Buyers & Sellers A Relationship Built On Ignorance?
by kayol on August 17th, 2008
As hinted on a previous update, we had no choice but to enable the MaxMind Phone Verification option on WHMCS.
This graph shows a breakdown of the percentage of domains in each of the different statuses.
This graph shows a breakdown of the percentage of accounts in each of the different statuses.
Don’t let the statistics fool you, even with the amount of active accounts we’re still doing great for ourselves.
How Telephone Verification works:
- The customer places an order. Payment process awaits telephone verification before completing order process.
- A Robotic call generates to the number provided by the customer.
- A random 4-digit numeric code is given to the customer via telephone.
- The customer enters the security code onto website.
- If the code matches, the payment process is allowed to proceed
Kind of a hassle huh?
Believe us, we didn’t want to resort to this method because signing up for our services should be quick & easy. Although Internet fraud has been on the rise for years, we have always chalked up “Internet fraud as just part of running an online business.”
It just seems ignorant to overlook the direction the buyer/seller relationship is going though. The financial institutes almost always side with they’re cardholders while Merchant Gateway Processors give in and Customers won’t start taking financial responsibility for their purchases. Guess that leaves the Merchant holding the short straw.
We have updated our Terms of Service with one minor change. In regards to Section 1.) Account Setup In an effort of dramatically reducing refund rates on e-products, all downloadable products and/or electronic services we sell such as web design solutions, hosting plans, etc, *must* also be shipped with something tangible such as a CD-ROM copy, with tracking and preferably with a delivery signature.
Without some form of proof-of-delivery, we will have a needlessly high refund rate and a zero (0) chance of winning chargebacks, and will lack documentation available for verifying disputed accounts.
We include a copy of the proof-of-delivery tracking, a copy of the transaction receipt showing a positive AVS (address verification) and card code match, and any customer support tickets or e-mails from the customer that would prove they did indeed receive the product.
Windows Managed Hosting added
by kayol on August 10th, 2008
If you intend to create your site using ASP, the .NET environment, Windows Streaming Media, Access, MSSQL, or any of the other Microsoft proprietary technologies then you might want to look into our Windows hosting.
Windows hosting also offers an advantage if you wish to incorporate searchable databases in your website. The Microsoft platform delivers reduced development time and better functionality for databases.
We are using Plesk as the control panel for this server with Plesk Application pack and Spanish Language Pack pre-installed.
We have recently added Windows Server 2003. Our windows hosting servers run on Dual/Quad-Core Dual Xeon with Raid 1. Our Windows servers are located in the AtlantaNAP datacenter.
Portfolio Launched With Limited Time Promo Code
by kayol on July 11th, 2008
Many of our clients are looking for an all-in-one-solution that goes far beyond the design & hosting phase of a website, so we have expanded our full-range of services to help our clients update, enhance, and repair they’re website.
As our company grows, we want to make sure that when our clients come back to us for assistance with they’re website & development, services beyond the scope of hosting & designing templates offered by other companies, you get more.
Whether you’re looking to enhance your website by accepting payments online, optimizing your pages in search engines to gain more traffic, structural changes, or complete layout to be made our Design & Development Team can do it!
We have put together a Portfolio that will grow over time and promise to provide quality service with quick turnaround at an affordable price. As a limited time promotion, new customers that purchase Custom Design services through HostDemon will get a 60% off reoccurring discount promo code toward all our hosting plans. This deal will remain for the live of your hosting services with HostDemon and can not be combined with any other offers or rebates.
Live Chat Support Operators Wanted
by kayol on May 31st, 2008
HostDemon Wants You!
Looking for six (6) Live Chat Support Operators to fill four (4) hour shift windows for the following:
US/PT
12:00am - 4:00am
4:00am - 8:00am
8:00am - 12:00pm
12:00pm - 4:00pm
4:00pm - 8:00pm
8:00pm - 12:00am
Operators will be required to download and install the ProvideSupport Operator Console onto they’re Windows, Mac OS, and Linux platform and assist with Online Web Hosting Sales & Support.
*Note* Work from home environment but must be committed to login on time and complete assigned shift. In an event of absence please notify prior to shift start time.
How Commission Works:
Live Chat Support Operators are paid 50% per new hosting account referred to our services. A signup is counted when a customer first clicks on an affiliate referral link, completes the signup process and stays active for 60 days.
Once Employees reach a minimum quota of $5.00 they can make a withdrawal.
Providing our Employees meet the minimum threshold to make a withdrawal, a support ticket is created and payment is paid via PayPal or Check (for employees outside the US/Canada)
Each Operator will receive a Canned Response with a unique sales commission link - available only to a specific operator.
“You can browse all our products & services here: [unique sales commission link] and your services with us will be setup right away! Do you have anymore questions or concerns for today?”
Sales are tracked each visit for 90 days meaning if they don’t signup right away, there is still a chance they might come back and signup within 3 months.
*Note* Your Address & PayPal Email must match what is on file to ensure you receive your monthly commission. You will be able to edit your information and view stats in your Client Area.
Other Incentives:
All Live Chat Support Operators receive free web hosting on our basic hosting package upon request.
To Apply:
If interested please submit a sales ticket via the link below:
http://billing.hostdemon.net/clients…p=2&deptid=001
*Note* Please include mailing address to send commission checks along with desired shift window.
2Checkout Merchant Gateway Upgrade
by kayol on May 6th, 2008
In an effort to offer multiple methods of payment we have added 2Checkout as an available Merchant Gateway. 2Checkout is a payment processor, which handles credit card and electronic check, purchases without the hassle of creating or using a PayPal account.
It is no different than going to a store and running your credit card through a POS terminal and is a much more professional solution. Purchases may still be processed through PayPal and Mail-in-Payment options.
What Is Overselling?
by kayol on May 4th, 2008
What is Overselling?
Overselling is a strategic marketing ploy to sell more bandwidth and disk space than you have purchased. Most web hosting companies do not state that they are overselling (nor how much) while, some might go as far to state a disk space and/or bandwidth of ‘Unlimited’ rather than a ridiculous high physical number.
When is Overselling ok?
HostDemon does not oversell and very proud of it! We realized from the start that we could use this policy to our advantage, in our marketing efforts to educate our potential customers. We do hosting based on allotted allocation, which means if you purchase a 500 mb’s of space plan and you use 200mb you would only have 300mb left.
500 – 200 = 300
The average customer we have never exceeds 10% of what we give them now. The Overselling game is so childish when you think about it.
The mass majority that Oversell server resources (computing capacity) that is not an exact science in a shared hosting environment and lean toward the arguable statement that, “all hosts are overselling server resources to a certain degree.”
In our educated opinion, potential customers want to get what they purchased (not you get what you paid for). The practice of overselling is never ok because when it comes to our customers. They rely on us to deliver what we advertised and exceed they’re exceptions. Our honesty is why we have such a loyal client-base.
What about CPU Usage?
Sure, we might have to suspend an account from time to time or move them to another server because they abuse the server or crash the server (among other reasons). Those are very rare cases and those problem makers are dealt with quickly as not to hinder the network performance for anyone else. This of course is unrelated to disk space and bandwidth limits.
Hey, Doesn’t HostDemon offer unlimited websites, databases, etc?
Yeah, but that just means our clients are only restricted to the amount of bandwidth and disk space in they’re set plan. Each upgrade contains more room to grow as your small business or personal website grows and if a plan is not listed our sales department may offer a quota.
Conclusions Overselling might be a hot selling point to the uninformed, but in the long term this business plan is at the risk of losing loyalty and integrity. It just is not worth the quick buck if a hosting company’s clients are without a host when they close shop.
HostDemon Affiliates Program Launched
by kayol on April 8th, 2008
Originating from Canada, even we can’t help but take notice of the American economic conditions getting worse. Americans seem to have been hit by falling home sales, a falling dollar, rising energy prices, a credit crunch and turmoil in stock markets.
Luckily for HostDemon, the weakening US Dollar has offset transaction & currency conversion charges we accumulate. At the moment the currencies between the US Dollar vs CAN Dollar are about par. While other hosts have been forced to raise prices to compensate for a declining economy we have strengthened globally.
We thought that a competitive affiliates program would be just the thing to put some extra cash back in your pockets and doesn’t require a hosting account! Heres how it works:
- Affiliates are paid 50% per new hosting account referred to our services. A signup is counted when a customer first clicks on an affiliate referral link, completes the signup process and stays active for 60 days.
- Affiliates receive $1.00 in their account after signing up (bonus)
- Once Affiliates reach a minimum of $5.00 they can make a withdrawal.
- Providing our Affiliates meet the minimum threshold to make a withdrawal, a support ticket is created and (worldwide), PayPal (for affiliates outside the US/Canada)
- Address must match what is on file in your Client Area
We delay commission payments for 60 days - then only pays if account is still active (fraud catching period.) Affiliates are responsible for checking with their bank to ensure they accept check payments from the US & Canada.
Affiliates are responsible for any and all fees, taxes, exchange rates, surcharges and other expenses incurred in order to receive their commissions. Please check with your local banking institution to find out if any of these apply for your area/country.
Affiliates may use the approved banners and ad text code found in the Affiliates section of the Client Area. Affiliates are responsible for ensuring that their tracking code is working properly before sending traffic to our servers. Any modification to the links is the sole responsibility of the affiliate - commissions will not be paid for tracking errors caused by editing, masking or tampering with your links.
Affiliate code tracks each visit for 90 days meaning if they don’t signup right away, there is still a chance they might come back and signup within 3 months.
Approved banners and ad text code example:
<a href=”replace bold text with your affiliate id code here“><img src=http://www.hostdemon.net/banners/468×60-banner.gif width=”468″ height=”60″ border=”0″></a>
Heres some more examples:
Other banners can be found in the Downloads section your Client Area.
Dot Asia Domains Available
by kayol on April 4th, 2008
Asia is a new Top Level Domain (TLD) that enables companies and individuals to highlight your presence in the fast-growing Asia/Pacific region. A .ASIA domain name provides a way to expand your online business by reaching out to the hundreds of millions of International Internet users in the ICANN designated Asia-Pacific countries.
Anyone (person or entity) can be a registrant of .ASIA domains. Eligibility Requirements to order are as follows, one of the associated contacts for the domain (registrant, administrative, technical or billing contact) must be a legal entity in ASIA. A legal entity may be a natural person of a juristic entity such as a corporation.
Registrations for this new TLD handled on a first-come, first-served basis, with millions of desirable names still available and there is enormous potential to grow your business by expanding into this huge market. Register your .asia today!
HostDemon Interviewed By Web Host Directory
by kayol on March 31st, 2008
Recently, Web Host Directory (http://www.webhostdir.com) invited Kayol Hope, Owner of HostDemon and leading player in the company to do a detailed interview on our overall web hosting strengths, hosting services and support.
After some delays the interview has been launched and you can read it below:
http://www.webhostdir.com/hostreview/hostReview.aspx?spid=13891
Web Host Directory is great place for comparing and purchasing hosting services.
New Local Growth Found In Old Cities
by kayol on March 12th, 2008
Online marketing in the web hosting industry can be a cut-throat business with no shortage of competition and big players. Sometimes old fashioned sales techniques still work best when done locally. Carving out a niche on the home front can be a great way to grow your business without going head-to-head with other web hosts around the globe.
Recently, we decided to try some less common practices of advertising web hosting & design services in our local community of New Brunswick, Canada. We used traditional printing methods to design the flyers as shown below.
Click on the image to enlarge
Distribution around town to only appropriate and legal spots, we met with local business owners. We educated them on the importance of having an affordable web hosting provider for they’re website.
The province’s name comes from the archaic English translation of Braunschweig; a city in the northern Germany, and the ancestral home of the Hanoverian King George III of the United Kingdom.
New Brunswick or Nouveau-Brunswick given by the large Francophone minority is one of Canada’s three Maritime provinces, and is the only constitutionally bilingual province (French and English) in the federation.
Convincing a city known for being the largest shipping ports in Canada and home of Canada’s largest oil refinery of newer technology like web hosting can be quite frustrating. Luckily, our home town is currently experiencing a resurgence in the retail, commercial and residential sectors.
Overall, the marketing of our web hosting & design services across Canada and the United States has been successful.