Standing apart

SenseiSteve

HD Moderator
Staff member
Standing apart

Standing apart can be a good thing or a bad thing. You want to be memorable for all the right reasons. The providers that stand out for me are those that are honest. You can’t please everyone, so it’s always best to manage your prospect’s expectations. They’ll appreciate your honesty.

Your thoughts on how to stand apart, in a good way?
 
24x7 customer support is always the most important. Someone has to always be there. If something goes wrong, and no one is there to answer, that can be troubling for a customer.
 
Standing apart is the only real differentiator in this business. With every company capable of buying the same hardware, renting space in the same datacenters, hiring the same support specialists, setting up the same templates, your attitude in how you treat and support your customers is the only thing that they will notice.

You can be a new hosting provider that occasionally makes mistakes, but if you show me the next level attention and care, I am going to stick around, because it will make me believe that you will always work hard.
 
Considering that so few web hosts have great support, I believe that outstanding customer support is the best way for a web host to stand apart from others.
 
The only way to compete with massive EIG, GoDaddy, etc. is to offer something that they don't, which is generally real support by staff who actually care at all and who all know what they are talking about.

Apart from that provide something that is specific to a need. If you offer 'WordPress hosting' then make sure you show how it is different to general shared hosting, what additional value it gives, and not just by throwing in buzz-terms and lots of big numbers but by actually doing something that makes the clients life easier or adds something.

Offering managed hosting for something that most companies don't, Ghost for example sets you apart again.

In my case, our whole company is built around a particular ethos, that we want to create a more sustainable and ethical internet. It appeals to clients who care about green energy, open source, etc. It's a niche, not a small one but it is, and maybe that makes it easier to stand out, it's a smaller pool of companies offering something similar. On the other hand it makes you more visible and accountable within that niche I guess.
 
I agree with the above that the only real difference you can do to stand out is pricing & customer support. We mainly focus on customer support ensuring tickets are dealt with promptly and effectively. We regularly do additional checks on customers services when they raise any issues or queries and provide feedback which could help their websites such as missing SSL's, HTTPS configuration and other things relating to their websites.

Our main issue is organic traffic and brand awareness. Changing your primary domain dramatically effects your page ranking and traffic (Which we did 6 months ago.. bad timing during COVID).
 
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