The Web hosting industry is one of the most competitive industries on the Internet today. Web hosts are constantly thinking of new advertising campaigns in the hope of attracting more interest to their company; and, hence to attract more customers. While this is an important goal for any Web host it is just as important to recognize and value the customers you already have.

Put your customer's needs first

Acknowledge your customers' feedback and then do something about it; make sure there is a place on your Web site or in your control panel for customers to make remarks or offer suggestions about your services or products. Use these suggestions to improve your company. Even if you receive negative feedback, use this feedback positively; it's better to fix customer concerns as soon as possible to benefit your company's success in the long run.

Provide staff management training

Web hosts can say they have reliable staff and offer support around the clock. Though behind the scenes the story is very different; try to practice what you preach, it is no use to anyone to have staff with bad organizational and communication skills. Having a clear vision of your company's goals, providing regular training and being involved with your staff will contribute greatly to efficiently managing your business.

Offer fast and reliable support

If there is something going critically wrong with a Web site, customers can't be sitting around for days waiting to get their problems solved. Any critical support requests should be answered in just a matter of an hour or two; and, any other requests should be responded to in no more than 24 hours. Hosts should be offering around the clock support, especially if their market is global.

Reliable support is also crucial. The most common complaint that people have with their Web hosting companies is that while they may get their support requests answered quickly, their host has either not fixed their problem properly or they have no idea what the support team are talking about. Many people don't understand all the terminology of Web site hosting, therefore support staff need to have good communication skills.

When receiving a support request it is much better to make sure the client's problem has been fixed properly, so make sure your support staff test everything they fix! Not only will you find that you will be receiving less support requests, but your clients will be a lot happier also, which could mean more referrals!

Give your customers freedom

Many people tend to sign up with a Web host who will offer a discount if you sign a yearly contract with them. However most people who do this get "stuck" if they are unhappy with their service, and will lose a large proportion of their fee if they cancel their contract. One way to keep your clients happy is to give them the option of paying monthly, this way your customers will have the freedom to change their account packages at any time.

Your clients should be given the freedom to administer their own accounts. A good way to provide this is to ensure that your clients have their own customizable control panel. This is true freedom, where a client can administer every key aspect of their account from: viewing their account details and billing details; to, for example, interactively adding a new Web site, ftp logins, mail accounts, and new users.

Keep your customers well informed

Let your customers know about any thing that could possibly affect their Web sites. Keep your customers informed on issues such as general maintenance, when and how often backups are done on the servers, and so on - these are a crucial necessity to keeping servers running well, and clients have to be told this. If there is a customer issue that may take a while to fix, it is much better to inform them of the issue and let them know you will get back to them as soon as possible. Customers shouldn't feel like they are left out in the cold, wondering why it is taking so long to fix their problem.

A Web host who doesn't recognize the importance of providing good service to their customers will quickly lose their customers, and will fade out very quickly. Customers need to feel as though they can trust their Web hosts, and they need to know that the hard work they put into developing their Web site will be complemented by having a great Web host; one that is concerned with providing the best service for ALL their customers.

Remember the more happy customers you have the more successful your Web hosting company will be, and the more growth you will see.

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Written by Candice Humbley - http://m6.net
M6.net, fast, reliable and affordable Windows
2000 Web farm hosting.

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Published on: 2004-01-25 (8106 reads)