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Fathi Said here, with a couple of important updates about your hosting account here at IX Web Hosting.

But before I share them, I want to acknowledge something that hasn’t made me very happy.

When I look at the world of web hosting, I realize that IX Web Hosting – my company, the one I founded and the one I run – is just about average. No worse than the competition, but not much better either.

We have a giant data center in Columbus, Ohio that looks really impressive, we have a big support staff to answer your emails and phone calls, and we offer competitive pricing, but when I look at all that from my customers’ point of view, I have to say: “So what?”

I didn’t go into business to just create an ordinary service. And yet that’s where I find myself in the last month of 2009.

And that’s going to change. In fact, it’s already changing. In two big ways.

First, we’re changing the way you receive support when you have a question or problem with your site or hosting account.

The new system is called “Support representatives” – and my commitment to you is that it’s not just a catchy name, but also a fundamental improvement that makes your life noticeably easier.

Second, we’re redefining our business model to move from “hosting provider” to “strategic partner” as you grow your web site.

When I sat down and thought about the contribution I want to make, it wasn’t enough to be a reliable place to stick your website. We decided to actually branch out from being just a “boring hosting company” and actually show you some of the killer techniques we use to get thousands of hits to our website each day!

You’ve created your web site with a goal in mind. Maybe to make money. Maybe to spread the word about an important idea. Maybe to connect people. Whatever your goal, I want to help you achieve it.

We’ve teamed up with some of the top online marketing experts to provide cutting edge strategies, tips and techniques to get more visitors to your site, and to get those visitors to take action once they get there.

So without further ado, here are the details about the two big improvements to your IX Web Hosting account:

Support Representatives

What if you had a personal contact at IX Web Hosting – an “insider” who knows your name, knows your business, and can pull strings to get you exactly what you need? We’re in the process of assigning a personal Support representative to each IX Web Hosting customer. Your Support representative will be an actual person who works in our Ohio office.

When you have a question or a problem, you can send them an email. You can phone them directly. Or you can IM them.

Your Support Representative is responsible (and accountable) to get you what you want as quickly as possible, and not to leave you hanging. Since they’re your personal “account manager,” you won’t have to explain your problem again and again as you get transferred from one technician to another. And if you get disconnected, your Support representative knows how to reach you, so you won’t have to dial the main number and be told your “wait time is approximately 26 minutes.”

Each Support Representative will handle your issue as if they were the owner of the company, because their bonus is based on how long you stay a customer, and how many of your friends you refer to us.

So the happier you are, the happier they are, and the happier I am. (I believe the business books call this a “win-win-win.”)

Now, sometimes our Support representatives sleep, or take vacations, or are “busy helping other customers” (as the phone company voicemail messages say). What then?

Without boring you with the details, we’ve set up teams of Support representatives who will pinch hit and report back to each other. And each representative has their own team of technical specialists around the world, whom you may also get to know. But the ultimate responsibility for your satisfaction rests with your individual representative.

Look for an email from your personal Support representative within the next several weeks.

Online Marketing Advice from Top Experts

As you probably know, just having a domain name and a website doesn’t guarantee that anyone will find your site.

And if you use your site for business, it’s crucial that people find it when they’re looking for what you provide.

We’ve partnered with some of the top online marketing experts to provide you with exclusive videos, articles, and even live webinars – all completely free for IX Web Hosting customers.

You’ll discover:

• quick and simple tweaks you can make to your site so Google can find it and know what it’s about
• how to “cut to the front of the line” on the three big search engines
• how to get some of the most popular sites in the world to link directly to your site
• how to find out where the traffic you should be getting is going right now – and how to stick your site in front of all those people
• what to show visitors once they arrive at your site, so they stay, play, and pay

Here’s the first video for you to watch:

My friend Howie Jacobson explains some killer techniques. It’s only 7 minutes and 29 seconds long and reveals the first thing you need to know if you want to get your site ranked high on Google.

Also, look out for a survey I’m going to send you in the next few days. Please make sure to fill it out, this way we’ll know what kind of free “traffic getting” videos and webinars you want us to make for you. This is going to be fun, and I can’t wait to hear stories about you receiving boatloads of traffic.

I want to close this entry by stating publicly what an honor it is to have earned your business, and that we’re going to do much, much better in 2010. I’m truly jazzed by the opportunity and I can’t wait for you to share my excitement when you experience what we have planned.

Wishing you health, happiness and prosperity,

IX Web Hosting

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The 1st Chris

On the topic of startups, Chris Brogan says if he were to start today “No matter what, the very first piece of social media real estate I’d start with is a blog. It’s a website, with lots of built in features that make it useful from a search perspective, and simple from a content creation perspective. That alone is worth the price of admission.” And Chris should know.

Chris Brogan Blog

Chris Brogan is a ten year veteran of using social media to build digital relationships for businesses, organizations, and individuals. Chris blogs at www.chrisbrogan.com, a blog in the top 10 of the Advertising Age Power150, and in the top 100 on Technorati.

With a blog virtually anyone can publish their thoughts, ideas and opinions to millions of potential readers. In return, those readers can “participate” by expressing their view points or comments. This method of communication is allowing all of us a means to become involved in information rather than just being passive consumers of it.

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary awarded “blog” as “The Word of the Year” in 2004, when more and more people started using them as a means to express themselves personally. Today, blogs are reaching new heights in popularity. Many businesses and corporations are increasingly implementing blogs as they discover the flourishing opportunity it provides to build relationships with their existing customers as well as developing relationships with prospective new customers!

We’ve talked to many of our customers who say they want a web-presence. Cash is tight and they don’t have big advertising budgets. Blogging is a very inexpensive way to help accomplish this goal (all you need is your IX Web Hosting account).

Some of our customers haven’t started a blog because they are intimidated by the setup process. That’s where the other Chris comes in.

The 2nd Chris

Now that you’ve heard the reasons that a blog is the first thing to do from Chris Brogan, it’s time to hear from another Chris. Our own Chris Testerman. Chris will help you with the “how” do I start. Chris created this really awesome video that will show you how to set up a WordPress Blog in your IX Web Hosting account in under 2 minutes!

If you don’t have a hosting account here’s a blog post to let you know why you should.

Now, there’s nothing to hold you back!

Now that you’re ready to start creating your content, you are going to have to start sharing it with someone, right? So please, feel free to comment to this video with links to the blogs you’ve created. We’d love to take a look at them!

By the way, here’s a link to the tutorials Chris mentioned in his video: http://www.ixwebhosting.com/index.php/v2/pages.customerCenter

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How Bored are You?

This may seem like an extremely odd question, but I was thinking (as I sometimes do when the weather is nice), why are you reading this blog?

Is it because you’re secretly hoping that maybe, one day, it will contain information relevant to your account? It will, I promise. As much as I love delving into difficult topics like MC Hammer pants and the curious patterns of squirrels, I am fully aware that customers are interested in things that involve THEM. This is why we’re working on getting a customer forum, our status blog and our Twitter status account up and running for you. We greatly appreciate your patience while we set these things up. We would also love to get your feedback about these ventures. What are you interested in? How would you most like it presented? For example, would you like to see a status blog that churns out facts about system functions daily or would you like something more interactive where you can leave comments or interact with other customers?

Or are you reading because you’re in some way dissatisfied and hoping that we’ll address your concerns here? If you take a look at the comments we received on our first post, you might notice that many of them were cries for help—feedback voiced in our very first medium between customers and staff that isn’t LiveChat, a phone call or our ticketing system. This was a big indicator to us that we were doing something wrong. What was being expressed on our blog could have been voiced on the phone or through any other avenue of support, but obviously, those channels were not satisfying some of you. This too will be changing. Our support is getting better each day because, well, you all know why. We want you to be happy. You employ us. The changes we are making to our customer support will be big, they will be noticeable and they are already happening. If any one of these items proves untrue, I trust that more than a handful of you will let us know and more than two handfuls of our staff will get moving on making them so.

Or is it because you lost your job? OK, this is a stretch, but losing your job frees up several hours in the day for blog-reading, starting a home-business online or scowling at those that insist on constantly flaunting their new stuff.

The economy is so bad, I might actually have to break my 2 dollar bill!

So those are not real tears, but that is a real $2 bill and that certainly is a real used-tissue...

We record the reasons that our customers leave so that we can better tailor our product to prevent cancellations. Well, guess what one of the leading reasons for cancellation is? “I can no longer afford hosting.” Most of you already know that we’re one of the least costly hosts available, so it is thoroughly depressing to hear this as a reason for ceasing to host with us. Still, even more depressing is giving away free hosting to those who cite their inability to afford it only to hear that they “no longer have a need for their account” because they couldn’t get their home business off of the ground. Well, providing detailed information and resources about making your home business work is also on our agenda. We’ll have to count on Obama to take care of the economy.

When I was younger, I genuinely thought that my father was a superhero and that I was placed on the planet to get him fired from his company so he could fulfill his true calling full-time. In that notion, I was not far from the truth. He has several skills that would be impossible to use all at one company (especially with a talent list as diverse as his: wind-harmonica out of a car doing 80 mph, moustache grooming, writing, child-lecturing, JavaScript, SQL, oil painting…). My point is that people with diverse skill sets can be liberated by job loss because they can use the internet to employ themselves in their own business, or even just to secure an even better job by creating a site to strengthen a résumé.

Here’s a good example: Let’s say that you got fired from your job and now need to justify the monthly cost of hosting. Here are a few things you could do:

1. Set up a site to slander your former employer. This, while obviously a joke, is something people really do! Instead of taking that route, I would actually suggest creating a site or blog that outlines your work experiences—things you have learned, things awry with their current business model (you might want to avoid naming the company specifically if you still want them on your list of good references) and advice you would give other employers. Creating a community out of a site like this is easy as there are several people looking to release steam about being released from employment. That community would be a valuable asset for those that have entrepreneurial/superhero aspirations because more could be done than just commiserating with your visitors. There’s an increasing market for job counseling and HR consulting, and whether you earn revenue from it or not, you’ve contributed something to the global community as well as enhanced your résumé. Imagine what: “Built an online community from zero to four-thousand by providing valuable, original resources and consulting. Please see www.HireMe.com/about for more information.” could do for your résumé…
2. Create a site to show-off. Set up a site with a forum to discuss hobbies with friends, organize gatherings or anything related to things that you’re good at. Throw videos, pictures, artwork, lessons (if you have a teachable hobby) on your site and then bask in self-satisfaction.
3. Resell your hosting account. Do you know someone who is constantly talking about his/her ideas but not actually doing anything with them? Sell them a portion of your account to get them started! They can still develop their domain with your hosting and you won’t have to worry about bandwidth or transfer (because it’s unlimited) and you set the price. You can even buy a domain for someone as a gift and host it on your account, free. No more need to read holiday or special-occasion wish-lists. Just give everyone hosting! That includes Mom (Mother’s Day is coming up in the US!), your brother, your 7-year old daughter (she has to learn sometime!) , etc…

I think it’s safe to say that most of you could come up with better ways to use your hosting account. When we get our customer forum ready to go, please feel free to inform fellow customers how to make the most out of their account; if not for us, then for the economy.

Thanks for reading!

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…like our night shift system administrators were on March 30th.

I should probably start this post by introducing you to our VP of Systems Operations, Rick. This is a person who is not only passionate about his job, but also highly intelligent and creative.

OK, enough of the positive. He’s a little crazy. His insanity does happen to be almost wholly attached to the safety of the data center (he’s a really cool guy otherwise), but that insanity is there and it is something worth poking fun at.

Super, High-Tech Tea and Coffee Station

Danger: Tea and Coffee May Cost You More Here Than it Does at Starbucks

For example, when our team decided to create a coffee and tea station in the kitchen (it’s not even as elaborate as I just made it sound…see photo), Rick immediately felt the need to establish regulations. We are not allowed to leave the “station” until whatever process we initiated is complete, and then when it is complete, we must unplug every surrounding appliance. If we use the microwave, we must watch it like a hawk—watch it like that microwave could steal our livelihood at any moment. You know why? Because it can. At least, that’s what Rick thinks. Any of these appliances can start a fire, which could spread if our fire-suppression system doesn’t kick in, which could enable that fire to somehow reach the servers, which could melt our customer data, which could make our customers very angry with us, which would make us very angry with ourselves, which could sink our business.

All for a plate of bland, re-heated Chinese food.

If Rick is this way about appliances that lie hundreds of yards away from the actual servers, imagine how he careful he is about the servers themselves. Our data center is about as redundant as they come—millions of dollars went into making it this way.

Well, in the middle of the night on March the 30th, a power line went down in our corporate park. All buildings in the complex (from one end of Dividend Dr to the other) lost power. No problem, right? We have backup generators, backup batteries…we even have the energy Rick’s undying concern for the data center would provide if we could only find a way to harness it. Unfortunately, one branch of our backup setup failed (namely, a generator) and a good percentage of the machinery we need for operations was left powerless (namely, our network). Fortunately, our network was back up fairly rapidly (within minutes) and it didn’t take long for the servers to catch up.

For those of you that experienced outages, however short, we are unbelievably sorry. We were able to quickly return to status quo, but many of our customers still experienced downtime and we know that this is unacceptable. We are really, really sorry.

The issue that we had with the power loss is being investigated with the utmost priority because we don’t want anything like this happening again… and neither does Rick. I came late onto the scene (at about 2 AM, when the power had been long-restored and the servers were coming back up from their temporary, power-starvation induced sleep), but I knew Rick was still inside because his car was parked parallel to the building, nearly on the sidewalk entryway and I could still hear the echo of his tires screeching against pavement. When I got inside, the root of the problem had been taken care of, but we had another problem. Our main System Administrator/Network Engineer had clearly arrived straight out of bed, wearing MC Hammer pants… and he was doing so without shame.

While this event that took place never should have happened, we are going through great pains to make sure that it doesn’t happen again. (The downtime, that is. We haven’t yet decided what to do about those pants.) We, again, are terribly sorry for any downtime that was caused by this downed line, though we were fortunate that it happened at such an odd hour of the night. If we find out that the line went down because it was hit and knocked over by a clumsy driver, we’ll make sure to find and then glare at them on behalf of all of us.

We’re sorry, we’re sorry, we’re sorry! (I can be redundant too!)

Thanks for reading!

Michelle Schroeder

P.S. If you want to look like one of our very own sysadmins, you can get your own set of updated, metallic MC Hammer pants for one payment of only $19.95 from this website. Oh wait, I’m sorry. I put the decimal where I thought it belonged, not where it actually was… Turns out that the net-a-porter site has nudged the price into the “can’t touch this” range: $1,995.00.

That site will even suggest what to pair with them, though I personally think this other site does a better job in helping you achieve the whole “MC Hammer” package: http://www.ehow.com/how_2058695_dress-like-mc-hammer.html.

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