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Servers + Hosting website offers limited information
Hello.
I am wondering everyone's thoughts and knew LET would be a quick and easy way to discuss.
I am designing a very simple and direct website for my hosting/server company.
Do you think pages require more information then just the pricing tables + included feature list?
You see this often: "Our servers are powerful enough for business and home users" for example. Would users prefer just the straight information/specs with nothing added?
Thanks!
Comments
I don't care about "Our servers are powerful enough for business and home users" and such (and probably most of the people here), but apparently google likes that so if you want to be found by random people you should include it.
+1
Depends who your audience is really. If you are aiming for those who are a bit more technically minded then just listing server specs would be best. If you're aiming for the small business or home user then they just want to see words like "powerful". They probably don't care or understand what it means if a server has a Xeon or an Opteron.
This ^
Compare http://prgmr.com with... let's say http://www.ixwebhosting.com/
Tangentially - hosts (@KuJoe) that have live hardware status pages always get a +1 in my book:
http://drgn.biz/status/index.php
(BTW, they just moved DCs - those numbers are building back to their previous impressive state :-)
Eric, you remind me of DepotVPS Shane. What is up with the constant creation of threads? I understand you are new and require feedback from the community, but your threads make me feel like snapping my keyboard in half.
HAHHAH. I'm sorry? I wasn't aware I shouldn't post this often. I was sort of waiting for some op/mod to yank my threads down.
No idea who this is.
I have a lot to ask and realized the power and "awesome-ness" of the LowEndTalk community
Some great people here.
@FTN_Kevin I have only posted three threads this week. 4 in total since I have joined..
I don't think its the constant posting of threads even, its the constant need for asking about every little detail for your hosting company, it shows insecurity in your own decisions in my opinion. Its alright to ask the community here and there but not for everything, have some confidence in yourself.
@Infinity Haha. I didn't mean it that way. You should already realize I've started these just to get an opinion and see what other users think.
Such text is always transparent for my eyes.
Do what I do and pretty much what every other provider does. Make decissions for yourself and if your customers don't agree with the changes or have something else in mind 95% of the time they will let you know.
Nothing is perfect unfortunately, Just make decissions for yourself and if your happy then most likely so will your clients.
In my opinion the ideal site would consist of a very simple design (no unnecessary graphics, no stock images, and ESPECIALLY no live chat popups or similar crap). Images to denote carriers/virtualization platforms/operating systems etc., are fine, as long as they serve a purpose. A live server status page is definitely a plus. Marketing and buzz phrases on your overview pages are really not necessary, and if you really believe you need them, at least put them on separate pages and not on the same page as the plan information.
Ideally, something like http://tinyvz.com/ plus http://www.ramhost.us/?page=status.
Most importantly, provide all information that people actually need to make an informed decision. Do you offer IPv4 as well as IPv6? What is the bandwidth/port speed/whatever the fancy term of the day is? How much traffic and how is it calculated (rolling average, monthly reset)? How much disk space, do you have a RAID setup, and are they normal SATA drives or something like SAS/SSD? What control panel (SolusVM, HyperVM, etc) do you offer? What payment methods do you accept (VERY important and forgotten by many)? What are the server locations, especially at what datacenters are they located? Do you allow IRC, legal torrenting, and other things that are legal but frowned upon by many hosts? (People should not have to read through the entire TOS to get a quick overview of this). Is there stock? Do you offer discounts for certain billing intervals?
In one page you should really have all the information you need, without it becoming a mess. RAMHost definitely got this one right for the most part.
EDIT: I have to clarify, you should probably keep the status page on a different page than the plan overview. A 'live uptime counter' on your overview page is always nice of course
@JoePie91
RAMHost get away with it because of their reputation.
Without their word-of-mouth marketing, I would see that kind of site as pretty dodgey.
Keeping that in mind, RAMHost don't need to 'market' their VPSs with fancy graphics and promotional nonsense, so don't bother doing so.
Like I said, it's because of their reputation. Nothing else.
Without any disrespect, If @EricCubixCloud suddenly threw up a TinyVZ/TinyKVM-esque site, it would put me off. I don't know how reputable they are, or if it's serious.
TL;DR version:
Depends on your marketing strategy.
Works for some, doesn't for most.
ixwebhosting.com...@ElliotJ, that is one amazingly awful web site.
But they are hiring...if you have the skills:
"You are an exceptional thinker with very strong Linux (RedHat 7.3, Centos 5.x, etc) skills"
Without their word-of-mouth marketing, I would see that kind of site as pretty dodgey.
Keeping that in mind, RAMHost don't need to 'market' their VPSs with fancy graphics and promotional nonsense, so don't bother doing so.
I have been using RAM Host for quite a while (say, 2 years), and their main website has always looked pretty much like what it looks like now. Hell, take a look at prgmr. How would they ever have gained that reputation if they've always had this kind this site, and that kind of site wouldn't work?
Thanks for all the comments, everyone. The new site and VPS plans has now launched.
Let me know if you have any comments or questions.
http://cubixcloud.com/
Only one remark: the links and menu items on the pages seem to have Trebuchet MS defined as font; on a Linux machine this renders as a serif font (like Times New Roman). You might want to set sans-serif as a fallback font to make it render properly cross-platform.
Other than that, it looks good, and it gives a very clear overview
Thanks so much for the suggestion and compliments
- It feels great to let go of pre-made themes and templates. haha
You might want to protect your images directory, instead of leaving it open for anyone to browse.
Yeah man disable dir-listing on your domain.
Great looking site though.
I'm not hiding anything :P
Thanks!
I have locked down the /images/ folder. Keep up the great suggestions everyone
Now I get a 403 error on images. You have to chmod 711 /images and 755 /images/*.
@EricCubixCloud wait, are you only 15? what's the matter with kids on your age founding vps companies? isn't this illegal?
Yah, I have deleted the changes I made will have to look into it further. Always having permissions troubles, I have another idea though.
I am.
@EricCubixCloud I'm sorry but if you don't know the very basics (chmoding) and you're only 15 how can someone trust you with his data?
This would go for any VPS provider no matter the age, don't you agree?
You've got to start somewhere. No one can know everything. Also to note, I don't work alone.
I'm curious to know why age makes a difference in this situation.. (when your skill level and effort is what really matters in my opinion)
chmod 755 is probably what you want. Or just create an empty index.html on that directory. or turn off the apache indexes directive.
Thanks for your input. We're working on it.
Also curious, why is the "standard" to lock down these folders. I see some hosts such as Linode do not do this.. any reasons for doing so?