Purely Social

By David Link

 I am participating in the 4th annual Hosting Transformation Summit in sunny Las Vegas today and have just listened to some heartwarming news from Dan Golding the head of Tier1 Research. Dan kicked off the morning with his Keynote “Managed Hosting and Colocation in 2009 and beyond.”

Dan described the Managed Hosting and colocation sector as “on fire” The sector is humming - incredible growth, outstanding execution, blowing away expectations. I must say, looking back 5 years ago after the tech bubble collapse, I can’t believe how strong the sector bounced back from those very difficult times.

His presentation was focused on a future, and a longer view for the industry. The HTS conference is packed this year with the largest attendance of Data center owners, Managed hosting and colocation companies ever to attend this conference.

Demand steady or increasing in all markets, driven largely by capex constraints and greater awareness and choices. Supply is growing more slowly in the past 18 months as the credit crunch has hurt the ability of providers to expand ( it is very hard to get mortgages, loans only on new data center projects). Expansion build-out of existing shells is occurring, but very little on spec. Demand Growth of 15% in 2008. (Steady and increasing in the out years) However after supply growth peaked at 7.5% in 2007 supply growth now has slowed to 5%

Dan believes that supply growth will pick back up again in 2011. Conclusions - supply is tight, demand is high and growing - this very good news for the industry.

Some other trends:

The green initiatives are more than just a trend as data center owners who don’t figure out how to maximize power efficiency will be painted as villains.

Internet traffic and services consumption are linked as Internet traffic growth has been doubling every year (2005-2007).

Prediction: 2011 - 2012 - internet traffic will get an exaflood - it is coming with a new breed of applications (set to boxes HD Video, games, etc.) that will drive new traffic patterns. Growth driven by consumer broadband + applications (HD video) applications, which in turn will drive demand for Managed Hosting / Colocation Services:

Managed Hosting Services Highlights

Incredibly fast growth 30%+

$10 Billion worldwide revenue by end of 2008

We’ll keep growth pace until at least 2011

Good news, Dan believes that fears about slowdown in growth are wildly overblown.

Why is managed hosting growing so fast?

Demographic shifts - new breed of IT employees that embrace outsourcing

Growth in internet applications (SaaS) The acceptance and growth of browser based applications has been enormous!

Ambiguity between web hosting and managed hosting has turned positive

Dan’s Key success factors managed hosting and services

High margin services - and not too many - it is so tempting in our day to day business when a customer comes along and wants to come and give us money for a unique on-off service - at this point the answer has to be no or do it through a partner.

High level of support delivery is critical - don’t cut pay in support people or outsource support to save a nickel - what you are selling is support. Keep doing this well or you will head into a bad place - just as examples in retail like Home Depot and others who have struggled with customer service challenges - the whole business starts to slide into the toilet - High levels of support delivers a strong word of mouth buying cycle

Final thoughts, the industry is healthy and will continue to thrive. Customers are looking for the one stop shop, one company that is a trusted advisor to the customer. As customers place more eggs in the Managed Service bucket, the industry will need to tighten-up those SLA’s. Today some parts of the industry have been getting away with loose SLA’s - as customers get more sophisticated and have more on the line, they will become more demanding and require robust multi-component SLAs and back-it up.

David Link is president and CEO of ScienceLogic. He and his partners built a thriving company from the ground up by focusing on delivering “products that just work” to the underserved IT infrastructure management marketplace. He has held senior management and corporate officer positions at large public companies.

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Online Marketing Is Customer Centered
By Ron Richardson

 People grudgingly accepted the lack of customer service as the price they paid for cheap products. They complained, but they bought anyway because that’s just the way it was. Online shopping, while distant, is more customer centered than many local retailers.

To develop a rapport with customers in a virtual environment, online marketers had to establish trust and expertise, and they did it with relationship building, money back guarantees plus fast delivery. This customer-centered approach not only created trust as planned, but also caused a surprising number of customers to ignore the local stores and shop at major retailers online sites.

As a developing Internet marketer, you can learn from this brief history. You want to position your product as user friendly, beneficial and open for refund. Granted, this is easier with downloads and information products than with shipped products.

But even shipped products that offer guaranteed, no questions asked refunds actually have fewer refunds because the consumer feels free to try to return it if they’re not satisfied. Before the sale, you want to provide ample information about the product and the benefits that your customer will receive from it - ie. save time, money and effort etc - including several photo or video views if appropriate.

Think about the questions a buyer might ask and have the answers ready before the question arrives. An easy way to provide this information is with an expanded FAQ (frequently asked questions) page. Make sure there’s a link to the FAQ page from each product page.

If your product requires assembly after delivery, post an extra copy of how to assemble it. Even better is to post a video showing and telling how to do the assembly. Another great idea is to post videos showing alternative ways to use the product. This gives buyers options that they might not have considered.

To be consumer-centered means that you can be reached easily. Post your email (or that of your customer service center) and a phone number or SKPYE name. If you are the ‘Customer service center,’ send those emails to a designated email box and answer them promptly.

If you can’t, at least set up an autoresponder saying that you received the customer’s email and are working on the solution. The more ways you can be contacted, the more the customer feels at ease that you aren’t hiding in some unreachable corner of cyberspace. You can’t shake hands with your online customer, but you can create an ongoing buying relationship by demonstrating that you’re a customer-centered and an expert in your field online marketer.

Ron Richardson is the editor of Business Opportunities Newsletter. Subscribe & and claim your free ad seen by 4200+ subscribers ad

Income Secrets of the Affiliate Elite.
By Andy Michaels

 Those who spend every day heading to a 9-5 office job already know how taxing and mundane such a lifestyle is. This is why being a super affiliate working at home provides a great opportunity that will allow the worker flexible hours and plenty of freedom. In today’s world, people are finding that working from home is as rewarding as working from a corner office in a Fortune 500 company. People have been given new opertunities to work from home by the business that are offered by the Internet’s world wide network

This specific business allows people to work from the comfort of their own home with very flexible hours. Working at home, there is no supervisor or boss to undermine your work or constantly remind you about work deadlines. There is no paperwork overflowing your desk. These are just some of the conveniences experienced by those who are in affiliate marketing, the groundbreaking way to earn income without the routine of normal found in other employment.

Super affiliate marketing is the kind of business which will help you to achieve monetary goals but without having to sacrifice the quality of your life. Question others who are involved in this line of business, they would tell you that they were rewarded greatly for their efforts.

Sponsoring a merchant’s website comes under the concept of affiliate marketing. Then affiliate owned website is geared towards marketing the website of the merchant through the affiliate program that they use. The affiliate gets a commission every time a user clicks on an ad in one of the affiliate’s web sites. For the effort of processing and making a sale, a commission is received.

Successful super affiliates find success when they learn what really works to generate sales. One of the key ways to gain this knowledge, is by having ability to be confident and self-assured. Continued, hard work leads to the breakthroughs that create significant income, and these breakthroughs are what create the new super affiliates.

Some people are called super affiliates because they are so familiar with every aspect of this business. Even more that affiliate managers they know what is needed to build a successful affiliate marketing business and are able to take it to the next level. Super affiliates are able to leverage the marketing ability that comes with time and experience and use this information to successfully grow their business. The main method used to accomplish this high level of success is through compiling and maintaining a large database of e-mail addresses obtained through e-mail subscriptions.

To become a super affiliate, you must have your own website and autoresponder. For management of one’s own business these two tools will prove to be very useful Constructing your own list of customers is itself a difficult undertaking. One of the secrets that the super affiliates are aware of and make use of is developing a list of reliable clients and maintaining that client base. Solid customer relations is a key requisite if one should aspire to be a prominent super affiliate.

It is an ongoing process to market your list to make your goal of super affiliate. Marketing simply means giving quality content your readers will appreciate. By providing great content with just a few promotions, your readers come to respect and appreciate you, instead of seeing you as a marketing spammer.

Working with new prospects in a must when trying to attain super affiliate status. Having more and more of the net population find your website and end up signing for your interesting newsletter will present you with an ever growing list of subscribers and this will allow you to set up your own automated marketing system to submit your website content and affiliate links without your having to do any additional work.

Dedication and hard work are required for one to become a super affiliate, but for those who stay focused, the rewards are high. The start-up time is the toughest time for any business, but as a super affiliate, your investment will be minimal, and returns will be huge if you treat the new business the way it ought to be treated: by giving it lots of your attention and time. You must remember to both test everything you do and to record it in detail.

This is the link to the location to download the best secrets you will need to master..make money online.

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