Host Interview - Messing-About
 |
Our Interview with - Frank Hagan, Owner Messing-About |
|
Tell us about your company and
services:
Messing-about.com Hosting Services resells web space for personal,
hobbyist or non-mission critical small-business websites. We offer
economical plans with a generous amount of features on a fast, reliable
server.
What are your target markets?
We cater to two groups of web hosts. Those just starting out in hosting
a site who need more individualized attention, and those that have sites
elsewhere but desire a greater level of freedom, security and personalized
attention. While my initial thought was that my clients would come from
the first group (the “newbiesâ€), most are from the latter group. They were
simply tired of being hosted on unreliable, overloaded servers and having
their websites “blacklisted†because of other sites on the same server.
What makes you different from other web
hosting companies?
There are a lot of great choices out there for hosting your web site. I
am unique in that I am not interested in rapid growth of my hosting
business at the expense of quality, and will not hesitate to recommend
another hosting company if I feel I cannot meet the customer’s needs. I
don’t have to sell more web space to stay in business. I advise my
customers when downtime is to be expected because of server upgrades, and
I publish at least two independent monitoring agency “Uptime Reports†for
everyone to see. And, we do not appear on any of the adult-content listing
services or spam block lists.
What would you say is your company's
main strength?
Our small size is perfect for those people tired of the mega-hosts; we
can remain flexible and our server is never overloaded (we do not oversell
either space or bandwidth on the server). I can assist in resolving
problems without resorting to telling people to “read our FAQS†or “buy a
book on hosting.â€
In your opinion, what make great
hosting services?
This is the $64,000 question (or, in my case, the $3.40 question – as
that’s the cost of my smallest hosting plan). The real answer lies in the
customer, of course. If the hosting company meets your needs, then it is a
great choice. If they fall short on something you really need, then its
not so great. Everyone needs to do a “cost / benefit†analysis to
determine if one host’s offerings are better than another’s. For me
personally, I rate reliability of the server very high. Speed of the
server is also important, as some shared hosting situations have oversold
thousands of websites on the same server, and during peak times the server
slows to a crawl. I prefer Linux servers because I feel they are more
robust, and less prone to viruses. But those are more technical in nature.
For someone searching for their first web host, I think they should first
evaluate their needs, not the web site’s needs. The difference is that
some people are just fine tinkering and taking some time to learn what
they are doing, and don’t mind if they have to upload the same file 3 or 4
times until its right. They can go with almost any host who offers the
space and bandwidth they need. Others just want to get the site on the
‘net and not have to face a learning curve, and they usually need one of
the “instant†site builder hosts with browser-based editing and built in
design templates. In between are those that don’t mind a learning curve,
as long as it isn’t going to take forever, and enjoy the independence and
control a smaller host provides them. With our generous plans and our
Cpanel site management software, we fall into this category. So, the first
order of business is to determine what you need from a host.
Once you determine the level of support you need, then you can choose
using other factors. Disk space and bandwidth are two factors. Email
addresses, mailing lists, etc. are others. One not often thought about
until it is too late is whether or not you will be able to reach your site
from your work log-on, or if your friends and family will be able to reach
the site. If the server you are on also hosts a web site with adult
content, your site may be “blacklisted†along with all the other sites on
that server. Many companies have certain IP addresses blocked, as they
appear on the adult-content lists. The same thing holds for your email
addresses and the ability to receive or send emails to people … if a
spammer is set up on your server, many of the ISPs won’t allow your email
to reach their customers. (You can check one email listing agency at
http://www.spamhaus.org and search for the domain name or IP address of
your prospective host’s server. If they appear on that list, you won’t be
able to send email to people on AOL or any other ISP that uses the list).
Finally, choose a host who offers the services you will use. I can offer
my customers “unlimited email addressesâ€, but I don’t. Its an invitation
to attract sites used for less-than-honest practices that might get them …
and every other site on the server … on one of the blacklists. A company
my size can definitely be flexible, though, and if a customer needs more
email addresses for friends, etc., I can simply increase the amount
without charging extra. That’s the kind of flexibility that can make the
difference between a good host and a great host.
Describe the support services that you
provide:
: I don’t offer live call-in support 24/7. The reality is that most
hosts don’t, even if they say they do. That being said, I do provide 24
hour paging to my cell phone via email, so my customers can email me at
any time, at an email address separate from the server. They also have my
cell phone number for emergencies. My online support site features a
trouble ticket system that also pages and emails me as soon as the ticket
is entered. Because my main site is on the same server as my customer’s, I
want to know if it goes down. This month, I will have a mirror support
site on a different server, in a different data center, in a different
state than my main server. That will provide a redundant way to reach me
on-line in the even of a crisis (the site is being set up and will be
fully function by the end of January 2004).
Besides the “emergency†support mentioned, I also offer assistance and
guidance for those new to hosting, or those who have had bad experiences
with prior hosts. I have Flash tutorials for Cpanel on-line, as well as
the documentation (Cpanel is the web site management control panel we use;
it includes “one click†access to several advanced features). I have a
“Quick Start†program that allows easy access via your browser to our
Cpanel web site management application; you enter the information from my
welcome email into the program, and it can launch Cpanel for your web
site.
Where do you see the hosting industry
4-5 years from now?
The mega-hosts will continue to grow, and specialized small companies
like mine will continue to operate. I think the mid-level companies are
the ones most at risk; they can’t compete on price with the mega-hosts,
and they can’t grow enough to cover their costs without sacrificing some
of the personal attention that most people need.
If I can, I’d like to mention that I don’t think the main revolution will
come in how the hosting industry is set up, but rather what we will find
on the Internet. I don’t think the promise of the Internet has been
realized yet. Sure, we can find out anything we want about the soap we
buy, and we can buy books and computers on line. But the real promise of
the Internet is linking people, not companies, together.
I host two sites I’m very excited about; one is a group of people who have
as a common interest a rather unique hobby … boat building. A wide and
diverse group of people from around the world has created a community of
sorts on this site. It’s rewarding to see connections between people that
15 years ago would never meet. The other is a site with a narrower
interest, providing families with their own mini web sites with a mailing
list, on-line forums, picture gallery and blogs, providing a “virtual
reunion†for them. The result is a reconnection among relatives that draws
a family closer together.
In both cases, the Internet is the mechanism for bringing people together.
In one case its people who would never be together except for the modern
day convenience of the Internet, and in the other, its restoring
connections between people who would have never been separated except for
the mobile nature of the modern world. In both cases, the promise of the
Internet starts to be fulfilled.
Thank you
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 
| 