A Web Host

##DISCLAIMER##
First off, I would like to make a disclaimer. This thread can be moved or deleted if a mod/admin deems it inappropriate. This thread is about a hosting company that I own and is not meant for the purpose of advertising. Thats said, I do understand how one could see this thread as an advertising attemtpt, so I understand if this is taken down.


I have been hanging around and learning a lot from Anti Online for a while now, and I love this place. I have learned a lot more than I have taught, but I do try to expend some of my knowledge (I have written one tutorial). I trust many of you here, and many of you here have helped me through pm's on things like assignments, personal problems, and even opening this business. I have recently opened a business that I have been working on for some time now. The company is called IsolatedMedia and is a server host, primarily for websites with cultural content. I don't really want to get into what I mean by "cultural content" here; this is not the place for me to get into a sales pitch. I am writing this because I would like some commentary on how the site looks, acts, and feels. Are my prices unreasonable? In my opinion, things are in their right place, because so far, everything is working. But I am young, and many many of you have been doing this stuff for much longer than I have, so I look to you for your honest opinion. Many of you have encouraged me along the path of opening this business, so I am coming back now to show you what I have done.


Any and all commentary is welcome, but I do ask that if you do have a question about sales or something simmilar that it be asked via pm or email; I do not want this thread to turn into the wrong thing.

Thank you all.

First of all I would like to be the first in congratulating you on setting up your buisness and I hope all goes well and I wish you lots of luck in your new buisness.

The prices though are not all that reasonable for me why? because it cost more than free :p. No but seriously all jokes aside who can complain about $72.00 for a year.

The layout looks nice and neat although the menu instead of making it look like t h i s make it look normal like this. Make sure to always maintain a good name there are plenty of other webhosts one thing can leave you one customor less. Make sure not to spam your site as nobody likes spam just add them to search engines (e.g google.com [most popular would start off there]) Well good luck and I wish you many customers.

Maybe in the future try Flash. Clients think it looks professsional therefore you get more clients.

Might look professional but not all clients have Flash installed.

Hey Hey,

A couple of things, the page looks decent.. the major, rather minor, problems have already been pointed out. I'd clarify this line

Quote:

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Extra Bandwidth: $2 Per Month

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Contractually I could argue that regardless of how much I exceed my limit by I only owe you two bucks, however I'm assuming you mean per gigabyte. The unlimited subdomains is a good idea because it's really only a named entry.. big deal.. I've chosen to not go with hosts before because they were limitting my subdomains. I like your email address layouts, however you may want to say unlimited forwards. Many times companies will want to setup many accounts so that it looks like they're important and have them all forward to the same mailbox. Forwards are just lines in your qmail/postfix config files, so it's really beneficial to give that.. It just makes the packages look a little meatier. I would also reconsider your unlimited databases on all accounts. Large databases will require large amounts of ram (one of our servers.. just a SQL database runs on 9GB of ram)... Also they can get quite large is size. It's common to offer 1 database for basic accounts, 3-5 for standard accounts and 10 for unlimited.. Then you charge a buck/month/database or something like that.. You don't want someone to go crazy on the database requirement.

I think you should reconsider coding your ordering pages. If I were looking to buy from you, I'd be turned off by the fact that you have coded everything into it's own single order page. It'd look a lot more professional if there were a single order page with a pulldown box of all the packages. Say I choose a package and fill out the forms.. then I decide I want a bigger package, that's a hassle to me... if I have to go back and fill everything out all over again, where as if I just had to change a pull down menu.. I might be interested in upgrade right off the bat. Your page is also static html.. try and go with some php/asp.. even if it's just PHP extensions.. it'll look better to your average user without a lot of technical background.

Will you be offering a web-based administrative front end (i didn't browse indepth.. i may have missed this).. cpanel is a great package for things like this.. and it gives customers the option of following a basic template..They can greate professional looking pages without much hassle. Have you considered webmail? check into Horde or SquirrelMail.... It's always an added perk for users, if they don't have to open a client and then they can check their mail on the road.. it's pretty standard these days..

Anyways.. those are my opinions.. I've got lots more if ya want them.

Peace,
HT

volcanic, the site looks good and so is the layout. One problem I see is it is hard to read. I even increased the text size, but that did not help much. I am in no way an expert, just a suggestion from a common(?) computer user. Good luck

Didn't actually attempt to order, you have a good point there HTRegz the order form (Which there should be one) should have drop down menus allowing you to choose the package and as an additional feature you can add a link to the side of this drop down menu a link to the packages page.

If you decide you will leave it this way change the font to the same font as you have the rest of the site for two reasons:
a.) because it doesn't fit
b.) because it looks like you copied and pasted that code onto your website.

Secondly the part where the website description goes should be a bigger text box (similar to the text box where you post a quick reply on this site but not as wide) and the text "Description of website:" on top of the text box for a more professional look.

Also, the Getting Started page and the FAQ page are practically the same thing so make the Getting Started page into a block of text explaining how to get started (e.g. how to order etc.)

I added a new site suggestion for threads like this one. At first, I was inclined to clsoe it (as we do with most threads that are advertizing - let's face it, you are advertizing :p), but at the same time, you are asking for people's advice on the looks and feels of your site...

Good luck with your business :)

You guys have no idea how much I appreciate your comments, and I am considering all of your suggestions. Negative, thanks for not shutting this one down, I am very grateful.

Heres a site that you might look at and see what they offer.
http://thebbgn.com

now granted they have been around a bit longer, but it might not hurt to see how they do their pricing and what they offer, and see what you might be able to do to better attract customers.

Overall though I like your site, and your prices are reasonable.
I hope everything goes well for you.


good luck.