Stephen Holford

This month, Fasthosts launched its 1-year free unlimited resellerLinux and MS Web hosting service.  Currently the UK's largest reseller web host, Fasthosts now offers theUS a new way to resell own-branded web solutions including web hosting anddomain names.

In a recent Fasthosts Reseller survey, thefindings showed that 80 percent of new resellers made a profit and 74 percentfound it 'achievable and easy.

In this interview, we talk to Mr. Stephen Holford, Chief Marketing Officer with Fasthosts Internet.

Please tell us abit about yourself and your position with the company.

I have worked at Fasthosts since January 2006, where Iam responsible for all of Fasthosts' marketing campaigns and product marketingstrategy.  Prior to joining Fasthosts, I was Director of Internet Servicesat Video Networks Ltd. and have product management experience at major UK brands including NTL, Argos and Tesco. Ihold a BA Honors degree in Business Studies & Geography from the Canterbury Christ ChurchUniversity.

Fasthostslaunched an unusual offer: one year of free, unlimited reseller hosting. Whatelse is special about this, and why did you choose it as a way of entering the US web hostingmarket?

A free trial offer is an excellent way of enablingpeople to try the product without risk.  We are confident that once they have experienced the product, a veryhigh proportion will wish to pay for it moving forward.  This strategy has worked really well for1&1 when it launched into new regions.  Particularly for reseller hosting, a free offer should be well received:

Firstly, users new to reseller hosting will be enabledto experiment with creating their own business over 1 year with instant profitpotential and without incurring package charges. This could be someone startinga new web hosting business, or simply adding web hosting services to theirexisting business portfolio. Our offer takes away the financial risk for theseusers.

Secondly, the offer delivers the ideal mechanism forexisting resellers to be able to experience the quality of service beforeswitching from their existing provider.

In web hosting, word-of-mouth really is the most powerful form of marketing andthe 1 Year Free offer ties in well with that.

Why did youdecide to expand operations to the US, and what are your expectations?

There is a good opportunity to address some areas ofreseller hosting where US resellers are being rather restricted by their providers.  We see plenty of demand for reseller hostingin the US,and the move ties in well with Fasthosts’ international expansion plans.Fasthosts aims to expand further internationally in the coming years andFasthosts.com is the first phase in this program. 

Can you sharesome insights from the Fasthosts Reseller survey? How did you conduct it?

Recently, we surveyed793 of our UKreseller customers. The findings show that 80 percent of new resellers make a profitand 74 percent found it 'achievable and easy.' More than 4 in 5 would recommendFasthosts as a reseller partner. We are confident the success of our UK resellers isalso easily achievable by US consumers and SMBs.

What would yourecommend to people who look to purchase a reseller hosting package? How shouldthey go about turning reselling into a stable revenue stream?

There are several elements potential resellers shouldlook for when deciding to purchase a package, I strongly believe Fasthosts hasthe best offering of these important elements to look for.

Fasthosts offers the reseller complete flexibility instructuring their hosting plans:

- Resellers can create a customized package for eachend customer

- Design and create their own range of packages

- Simply resell Fasthosts’ own off-the-shelf packages

This flexible platform means that resellers can tailortheir services far more closely to their customers’ needs.  Fasthosts’ philosophy for reseller hostingwill free US resellers to achieve the best possible business model. 

Fasthosts gives resellers a free product to sell on anunlimited basis.  The free package isremarkable in having 10GB web space, 5 FTP Accounts, unlimited mailboxes plusASP / PHP5 / Perl CGI scripting.

Importantly, costs are always transparent meaning thatcost risk is greatly reduced; this makes it easier for starting resellers toachieve a stable stream of revenue.

This is aquestion we ask all web hosting executives – what technology and practices havethe most significant impact on the industry in 2008?

The practices ofbuying and selling goods and services online continues to become more popular,therefore more people are looking to the internet as a means of starting orexpanding a business. The online market is becoming more competitive, but withthe right tools it’s becoming easier for anyone to make money on the web. 

What should weexpect from Fasthosts in the coming months?

Fasthosts.com plans on being an aggressive force inthe web host reselling industry, investing substantially in the US.  The company has hired US staff in Philadelphia across itsdedicated reseller tech support, product management and marketingfunctions.  As the company growsorganically, it will be hiring further staff and can expanding its data storagein the state-of-the-art data center in Lenexa,Kansas.