The Planet Blog

Our CEO, Doug Erwin keynoted Day 2 at ISPCON! Are you surprised? His topic was Beyond Hosting: Unlocking Profits with On Demand IT Infrastructure for the SMB, and he shared a The Planet’s perspective on the evolving IT marketplace, including several suggestions to effectively keep up with it.

I’ll dive deeper into what he shared at the conference in a future blog post, but I wanted to submit a quick update on the happenings from Day 2 at ISPCON.

In addition to Doug’s keynote, I joined three very interesting breakout sessions and continued my trek through the conference Exhibit Hall. The breakout sessions I graced with my presence? “30 Rapid-fire Website Wins, Guaranteed,” “Five Ways to Boost Profits without Increasing Costs: Customer Services” and “Guerrilla Marketing for Service Providers.” Needless to say, I was like a kid in a candy store.

My Key Takeaways

From the “Website Wins” session: Several of the “wins” really jumped out at me as key features in efficient site design. With an increased emphasis on simplicity and clarity to the paradigm shift of “site construction” to “site gardening,” the site development process is clearly in a period of transition to best facilitate the customer experience, search engine friendliness and cross-browser compatibility.

From the “Customer Services” session: Customer service is at the heart of a host’s business. Web hosts should have a customer-centric mentality rather than a product-centric mentality to truly be successful in the industry. That underlying mentality will bleed into every aspect of your business, and will be conveyed both implicitly and explicitly through all of a company’s communication.

From the “Guerrilla Marketing” session: There are countless ways to differentiate and market your company outside of the traditional marketing techniques, and the question featured in the conclusion of the presentation embodied the guerrilla marketing mentality: “Is your message one in a million or is your marketing message just another one of the millions?” I enjoyed the session because it investigated many effective “outside the box” opportunities to generate interest and improve the customer’s buying experience (or at least the experience they have while they are receiving marketing information).

We’ve got one more day worth of sessions here in San Jose, so look for more stellar insight soon!

-Kevin

Stop laughing. Computers are cool now.

That’s what the sticker in my office says, anyway. (Given to me by our very own Todd Mitchell, thank you very much. He’s funny.)

To conclude my three-part blog, I thought I’d focus on some sites I think have really helped to define this new era of the Internet. Plus, it gives me an excuse to play…er, I mean research the Internet while at work. Bonus!

Let’s start with MySpace because, well, it’s the one I’m most familiar with. I’ve had my account since early 2004. I’ve seen lots of growth and changes with the site over the years. Many new features have been added, with better functionality, which makes it really easy to use, but even more it’s really easy to be addicted. With all of these upgrades, the fundamentals of MySpace haven’t changed; it’s a place to hang with your friends and make new ones via the interwebs. That plays a huge part in the site’s success.

In the beginning, the site featured blogs, profile customization, bulletins and comments from other users on your friends list. Today the site has expanded to video, music, instant message, mobile texting and news. You can even search job listings there! Part of what makes this site so compelling is that in order to participate, you have to be a member. You create an account because someone you know has one, and you want to read their blogs and have the ability to comment. Once you get involved, you’re addicted. You also have the ability to completely control who views your page. You can be as public or as private as you like. It’s really all about your comfort level, but more importantly, it’s all about you.

MySpace was founded in August of 2003 by eUniverse (now Intermix). The site was sold in 2005 for $580 million to Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation. (That’s some serious moola for a site built on the geeky idea of making Internet friends.) The site is currently ranked by Alexa as #3 on the list of most visited sites in the U.S.

You Tube has become a crazy phenomenon. The idea behind it is quite simple: create a site with a simple interface where a user can upload any sort of video that exports into a format most browsers can view. And it’s free. Genius.

The world’s inner celebrity has come out to shine. If you aren’t contributing, you’re watching. If there is something you’ve seen on TV at some point, chances are you can find it on You Tube. If you want to show the world how you and your friends act the fool, just upload and share. Anyone who ever hoped to be some level of celebrity now has their chance, and they’re using it.

Google purchased YouTube on Nov. 3, 2006, for $1.65 billion in Google stock. I can’t even begin to fathom that amount of money. The site is currently ranked #4 in the Alexa rankings.

DIGG.com, which began as a technology-based blog site, is really a fantastic example of one that grew solely from social networking. Users contributed content by seeking out tech blogs, articles and news stories, and then posting them on the site. Now, it’s much more than just technology, with subsections ranging from entertainment, world and business, and gaming. They even offer video and podcast sections as well.

For a blogger, one of the pinnacles of success is having people “digg” your blog. Translation: having someone who reads it like it so much they link it on DIGG. Bloggers have become obsessed with getting their stories “dugg”- so much that the site has implemented practices for stopping spamming of your own writing. (But I’m not above asking you guys to click that little DIGG button on the bottom of this page. Click it. CLICK IT.)

Tons of sites have made an impact building the Internet to what it is today. These are just a few examples of sites that in my mind have been leaders in shaping the Internet culture. They’ve become regular phrases in our everyday lives translating into a major pop-culture phenomenon.

So, now my three-part look at the Internet Social Scene is done. I’m not sure what else I’ll be writing about in the future, but I’m sure there will be some topics that tickle my fancy.

If any of you, dear readers, have suggestions; please feel free to let me know! I’ll dig (ha,ha dig!) down and look into questions you have about Internet happenings, happenings at The Planet or anything else you might find interesting. The sky’s the limit.

If I can make it relevant to technology or the Internet, they’ll probably let me blog about it. Even nail polish and lipstick. Maybe. (What? I am a total girl, you know.)

- Ali

I know, I know … you’ve heard it before … but seriously. I (Katie) wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that we (The Planet) have brought back for a limited time our Double Down promotion.

What is the Double Down promotion?
So glad you asked! For no additional cost, double your RAM, hard drive, or bandwidth when you lease a new server. For complete details, see www.theplanet.com/double-down-promotion, and please note that …

It’s for a limited time only!

(How many marketing clichés can she cram into one blog post, you ask?)

This promotion ends on September 30, 2007 (11:59 pm CDT to be exact) – and if you’re sitting there at 11:45 pm (CDT) on the 30th thinking, “Awww, those fabulous guys and gals at The Planet will be happy to give me this promo tomorrow …” think again! We’re sticking to the deadline (it’s the end of the quarter folks!), so if you want to … double your RAM, hard drive or bandwidth … act now so you don’t miss out on this opportunity. After all, we brought it back because you asked.

By the way, we’re also running our Super September Giveaway … and everyone who leases a new server from The Planet is registered to win one of four major prizes, including a Dell laptop, Xbox 360 Elite, 160 GB & 80 GB iPods, and iPod nano or a Nintendo Wii … not to mention gift certificate drawings daily. It’s just our little way of saying “thank you” for doing business with us.

Oh, and by the way … happy “Talk like a Pirate” day matey!

(How many marketing clichés did I manage to get in? Four unique instances: “back by popular demand”, “limited time” x 2, “act now”, and “don’t miss out”.)

Where’s the Beef?

Remember back in the day, there always seemed to be a commercial everyone was talking about?

Two all beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.
I totally double-dutched to that one.

How many licks does it take to get to the Tootsie Roll center of a Tootsie Pop?
Mr. Owl did it in three. I tried so many times to do that as a kid! It was totally impossible and I was crushed.

I’d like to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony. I’d like to buy the world a Coke and keep it company.
I found this on YouTube and it instantly took me back to my living room with the green shag carpet and wood paneling. It gave me chills. I know it’s crazy that a commercial can have such an impact. But the time was so tumultuous and that commercial gave a little bit of comfort and hope to the world. (And I’m a sucker for nostalgia; Coca-Cola especially.)

Plus, I know people who cried during Hallmark commercials. My mom included. MCI long distance ones too.

Commercials became as much a part of our television entertainment experience as the shows we were watching. It was a mad competition to see who would have the funniest, catchiest and most innovative approach. Huge multimillion dollar campaigns would launch in hopes to have the next catch phrase.

It’s not really like that anymore. Sure, there are a few companies I can think of that still go above and beyond in the TV campaign area. Geico’s Gecko and Cavemen come to mind. But, really, when was the last time you sang a TV jingle? I haven’t since Chili’s made me “want my baby back ribs.”

The face of advertising is changing, my friends. Aside from the big push at Superbowl, big budget TV campaigns are on the decline. The invention of DVR and the insanely vast amount of broadcast TV and cable networks make it near impossible to pay attention to the commercials. Companies are turning to more cost effective approaches via the Internet - specifically social networking sites.

Do you know of any national retail corporation that doesn’t have a Web site? I don’t. I’m sure you’d be hard pressed to find one. Take that as a challenge, if you like! It’s now common practice to include Internet and online activities in any marketing and advertising plan.

Many companies have gone way beyond simply having their own Web sites. They’ve ventured into the social networking scene, creating MySpace pages and blogs and using email campaigns to drive traffic to these sites. And why wouldn’t they? It’s the Internet version of pollination.

A busy little Internet bee stumbles upon a blog or new Web site. They take that information and link to their own blog or post it on a message board. They use it to pass along information and foster discussion. Then along comes another little busy Internet bee that takes the link and posts it in various other places and so on and so forth. Voila! Pixel pollination. I can’t really think of a much easier way to spread your message than having someone else do it for you.

For some, these practices are still brand new. People are just testing the waters. As we start to see more success with this sort of “grass-roots” marketing, the entire way we implement advertising and promotions will change.

It’ll certainly be interesting to see where we are a year from now. With the ever-changing face of the Internet, new marketing and advertising opportunities will always be on the horizon. It’s an exciting time to be part of such prevalent change in this still-budding new medium. No one has really jumped out as a leader in innovation for this new age of Web-based marketing. Having the opportunity to be a player rather than just a spectator is making the evolution all the more fun.

Up next - The Social Scene 3: Web based communities - top sites, key features and why they’re so addictive.

Stay tuned!

- Ali

Interested in purchasing new servers to keep up with increased demand? The Planet recently launched two new server specials that deliver valuable savings on the latest technology and server solutions.

Take advantage of the Let FREEdom Ring special, with any new server order eligible for free setup, a free RapidSSL^® Certificate and free 2GB DiskSync backup.

For servers with a base monthly price of $150 or more, the special also includes free control panel software from a wide selection of industry leading vendors, including cPanel, Plesk, Ensim and Helm.

Sign-up soon. This offer is available on all new server orders from June 11 – July 6, 2007.*

Are your servers spread across a number of hosting providers? Send us the competitor’s invoice and The Planet will beat current server pricing by 10 percent. Running from June 11 – July 31, 2007, the Lowest Hosting Price on The Planet also delivers free setup and one month free to migrate the server(s).*

If The Planet is unable to beat the competition’s pricing on an equivalent server configuration, customers will be provided with a one-year RapidSSL^® Certificate.

Stop by again soon for the latest deals from The Planet.

- Katie

Despite having traveled a fair bit and having been born in India, I’ve never been to China. I’ve always really wanted to go. Heck, my wife and I even considered getting married at the Forbidden Gardens here in Texas. As cool as that place is, I have to believe that the real deal is much more impressive.

While no one ever really needs one, it seems to me that the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing might just give me the perfect excuse to go. If going to Beijing by itself wouldn’t be cool enough, its even more interesting when you hear about the preparation the city is going through, whether that be far fetched attempts at weather modification to stamping out bad translations on street signs all the way to mass education on etiquette in preparation for a global flock of visitors.

As ridiculous as this might sound, the work of the Olympics organizing committee reminds me a lot about my work here at The Planet. In preparation for the Olympics, this group has analyzed and anticipated the needs of their visitors/customers, built out solutions to meet those needs and ultimately are in the process of building out a scalable infrastructure that can accommodate a glut of demand.

Now, you’ve heard Will and Jeff talk about meeting our customer needs through building scalable networks or having N+1 redundancy within our data centers. While I’m always interested in what those guys are up to, my job is really about identifying needs and helping build solutions, which may sound pretty unbelievable when I say that I work in Marketing. In any case, many of you may remember we did a customer satisfaction survey and followed up to get a better view of what products and services our customers. Remember the banners in the customer portal?

First of all, I want to thank the thousands of you that took time to respond. There were a lot of quick hits that we learned and responded to. For instance 49% of you said that you were concerned about bandwidth prices and overages and we launched a promotion on unmetered bandwidth, or that 70% of you rated increased storage capacity as Important or Very Important, which led us to release our Managed Dedicated SAN offering . We heard you loud and clear on a number of others products and services, but some of them will take a bit longer before we can rollout, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, I wish we could get a little weather modification here before the summer heat really sets in.

- Urvish

Looking for a cool deal on servers? Welcome to the inaugural edition of my “Cool Deals” blog, where I’ll highlight the latest and greatest server deals and contests from The Planet. Who doesn’t love saving and winning money?!

We’ve just launched the unmetered bandwidth deal – truly one of the best deals ever on bandwidth. For just $50 per month, you can sign-up for unlimited access to a 10 Mb/s uplink with The Planet’s multiple Tier-1 providers. This pricing is only available until Tuesday, June 12, or while capacity is available. So sign-up soon for this stellar deal.

With The Planet’s “Peer Pressure” referral program, we pay YOU to refer your friends (pressure your peers, if you will) to sign-up for servers at The Planet. For every server purchased by your friends, you’ll be placed in a random drawing for a $500 American Express gift card.

The grand prize? The individual with the most referrals leasing a server with The Planet wins a $1,000 American Express card! And if you’re a generous friend, you’ll use that newly minted gift card to take your friends who leased a server from The Planet out to dinner. Now that’s a win-win situation.

Start the “Peer Pressure” soon. You have until September 3 to sign-up as many friends as possible. The grand and first prize winners will be announced on October 31, 2007.

Stop by again soon for another update from “Cool Deals” central.

- Katie