HostReview.com Web Hosting Interviews

An Interview with
Stephen Holford, Chief Marketing Officer, Fasthosts Internet

October 27, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

Fasthosts launched an unusual offer: one year of free, unlimited reseller hosting. What else is special about this, and why did you choose it as a way of entering the US web hosting market?

A free trial offer is an excellent way of enabling people to try the product without risk.  We are confident that once they have experienced the product, a very high proportion will wish to pay for it moving forward.  This strategy has worked really well for 1&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 enabled to experiment with creating their own business over 1 year with instant profit potential and without incurring package charges. This could be someone starting a new web hosting business, or simply adding web hosting services to their existing business portfolio. Our offer takes away the financial risk for these users.

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

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

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

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

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

Recently, we surveyed 793 of our UK reseller customers. The findings show that 80 percent of new resellers make a profit and 74 percent found it 'achievable and easy.' More than 4 in 5 would recommend Fasthosts as a reseller partner. We are confident the success of our UK resellers is also easily achievable by US consumers and SMBs.

What would you recommend to people who look to purchase a reseller hosting package? How should they go about turning reselling into a stable revenue stream?

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

Fasthosts offers the reseller complete flexibility in structuring their hosting plans:

- Resellers can create a customized package for each end customer

- Design and create their own range of packages

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

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

Fasthosts gives resellers a free product to sell on an unlimited basis.  The free package is remarkable in having 10GB web space, 5 FTP Accounts, unlimited mailboxes plus ASP / PHP5 / Perl CGI scripting.

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

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

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

What should we expect from Fasthosts in the coming months?

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

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