve Chairman Allen Greenspan said once before the US Congress in a testimony; the problem with making new laws is once you make one the temptation to keep adding too it is simply too great. Indeed and well said, boy isn’t that the truth. Yet, we see that these over regulations are causing friction in the financial sector and we also see the Social Security will be bankrupt soon.So what is a retiring America to do without all these meaningful Financial Planner Solo Professionals? Perhaps the government just thinks everyone will work until they drop dead and forgo their social security checks. Without Financial Planners, how will citizens be able to figure out their own retirement plans? This is a huge crisis indeed and I talked to one Financial Planner Solo Professional who told me anyone going into this business now is simply stupid, it is not worth it just starting out, they will just have to quit. Consider all this in 2006.nature of the web hosting business will be a key force in the mergers and acquisition phase of the evolution. For example, let's look at the post acquisition integration aspects of the ISP, paging and cellular industries. The customers, systems equipment, and the sales staff have to remain in the market (MSA), but customer service calls and the accounting and management teams can be moved to the corporate office. Note, there will still be considerable investment in the selling company's market. This has been the case with many industry roll-up scenarios. One of the major criterions in a company's acquisition strategy is the geographic location it wishes to be in. For the most part, web hosting doesn't experience nearly as much of the geographic restriction.

Value Drivers: First a quick note, due to the lack of time in this article, I will refrain from distinguishing between the hierarchies in the web hosting world: managed and shared. It should also be noted that both are viable strategies. A value driver is a measure used to track financial and operational variables in a business or an industry. The strength by which each value driver steers an industry varies from industry to industry.

1. Churn and Net Gains- Churn is simply the number of accounts that leave a company each month. It is a function of price elasticity, the level of customer service, the quality of the targeted customer base, the company's credit and collection policies, the number of competitors and their strengths, and the service/application offering. This number increases for all companies as an industry evolves through to the mature stage as the growth of the total market itself slows down. Net gains are achieved when the number of new accounts added for the month is greater than churn. This number turns negative in the decline stage (the paging industry). You can imagine the immense pressure that increasing churn and falling prices can have on increasing sales.

2. Average revenue per account per billing- This is a fascinating number, one that Wall Street is following quite closely because it speaks of the up-selling ability of the industry. Since this is a new industry, no one really knows how far this can go. Applications and services are being developed every day that will be added to web sites. The more advanced and specialized a managed hosting account, the less new capacity should affect prices and churn.

3. Revenue/EBITDA per sq. ft. of data center space- This addresses the efficiency of asset utilization. Presently, the data center build out mode in underway.

4. Market Size and Market Share- Market size is widely followed and certainly marks the different stages of the evolutionary cycle. When a telecommunications or technology industry slows to below 15-20 percent, most of the big returns have already been realized. It is usually past the maximum valuation of a private company. Regarding market share, the fight for this number can be the death of companies in the mature stage. How long will some companies sell services below cost to get it? In the paging industry, companies drove prices down below cost for so long, it left most of the public companies free cash flow negative for the entire life of the industry.

5. Expense Contributions- These numbers, measured in dollar amounts or as a percent, usually shrink as economies of scale are realized. These are great numbers to follow, especially as they pass the point of inflection.

6. Point of inflection- This is the point at which a revenue measure number is still increasing but at a decreasing rate or the converse, an expense contribution number is decreasing but at a decreasing rate. Depending upon the variable being charted, the point of inflection can occur at any stage of evolution.

7. WACC- The weighted

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