Archive for January, 2005
· January 31, 2005 at 3:00 pm · Odds & Ends
I like to keep an eye on some of the larger forums and message boards who’s subjects are about Web hosting. Some might call it lurking, others might just call it creepy. How else am I going to find topics that people are interested in though? One subject that has always gotten my attention since day one of my Web hosting lifestyle is the fight between rude people and nice people. I’m not talking about the battle in a general sense, but how it compares when a Web hosting support person is dealing with them. Yes, even in Web hosting you still have to put up with rude customers.
Not many folks know that I spent some time as a cook in a fast food restaurant back when I was in high school. When flipping burgers like I could only do, on occasion I’d get somebody coming around the counter to tell me some bad news. No, my dog hadn’t died and all my toes were still there. What they told me could have hurt as much though. They said their burger wasn’t right. How was this? I always paid attention, I never slip!
Well, almost never. On the occasion when I did have a slip up I was always hopping it was a nice person I was dealing with. I’d rather deal with the person who just says, “Could you please do this over?” rather than the guy who tosses the meat patty in my face and asks for his money back. The same could be said about Web hosting.
When your on the front lines of Web hosting support, you can sometimes get ten or twenty questions coming at you at once. You have to be ready with answers in one and coffee in the other. Knock them down, and get them quality answers as quickly as possible. Now lets say you forgot to pay your Web hosting bill, and your account has become suspended. Who are you going to go to first? That Web hosting support person on the front line.
Being nice to him will help you get the work done faster than yelling at him and asking why they took your Web site away. Yelling and being mean doesn’t only stress you out, but it stresses your support person out as well. Stress plus twenty other questions coming at you at the same time doesn’t make for productive work. It makes for sloppy work. On the other hand, if you are nice and well mannered then you are an easier person to talk to, and an easier person to work with. Hence, no screaming equals a better job.
All customers are suppose to be created equal though right? Yes, this is true. However, there are some folks that will never be happy, no mater what you tell them. I used to like to call these folks the customers from Hell. Human nature tells you that you are going to get along better with the nice person than the mean one. You can try your best to get along with the mean one, but most of the time it just is not going to cut it.
So what can be learned? I’ve been in both positions, both as the support person and the person in distress. From my perspective, I always try to be nice to these people. I know about the long hours and little respect. It can get you down sometimes. From time to time though, you can get that little message from a grateful customer that makes it all seem right though. That is the reason I’m still in the Web hosting world myself. What is that magical little phrase? You would be surprised how far a well placed “Thank you” can go.
· January 30, 2005 at 10:30 pm · Odds & Ends
With this being my 100th post on Mitchelaneous, I figured I should do something special. So here it is! Take two, or beta two of my Web hosting radio show. I cover a few headlines, a few ideas, a few things that are going down in my own professional life as well. The unofficial voice of Web hosting? You be the judge!
Click here to download this week’s show! (730 KB)
This week I have also included, an almost correct transcript of the show. For those out there who may not be able to listen to the show like you and me. Thanks goes to Meka for the wonderful suggestion. Pass the link around to your friends and as always, feel free to give me your comments, suggestions, feedback and more!
Radio Show’s Transcript:
Hello, I am Mitch Keeler, the unofficial voice of this Web hosting broadcast. I am here to talk about one thing, and one thing only… the wild and wacky world of Web hosting. If you have any thoughts, suggestions, comments or feedback on the show please send them to mitch@mitchkeeler.com
Is it true that a Web hosting company would be giving away their product? Now I usually stay away from junk like this, because that’s what it is, junk. Well this time around I could be wrong. Why? The name behind it is 1&1 Web Hosting. One of the world’s largest Web hosting companies. Technically you are only getting a test drive account, but still six months of free Web hosting is something worth looking into.
If we have any Web hosting companies out there listening, Go ahead and cut your domain name prices! It looks like everybody else is! Netcraft is reporting that Yahoo plans on keeping their $4.98 domain name prices for a little longer. The price that was supposed to go back up at the end of December, is now running till February 8.
The issue of Ping! Zine (a Web Hosting magazine) that I have an article featured in, should in my hands in a few weeks. I’m currently working on a new article for the next Ping! Zine issue right now. By next week sometime I should have a little more information on my Web hosting book I finished up a few weeks ago. I can’t wait to get this thing out to the public as soon as I can to hear what people have to say about it.
I have two interviews coming up next week sometime with two movers and shakers in the Web hosting world. Jonathan, from the Startup Blog and Pinny from BrowseHosts have agreed to answer a few of my toughest Web hosting questions. Both should be fun to talk to, and make for some interesting reading for all of you.
From the feedback I have received so far, I really think there is an audience for a Web hosting radio show out there. In the next few weeks I might shop the idea around to a few bigger folks in the Web hosting world to see if anybody is interested in picking this idea up and running with it. Well, that is as long as they keep me around for the ride…if they don’t keep me, then they don’t get to keep my idea. Ha!
Well that is it for this week. Please keep sending me your comments, feedback, suggestions and ideas to mitch@mitchkeeler.com. If your listening to this on my blog, then please feel free to leave a comment or two as well. This has been your weekly dose with Web hosting’s voice, I am Mitch Keeler.
· January 29, 2005 at 9:11 pm · Odds & Ends
Alright I am done messing around with my blog’s layout for now. Let me know how you like it! Tomorrow I am going to do a new audio entry/radio show, so if you have any ideas, topics or suggestions for things I should talk about let me know! Next week I’m going to be pretty busy, so I want to make sure I get this out of the way while I still have the time. Also tomorrow’s post will be my 100 entry on Mitchelaneous! A special event indeed! Well, special for me anyways.
· January 28, 2005 at 7:16 pm · Odds & Ends
I’m going to be doing some layout tweaking this weekend. So if things look a little funny over the next few days, don’t fear! By Monday, everything should be back to normal!
· January 28, 2005 at 4:38 pm · Odds & Ends
I have gotten tons of feedback about my first attempt at doing an audio entry, podcast, mitchcast.. whatever it is you want to call it. I’ll probably be giving it a second try sometime next week, so stay tuned for that. If things go well enough with it, I might look to get it hosted on a different Web site, or maybe shop around for a sponsor for it.
Maybe only having one audio entry up (for that week) then after that, I could archive them by transcripts of the show. What do you think about that? My only concern is the amount of space and bandwidth hosting too many of these audio files might take up for me, so after a couple of more shots I might be looking for a more permanent arrangement. I’ll also be working on a name, and some audio tweaking to make sure I get it low enough on file size but high enough on quality.
· January 28, 2005 at 3:38 pm · Odds & Ends
As you could probably tell from my rant a few weeks back, I have given thought about setting up ads on both my blog and my official Web site for some time now. After a few failed attempts in the past, I think I have finally found a winner with AdBrite. Got to thank Matt, since he was the one who suggested them to me after my last try at delivering ads on this Web site.
I have tried everything from Google to Blogads, but so far AdBrite has delivered more of a return than either one of those combined. Why the ads? Well, as the costs and demand goes up, Mitch needs to cover his proverbial backside. So many thanks to the sponsors I have gotten so far, and hopefully this will work out best for all of us!
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