Our suggestion is that Winhost.com should provide a paid "fast start" assisted setup facility. We note that you offer a discount on plan start-up, hence we suggest that you also offer the assisted setup at a price equivalent to the discount amount. This way employees who have budgeted only for the hosting can pay the budgeted full annual amount and get things started quickly without any additional cost. For some people like me who just want to get on with their "main game" and they need say a subdomain or multi-site URL redirect system to be setup, plus some Error 404 handling, then the people at Winhost.com could do it all for them in a snap. This could include even setting up email addresses and other minor things, just for the sake of getting it all done. When the setup was completed you could even record a short video showing what work you have done for them and where. Typically once most user setus have has been completed, they rarely need ongoing major changes. For those who transfer from a Linux system (as we did) there is a huge amount to be learned, which places a big obstacle in the path of the move. (This is because it forces the IIS newbie Learning task to the head of the queue.) So I believe that this idea is actually to your (Winhost) advantage because it makes more customers more successful and embedded to your service, plus it would reduce the drain on your support team and eliminate negative feedback. Thanks for reading this suggestion, Regards, Phil. Phil Best Strategy Map Balanced Scorecard Software Developer & System Architect w: www.StrategyKpi.com
What you've laid out here in your suggestion goes far beyond anything I would consider "assisted setup." It sounds like you're suggesting that we provide development/migration services for $9.90 per site (on a Basic plan). The only problem with that is we would spend more than your annual fee providing that kind of service (potentially much more). So essentially we would be paying you to host with us. A great deal for you, I agree, but not so good for us. We have considered offering migration services, and we may well do so in the future. But bear in mind that migration from *nix to Windows is not typically a simple matter and is probably not something we would offer. If we did it would be outside a "normal" migration service and charged at an hourly rate, roughly what you would pay a developer to make the move. Right now we are not set up to provide migration/development services, so it isn't something we are considering for the near future.
Assised Setup Hi Hank, Thanks for your reply. I still believe that Winhost.com should provide this service whatever the cost. The project scope can be stated and a price determined. It may be that you outsource it to a consultant, but it needs to be a Winhost authorised one. When the work is done then normal user support would continue in the knowledge that the site had been professionally setup. It took me some days to learn about and then get everything in my StrategyKpi.com website setup correctly and an expert could have done it an about one hour. Now I see that there is still a problem with the sub domain that will require an email to your support or a hunt through the forums. One of the reasons for this is that whilst there is much advice on the internet forums, it is often incorrect because the IIS version plus the hosting facilities have changed. Hence attempts to learn on Internet sites are often invalid. I estimate that the time spent by your pre-sales and support staff greatly exceeds this one hour. eg. Setup up to 5 shared domains on one basic hosting $25 Setup Subdomain in a folder $25 Additional Work $40/hour. Regards, Phil.
I hear what you're saying, and I see the logic in it. Unfortunately, we can't do anything "whatever the cost." Cost matters for anyone who wants to stay in business, that's just the awful truth, isn't it. But like I mentioned, we have considered offering migration services, and we may well do so in the future. I couldn't speculate what that service might look like. But I'm sure it would incorporate some of your ideas.
