(1226 total words in this text)
(5503 reads)   

We had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Bevan Erickson of WestHost. WestHost is truly a outstanding company that is experiencing phenominal growth. Since starting in 1996 they have developed te range of services and support in response to the market and their growing customer needs, while at the same time maintaining overall profitability.
Read on to hear what Mr. Erickson has to say:

1. Tell us a little about your background Bevan. What industry experience you have? And what did you do before WestHost?

I’ve been involved with the hosting industry since 1996. I started with Excite@Home, and then worked with About.com before coming to WestHost. My experience has been equally balanced between marketing/sales efforts and product development.

2. Tell our readers about WestHost, your product and services.

Our company was started in 1998 as a self-funded business. After more than 6 years, we continue to maintain profitability and strong financial growth as a privately owned and independent web hosting company. Our services include shared hosting, dedicated servers, colocation, domain registration and various e-commerce solutions.

3. You mentioned that you are launching two new reseller programs, one for discount resellers and one for package resellers, can you give us some insight on the two packages and how they will differ themselves?

There are generally only two types of reseller programs available within the hosting industry. One type allows percentage discounts on existing hosting packages. The other gives the Reseller the ability to purchase a large amount of space and bandwidth and then divide it up to create custom packages defined by the Reseller. Although most companies offer one or the other, we will provide both.

For the Reseller, it will be a decision of simplicity vs. flexibility. For those wanting to try out reselling, I’d recommend the Discount Program. You purchase pre-defined hosting packages, as you need them. The Package Program, on the other hand, will give the more advanced Reseller full control over the packages sold, including space, bandwidth, features and tools. Although requiring more work than the first, the profit potential can be much greater.

4. Do you have any other changes or additions to your service in this coming year?

We have a lot on the horizon. Over the next few weeks, new packages will replace the old, offering even more value to our clients. A new sitebuilder, improved control panel, e-commerce solutions and site marketing tools will follow shortly behind. Continued improvements to reliability, speed and redundancy are in the works.

5. What has led to your success in the hosting industry?

By staying competitive with our basic product offering, we’ve been able to attract new clients. Our real success, however, has come from our efforts in retaining existing clients (reducing churn) and then leveraging them to gain referrals and repeat business (2 nd sites, added services, etc). It’s always a good sign when over half of your new business comes from referrals.

6. You have been in business for about 6 years. Last year you increased your staff from a handful to about 30 employees. What triggered such a growth spurt?

Through 2002 we kept things simple. We offered great reliability and support from a solid hosting platform. The simplicity of the service required little in human resources. However, in order to stay ahead in the industry, we realized we would need to start adding more value to our staple services. Last year, we brought in more engineers and developers to help with this effort.

Our recent launch of Virtual Private Servers resulted in huge increases to new signups, which in turn, required additional staffing across our support and technical departments. New product and service launches on the horizon are expected to force repeats of this cycle over the next year.

7. How does WestHost fit into the web hosting industry? What makes you different?

We compete at a bargain price level for features and services; yet maintain quality standards usually limited to premier hosting providers. At $7.95, you are getting a Virtual Private Server (loaded), even though we don’t sacrifice 24/7 support or 99.9% reliability guarantees. We operate at less than 50% of available capacity from our Tier I data center, which is supported by multiple high quality fiber carriers including AT&T, Qwest and XO.

8. Technical support is always important with website hosting. What types of support do you offer and to what lengths will you go to satisfy customers needs?

Our staff is available 24/7 via toll free phone, instant chat and rapid response e-mail. Even with e-mail responses averaging less than 2 hours and toll free phone hold times under 5 minutes, we will be launching a new Priority Support program to improve on current statistics and back them up with guarantees.

We realize the impact our existing clients have on our success and have always focused efforts on their needs and requirements. We’ve given away the farm to keep many of our clients happy, but have in turn been rewarded with repeat business and referrals.

9. Having read you customer testimonials, do you have any success stories that stick out in your mind?

We have had a number of clients send us gifts as “thanks” for going out of our way to help them out. I guess those are the ones that stand out the most. Collectively, there have been some common themes. Positive comments about the value of our offering, quality of service and availability of support seem to come up frequently. Clients just don’t expect to get this level of service for so little.

10. The hosting industry has changed a lot in the last year, what predictions do you foresee for this coming year?

Price wars will continue to affect many companies as the industry tries to find a floor for the basic offering of space and bandwidth. Larger (and smarter) companies are less likely to dramatically lower rates, and instead, will look to add value to their services in order to differentiate themselves from the rest of the industry.

As more and more businesses become serious about e-commerce, reliability and security will play an even bigger role in decision making for those looking for a web host. Although I don’t see the basement hosts going away, I see home based businesses and SME’s shifting to “quality” over “discount” providers.

11. Lastly, what is your favorite website and the most recent book you have read?

There is NO way I’m going to be able to pick a favorite. I like Google and Yahoo for searching (of course), webpronews.com and webmasterworld.com for online marketing updates, anandtech.com for IT stuff, Altavista’s Babel Fish for language translation, and the list goes on and on and on. I’m starting to read The Da Vinci Code right now when I have time (never).

We can see that there is more on the horizon for WestHost. Customers, future and present, can expect to continue to see service and dedication from a solid team. Others in the industry can surely see that if you run a solid company and plan to grow that growth will happen as long as you always look to the customer and the market.