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We recently had the pleasure of speaking with Mr. Rob Moore of HostedToday. Rob is truly a success story for the industry and after interviewing Mr. Moore we believe he is an asset that contributes to the success of his clients. The depth of experience Rob brings to his company allows him to work with his customers on a one to one basis, this is fairly difficult for the larger hosting companies and puts HostedToday into a niche market.

1. Tell us a little about yourself Rob

Certainly! I am a proud Canadian, born and bred on the east-coast of Canada. I have a beautiful family: a wife of seven years, a 4 year old son and a 1 year old daughter. I am also still quite close to my parents and brother, as we all live relatively close to one another. I am a mechanical engineer by trade, and also have a Masters degree in business. In my spare time I like to go sailing (preferably racing), play hockey, and spend time with friends and family. I'm also a big NFL football fan.

2. What industry experience do you have? What did you do before HostedToday?

I have been in the web hosting industry in some capacity since about 1997. Prior to that, I was a sales engineer in the Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) industry. I guess it all started when I was asked to build a website for my wife's company. I didn't have any experience, except that I had a little more knowledge about computers than they did. I had put a simple family website together with Microsoft Publisher, so I guess they figured I was an expert. So I started a small web design and hosting business called "Bishmore Publishing Services" in 1997. It wasn't long before I started focusing on the web hosting industry, as the lure of "recurring billing" and the potential growth that goes along with that was attractive to me. It seemed like a better long term business than designing websites and simply charging for your time. In the years leading up to the launch of HostedToday, I successfully ran another web hosting business (which I sold), and even dabbled in the web hosting directory business (which I also sold). The experience I gained and the lessons I learned over the previous several years, I was able to build from and develop HostedToday.

3. Tell our readers about HostedToday, you product and services.

HostedToday was launched in March 2003, with a focus on budget web hosting. We make no apologies about our cheap prices, as our business model is sound, and working very well. Contrary to popular belief we do not overload our servers with accounts, and we do not sacrifice our level of support to achieve our low prices. Our support techs are available 24/7 through our email ticketing system, and typically answer tickets within 1 hour, no matter what time of day or night they're received.

4. What has led to your success in the hosting industry?

Our customer focus. As far as I'm concerned, that's the most important aspect of our business, as without customers, we would have no business. I take a very personal approach to dealing with our customers. I may have outsourced things like billing, tech support, web design, programming and server administration.... but I've maintained my customer service and sales hats. I am the one who answers the phone when customers (and potential customers) call, and I'm going to keep it that way for as long as I can!

5. How does HostedToday fit into the web hosting industry? What makes you different?

Quite nicely, thank you :) When we were in the development stages of HostedToday, there were several "key ingredients" that we wanted to make sure we had:

1) A very simple website without any flashy graphics or animation. We went out of our way to design a website with very little "design" features.... a very simple site that would do very poorly at a web design competition! After all, our customers are web designers.... not us.... so why try to compete with them?

2) A lot of support information so our customers and potential customers could get the answers they needed easily. We contracted to have over 40 quality support tutorials built so that our customers can "watch" what they should do, and made them available on our website. We also put together countless articles and help files to help answer questions, which took a long time to do.

3) True 24/7 support available to our customers. For this we hired a support company so that they could be available at all hours of the day/night, including holidays and weekends. Support tickets are answered within an hour, in a very friendly, courteous and ACCURATE manner.

4) One product that appeals to 95% of those needing web hosting. So we put together 1 package that has more storage space than most people will ever need (500 MB), loads of bandwidth (5 GB), free stats, domain parking, add-on domains, email, and a control panel to manage it all, plus many popular tools to make our customer's websites come to life. With this much storage space, and no real option of upgrading to something better (unless customers need even more storage or bandwidth), it makes the buying decision much less complicated.

6. I noticed you also own ResellerToday, can you tell us more about your reseller program?

ResellersToday is basically an expansion of HostedToday. It allows reseller customers to create their own custom hosting packages and resell them to their own customers. It was designed with the small web designer in mind.... and those who want to try their hand at their own hosting business. They get the flexibility to market their services however they wish, sell whatever sized plans they wish, and charge whatever they want. ResellersToday basically becomes their wholesale supplier of hosting space, in which our customers create their own hosting accounts to sell. It really works well for web designers who want to provide hosting to their customers, or perhaps have several websites of their own. HostedToday customers can easily upgrade to a ResellersToday reseller plan, and then to their own dedicated server which we will manage for them.

7. ResellersToday seems very competitive to the industry, why should a webmaster or web developer choose your service over your competition?

ResellersToday gets most of it's business either from upgrading HostedToday customers, our word of mouth recommendations from HostedToday or other ResellersToday customers. Sure we have a great service and a great price.... but there are so many other hosting companies out there that it's hard (if not impossible) to make the right choice simply based on a website. Those that do recommend us however, usually say that it is our customer support, the availability of our tech support, and the availability of quality help files that they like most. That's not something we can simply tell potential customers.... it comes across much better when existing customers tell the story for us.

8. What incentives are there for a web hosting company to outsource their hosting operations?

I'm a big believer in outsourcing, as it allows us to grow our business without getting too big and complicated ourselves, and without me losing control of things. Instead of hiring employees to handle certain jobs, we've outsourced our billing, accounting, tech support, graphic design, programming, and server administration, and that has worked out well for us. Outsourcing allows me to focus more on other aspects of the business. As long as we are selective in the companies we outsource to, and are sure we're getting good value for our dollar, then I can confidently spend more time focusing on the things I need to do. For me, that means customer service and sales.

9. Technical support is always important with website hosting. What types of support do you offer and to what lengths will you go to satisfy a customers needs?

Yes, tech support is extremely important, especially in the budget hosting industry. We get many customers who are building a website for the first time, and need lots of hand-holding to get it up live on the net. That is where our tech support comes in. True 24/7 support is available to our customers. We've hired a support company so that they could be available at all hours of the day/night, including holidays and weekends. Support tickets are answered within an hour no matter what time of day or night they are submitted, so customers never have to go very long before getting the answers they need. I also monitor all support correspondence (yes, I eavesdrop!) so that if I see a customer is not getting the help they need, or if I see they are not getting the responses (perhaps their email is not working), then I will go as far as to pick up the phone and give them a call. That goes a long way to earning a customer's respect, and it is a relatively easy thing to do.

10. Speaking of customer service, do you have any success stories that stick out in your mind?

I can't really pick out just one..... customer service is an ongoing commitment, and all cases are completely different. Like I just mentioned, I may give a customer a phone call if I see they are having troubles with something (i.e. getting DNS changes done with their domain registrar) and recommend a solution. A 10 minute phone call takes far less time, and earns a lot more respect than 5-10 emails going back and forth :)

11. The hosting industry has changed a lot in the last year, what predictions do you foresee for this coming year?

I predict the hosting industry will continue to grow over the coming year, and we are gearing up to take on a large chunk of that business. We are constantly adding new servers to accommodate the increase in account sales, and don't anticipate any slowdown in the coming year.

12. Do you have any changes or additions to your service in this coming year?

We are planning a new integrated back-end billing system (I know, that sounds pretty boring) that will help as our company grows, and a Customer Forums additional to our website so that customers will be able to share their experiences and help one another out.

13. Lastly, what is your favorite website and the most recent book you have read?

Hmm.... I'll give you two favorite websites: www.google.com   (practically the only search tool I use), and www.tsn.ca  (because I love sports, and I am Canadian :). Most recent book I've read? I'm somewhat embarressed to say that I don't have a lot of time for conventional books. I get my news and business information on the internet, and read a few industry magazines (Ping Zine!, PCMag, etc...). But if I want a good fictional story, I prefer to take my wife to the movies..... or read a Spiderman book to my son!

We want to thank Mr. Moore for his time and contribution to the web hosting industry. With all the Budget Hosting companies that exist today, it is very difficult for the end user to decide what company to go with for web hosting or even reselling. Rob has shared with us a few points that make a lot of sense, outsourcing and customer service, a recipe that works nicely, thus working even better for the customer.

New web hosting companies can learn from HostedToday, think of your customer first, do what you do best and outsource the rest. Visit HostedToday.com and see what Rob has to offer you.