James Posted September 3, 2008 Share Posted September 3, 2008 What are some things that you would like to pass on to others that are interested in starting their own hosting? Obviously dont throw your best kept secrets about but what are some good tips? What would an individual like in hosting? This is a question for everyone! Just a tip: Make yourself look good, advertise lots and be up to date with the latest looks and technology. Studiio - All-In-One Radio Communication Platform SMS | Phone Calls | Social Media | Content Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronsnet Posted September 10, 2008 Share Posted September 10, 2008 Good customer service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Posted September 16, 2008 Author Share Posted September 16, 2008 Good customer service. How do you achieve that though? What is good customer service and what isnt? I think that a customer to staff communication is important.. skype.. msn.. aim.. yim.. and live chat.. It all adds up. Studiio - All-In-One Radio Communication Platform SMS | Phone Calls | Social Media | Content Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THREETEN RADIO Posted September 16, 2008 Share Posted September 16, 2008 Good customer service to me is when you contact them they get back to you in a timely manner and address you by name and do all they can to help you and not poo poo you off with excuses if you are unhappy or have a problem. Like you said James, communication by various means is very important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THFS Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Everything is based around communication. If there is none, there is no business... communication is key! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shoutcaststreaming Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 Good customer service to me is when you contact them they get back to you in a timely mannerWhat do you consider a timely response? If you e-mail them at 2 in the morning, do you expect an immediate response? SCS - Dedicated Bandwidth Servers Shoutcast / Icecast / Windows Media Transcoding - Auto DJ - Mobile Radio - FLASH Players - Auto DJ Broadcasting World's Stream Host of the Month Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THREETEN RADIO Posted September 17, 2008 Share Posted September 17, 2008 What do you consider a timely response? If you e-mail them at 2 in the morning, do you expect an immediate response?If they are in the same country as me then no, I would expect a reply during office hours the morning. That to me is a timely response. If I got a response immediately I would be amazed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
interwebdirect Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 Good customer communication is key, we offer 24/7/365 support tickets which are answered normally within 2 hours even when our offices are closed, we also on MSN, AOL, Yahoo & Skype. Plan ahead with your equipment, as this is vital for minimizing future downtime to upgrade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavestreaming-deals Posted February 3, 2009 Share Posted February 3, 2009 I agree. Customer communication is paramount! I also think that a good network infrastructure is also vital. You do not want to provide a bad quality service on bad servers for example as this will give you a bad name. So use the best you can get! Also follow some business strategies and NEVER undersell yourself! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoutcaststudio Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 People will pay more for great service, and quality bandwidth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CyberFM Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Here's the problem with webhosting, I always ALWAYS get in trouble on this forum when we talk about webhosting, but F it We've been hosting since late 99. (Obviously, not as Cyber-FM) and it takes quite a long time to establish yourself. Show off your uptime, DO NOT HIDE IT. You can do this by using "Third Party Monitoring" companies. Do NOT, and I repeat, do NOT give away terabytes of space and terabytes of bandwidth if you can't. You can perform a function that all cell phone companies, electrical utility companies and webhosts are guilty of and it's called "Overselling." 12 months later, you WILL get busted "Overselling" ... if 90% of your customers, do NOT use the 250gb of space that you offer at a ridiculously low price, the other 10% will, eventually. No one wants to get up at 1:30am because you need to add an emergency hard drive to a server. Honesty always pays. If you have an issue, make sure all of your customers receive proper notification. Don't brag about 100% uptime. You will NOT provide 100% uptime. It's impossible to provide 100% uptime. You are NOT MCI, Verizon, Etc. You CANNOT speak for them. The Northeastern Blackout of 2003 proved this. There's no redundancy in the world that will provide 100% uptime. You can indeed provide 99.5% uptime (should you be up for a long time prior to that) but it's all about math. Customers WILL leave you. Customers will ALWAYS leave you for a better price... the only way you know that you are successful as a webhost, is when they come back. I have very strict views about webhosting, and this is not the place for an editorial soap-box, but I do believe that its our own fault when you see other webhosts offering "too much for too little." Main hosts offer what is called "Reseller Accounts." I grant you "Reseller Privileges," sometimes even white label, non branded, reseller capabilities for $X amount per month. That reseller then goes and offers Three Times the amount of what they are allowed to sell. We allow them to do that and resellers become our "own competition." In all honesty, "Hosting" is a SATURATED industry, and its the fault of the webhosts themselves. Bottom line, ANYONE interested in "Becoming a webhost" should swing by http://webhostingtalk.com and / or http://freewebspace.net and see what the other hosts do, offer, react to, and respond to. Your best way to learn the experience will be to read about it. One other point to touch on, as a webhost, is that 24/7 support IS IMPORTANT. Yes, we NEED to reply to Trouble Tickets at 2am. Have support staff in the United States, Europe, India, and China as well as Australia. Hire them, invest the money. You don't need to be awake at 2am if you can have someone assist a customer on basic troubleshooting at "Office Hours" per timezone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
citrus3 Posted March 2, 2009 Share Posted March 2, 2009 Selling slots at a reasonable price on a good quality network is important. A lot of listeners will notice a good quality network by the way their listeners increase on a daily basis. This is something I have experienced in the past. Also support is priority. Customers always love it when they can chat to someone esp on their msn. An Iphone is always a handy tool for any stream host to gather and answer questions rapidly when not in the office Citrus 3 Shoutcast Hosting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigloo Posted March 7, 2009 Share Posted March 7, 2009 Good customer service and honesty. Thats how I do my hosting. I reply to a customer in a timely manner, and if I "don't know", then I don't know but will work hard to get a correct answer for them. It also helps to have your servers at a good reputable datacenter. Blackberry is my friend when it comes to being there for my customers. ________ Lou Bigloo Christian Radio http://www/biglooradio.com/ digiSTREAM SHOUTcast Hosting http://www.digistream.info/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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