“Houston, we have problems”: what difficulties of web studios will the hosting provider help to figure out
The web development industry is not a place for mistakes and delays. At the studio of any size, professional standards are under pressure - in order to remain relevant, you need to be able to react quickly. On the other hand, there is a tapering market. From 2013 to 2016 in Russia, it decreased by 1.3 billion rubles. True, not everyone felt this - 20 leading companies still hold 40% of large orders.
Panicking, however, is not worth it. Take a look at the American market: although young and insolent often die out in the first years of work, some of them manage to win over their flexibility and price tags for clients such as Blackberry, Selfridges, and Fox. Therefore, it is so important to have the most reliable tools in hand. We offer to understand how hosting providers help web studios to cope with urgent problems.
/ Pixabay / PublicDomainPictures / CC
')
The concept of "comprehensive service" is becoming wider and wider. Fulstek-developer - the most desirable character in the office. Customers no longer want to collect contractors in pieces. Instead, they need a partner who will take full responsibility for most of the issues related to online.
/ Wikimedia / Justin McIntosh / CC
This is not so bad from the standpoint of an additional source of income - the more responsibilities, the more solid the average check. But there is also a significant disadvantage - you, as a web studio, are forced to do other things.
As an illustration of a non-profile studio service, let's take hosting. It requires a significant increase in resources - both human and hardware. Therefore, small players and individual freelancers often disclaim responsibility in order not to be dispersed and not wasted. For example, designer Micah Johnson (Micah Ryan Johnson) teaches his colleagues to say a firm “no” to customers requiring additional hosting services.
This strategy may be suitable for the local studio, but is detrimental for serious momentum. Large companies can not afford to refuse the client, because customers want to see hosting in the price list. They probably know that it saves money and time. And if they do not receive the service from you, it is quite possible that they will turn to competitors.
Blogger Carol K (Karol K) compares this situation with a trip to the cafe. When ordering a burger, you are asked if you also want fries. The establishment could focus on the skill of making burgers and cross out an additional dish from the menu, but then nothing will stop customers from choosing a cafe where they serve everything at once.
Of course, no one is in a hurry to start their own data centers. The benefit of hosting providers is free from impressive capital costs, the need to dive into the technical details and to study the subtleties of compliance with the law in the provision of communication services.
Client resources are hosted on leased virtual servers or server networks. Web studios act as intermediaries. This allows you to satisfy the customer's request and earn money - as a rule, providers reward their partners. For example, 1cloud.ru provides a bonus for depositing funds to your account in the amount of up to 20% of the received amount (and even up to 25% - if paid from 100,000 rubles).
If the client needs to work from a personal account, web studios can offer their referral link. Due to this, the studio has the opportunity to receive 10% of all payments of the attracted client to a special affiliate account during the first year of its operation from 1cloud, and 5% all subsequent years.
The market never forgets loud scandals, especially if competitors are interested in everyone remembering a puncture. In the English segment there is a " complaint board " on the web studio. To fall on it is to ruin your reputation. Andy Crestodina, an expert in content marketing, analyzed the main causes of grievances and found out that they are largely due to slow loading and unavailability of the resource.
Requirements for loading sites and the truth is that waiting for the page to load in more than three seconds, not every user is ready. But no one wants to understand the true causes of these problems. In fact, the performance of the hosting provider’s equipment directly affects page loading speed. And even more so the provider is responsible for the critical failures of the sites.
In order to “not blush” due to other people's mistakes, the studio itself can provide hosting services. But here is an example of a small regional developer of IT Development - working with its own server led to the freezing of sites for just one client. As we have said, studios, as a rule, do not have free resources for this direction. A half-rendered service turns into a headache and nothing more. Conclusion: a provider with equipment that ensures uninterrupted availability of customer resources can save in this position.
Another important point is round-the-clock technical support. High-level hosting companies provide it without fail, and web studios with all their desire can not afford such a service. Thus, providers help out their partners in unforeseen situations.
As noted in FRIA, many web studios that grew up in large agencies were launched not by managers, but by specialists in their work — in design. Hence the difficulty in managing, selling services, and promoting in the market. Sometimes this problem is called the syndrome "I am not a marketer" (here you can easily substitute "not a manager", "not a seller" and so on). Because of this, even very successful companies face difficulties in scaling.
Peter Coppinger, founder of the successful Teamwork.com SaaS service, spoke about the experience of managing a small web design agency, and named 12 mistakes that almost killed his business. More than half of them are related to financial and management miscalculations. As a result, even with a steady stream of clients, the studio hardly found money for salaries to its employees.
In this industry, "cash gaps" are often the reason for the closure of companies. A case in point is the story of Oliver Emberton, the head of a British development studio, about why the company stopped working as a web studio after 10 years (at first glance) of successful business.
Alas, this is not an isolated case. So, quite successful and well-known American studios Happy Cog and Teehan + Lax closed their doors, and the founders of the companies went to work on Facebook. Here's what's interesting: Happy Cog founder Jeffrey Zeldman advises developers to put their reputation above the amount of cash flow and not let them get out of the “comfort zone”. Obviously, the strategy of "studio in a case" does not always guarantee success.
Back in 2014, the FRIA proposed the development of an internal product as a solution. As time shows, this path is attractive for more than half of Russian web studios. At least in theory. In fact, not everyone is able to remain entrepreneurs, and professionals in the field of web design, and successful developers of their own products.
Hosting providers help web studios find an additional source of income as an alternative to developing their own product and concentrate on growing or closing the cash gap. For example, 1cloud.ru allows you to become a partner-reseller services under the program WhiteLabel. Studios receive a branded control panel and themselves determine the final cost of the services provided. In fact, the studio becomes a virtual infrastructure provider. This is beneficial for large companies that are ready to provide a large amount of attracted customers and meet the high requirements of the provider.
Pricing is an important issue in the sale of any intangible product. In the world of web design, this issue is particularly painful, as it is necessary to compete not only with neighboring studios, but also with foreign companies. In the case of large corporate clients, this is felt not so clearly as in the struggle for orders of medium size, but, nevertheless, there is a choice in this narrow niche.
/ pxhere / PD
To maintain competitiveness, you have to either deprive the studio of profitability, or get rid of extra “bones”. One of the methods often practiced in the industry is to create a team of remote employees. In this case, working with a reliable hosting provider again helps to reduce external pressure. Renting virtual servers for the internal processes of the studio allows you to save on your own equipment and deploy stands for developing and testing sites with remote access for employees.
If hosting for studio customers is a must-have service, it is important to be able to create profitable service packages with this in mind. Some providers provide opportunities to customize plans and minimize costs - both studios and their clients. Another way to achieve a competitive offer is to have SSL certificates , without which you can’t do without security. 1cloud offers one of the best prices on the market, which allows not only to provide customers with an important tool without increasing the check, but also to earn their loyalty.
PS In our corporate blog you can find other materials:
Panicking, however, is not worth it. Take a look at the American market: although young and insolent often die out in the first years of work, some of them manage to win over their flexibility and price tags for clients such as Blackberry, Selfridges, and Fox. Therefore, it is so important to have the most reliable tools in hand. We offer to understand how hosting providers help web studios to cope with urgent problems.
/ Pixabay / PublicDomainPictures / CC
')
Customers want you to do different things.
The concept of "comprehensive service" is becoming wider and wider. Fulstek-developer - the most desirable character in the office. Customers no longer want to collect contractors in pieces. Instead, they need a partner who will take full responsibility for most of the issues related to online.
/ Wikimedia / Justin McIntosh / CC
This is not so bad from the standpoint of an additional source of income - the more responsibilities, the more solid the average check. But there is also a significant disadvantage - you, as a web studio, are forced to do other things.
As an illustration of a non-profile studio service, let's take hosting. It requires a significant increase in resources - both human and hardware. Therefore, small players and individual freelancers often disclaim responsibility in order not to be dispersed and not wasted. For example, designer Micah Johnson (Micah Ryan Johnson) teaches his colleagues to say a firm “no” to customers requiring additional hosting services.
This strategy may be suitable for the local studio, but is detrimental for serious momentum. Large companies can not afford to refuse the client, because customers want to see hosting in the price list. They probably know that it saves money and time. And if they do not receive the service from you, it is quite possible that they will turn to competitors.
Blogger Carol K (Karol K) compares this situation with a trip to the cafe. When ordering a burger, you are asked if you also want fries. The establishment could focus on the skill of making burgers and cross out an additional dish from the menu, but then nothing will stop customers from choosing a cafe where they serve everything at once.
Of course, no one is in a hurry to start their own data centers. The benefit of hosting providers is free from impressive capital costs, the need to dive into the technical details and to study the subtleties of compliance with the law in the provision of communication services.
Client resources are hosted on leased virtual servers or server networks. Web studios act as intermediaries. This allows you to satisfy the customer's request and earn money - as a rule, providers reward their partners. For example, 1cloud.ru provides a bonus for depositing funds to your account in the amount of up to 20% of the received amount (and even up to 25% - if paid from 100,000 rubles).
If the client needs to work from a personal account, web studios can offer their referral link. Due to this, the studio has the opportunity to receive 10% of all payments of the attracted client to a special affiliate account during the first year of its operation from 1cloud, and 5% all subsequent years.
To spoil your reputation is much easier than to rehabilitate
The market never forgets loud scandals, especially if competitors are interested in everyone remembering a puncture. In the English segment there is a " complaint board " on the web studio. To fall on it is to ruin your reputation. Andy Crestodina, an expert in content marketing, analyzed the main causes of grievances and found out that they are largely due to slow loading and unavailability of the resource.
Requirements for loading sites and the truth is that waiting for the page to load in more than three seconds, not every user is ready. But no one wants to understand the true causes of these problems. In fact, the performance of the hosting provider’s equipment directly affects page loading speed. And even more so the provider is responsible for the critical failures of the sites.
In order to “not blush” due to other people's mistakes, the studio itself can provide hosting services. But here is an example of a small regional developer of IT Development - working with its own server led to the freezing of sites for just one client. As we have said, studios, as a rule, do not have free resources for this direction. A half-rendered service turns into a headache and nothing more. Conclusion: a provider with equipment that ensures uninterrupted availability of customer resources can save in this position.
Another important point is round-the-clock technical support. High-level hosting companies provide it without fail, and web studios with all their desire can not afford such a service. Thus, providers help out their partners in unforeseen situations.
Cash gaps are forced to seek alternative earnings
As noted in FRIA, many web studios that grew up in large agencies were launched not by managers, but by specialists in their work — in design. Hence the difficulty in managing, selling services, and promoting in the market. Sometimes this problem is called the syndrome "I am not a marketer" (here you can easily substitute "not a manager", "not a seller" and so on). Because of this, even very successful companies face difficulties in scaling.
Peter Coppinger, founder of the successful Teamwork.com SaaS service, spoke about the experience of managing a small web design agency, and named 12 mistakes that almost killed his business. More than half of them are related to financial and management miscalculations. As a result, even with a steady stream of clients, the studio hardly found money for salaries to its employees.
In this industry, "cash gaps" are often the reason for the closure of companies. A case in point is the story of Oliver Emberton, the head of a British development studio, about why the company stopped working as a web studio after 10 years (at first glance) of successful business.
Alas, this is not an isolated case. So, quite successful and well-known American studios Happy Cog and Teehan + Lax closed their doors, and the founders of the companies went to work on Facebook. Here's what's interesting: Happy Cog founder Jeffrey Zeldman advises developers to put their reputation above the amount of cash flow and not let them get out of the “comfort zone”. Obviously, the strategy of "studio in a case" does not always guarantee success.
Back in 2014, the FRIA proposed the development of an internal product as a solution. As time shows, this path is attractive for more than half of Russian web studios. At least in theory. In fact, not everyone is able to remain entrepreneurs, and professionals in the field of web design, and successful developers of their own products.
Hosting providers help web studios find an additional source of income as an alternative to developing their own product and concentrate on growing or closing the cash gap. For example, 1cloud.ru allows you to become a partner-reseller services under the program WhiteLabel. Studios receive a branded control panel and themselves determine the final cost of the services provided. In fact, the studio becomes a virtual infrastructure provider. This is beneficial for large companies that are ready to provide a large amount of attracted customers and meet the high requirements of the provider.
Difficult to maintain competitive price
Pricing is an important issue in the sale of any intangible product. In the world of web design, this issue is particularly painful, as it is necessary to compete not only with neighboring studios, but also with foreign companies. In the case of large corporate clients, this is felt not so clearly as in the struggle for orders of medium size, but, nevertheless, there is a choice in this narrow niche.
/ pxhere / PD
To maintain competitiveness, you have to either deprive the studio of profitability, or get rid of extra “bones”. One of the methods often practiced in the industry is to create a team of remote employees. In this case, working with a reliable hosting provider again helps to reduce external pressure. Renting virtual servers for the internal processes of the studio allows you to save on your own equipment and deploy stands for developing and testing sites with remote access for employees.
If hosting for studio customers is a must-have service, it is important to be able to create profitable service packages with this in mind. Some providers provide opportunities to customize plans and minimize costs - both studios and their clients. Another way to achieve a competitive offer is to have SSL certificates , without which you can’t do without security. 1cloud offers one of the best prices on the market, which allows not only to provide customers with an important tool without increasing the check, but also to earn their loyalty.
PS In our corporate blog you can find other materials:
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/341866/
All Articles