Web hosting is a highly competitive field. It is possible to enter the
Web hosting business as a reseller with an investment of under $1,000.
Over 4,000 Web hosting firms are listed on Yahoo.
Web hosting is largely differentiated by the reliability quality of the
hosting – which is extremely important to business Web sites. If Web
sites are down or slow even 1% of the time, sales will be lost. People
also want a Web hosting firm that will be in business six months from
now. If a Web hosting firm goes bankrupt, it’s time consuming to find a
new host and resetup the site, not to mention any downtime.
Web hosting firms use the traditional methods of signaling quality to
consumers: testimonials, warranties, endorsements from technical
magazines and so forth. Image is also a signal of quality. Firms
concerned about their image and spending money on advertising to
earn a good image are less likely to damage their own image by
providing low-quality service.
A more extreme and controversial view is image over reality. The
image of reliable service may be more important than the actual
reliability.
In addition to the thousands of small firms, large companies with
famous brands such as Dell and IBM now provide Web hosting. These
firms are extending their brand name.
The number of competing Web hosting firms also makes having a
memorable name crucial. If a potential customer forgets a name, he is
likely to find a competitor before remembering the forgotten name.
Having a memorable domain name is also crucial for word of mouth
advertising (buzz).
With thousands of Web hosting firms, only the names of a fraction can
be discussed here. The following sample is biased towards and
contains proportionally more of the larger firms.
Hostway.com – This is a generic plus style of name.
Timehost.com – Another generic plus name.
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