I drift back and forth from the real world to the hosting world all the time. I don’t think that is what Greg Pruitt had in mind when starting Drift 2 Hosting. I recently had a chance to talk to him about Drift 2 Hosting as a hosting experience, as well as a few topics about the hosting industry itself. There are a lot of players in the Web hosting game, but Greg always seems to go out of his way to help out others around him. If he brings this dedication to his customer base, I can see why Drift 2 Hosting has become so successful.

How hard is it to get your face out there and get your products known in the Web hosting industry today?

Greg: The web hosting industry is very competitive, there are many web hosting companies out there. Anymore anyone with some money to spend can start a web hosting company. With us alone you can get a private label reseller hosting account and start a hosting company for about $50 or less. Since most hosting companies have reseller hosting plans there are many web hosting companies out there, and we are all fighting for good keyword ranking and adverting spots in a highly saturated market.

Keyword bids are very high and advertising costs for the hosting industry are very high. Also with the competition of advertising is the competition of best value plans. All the big companies, aka the big boys, are increasing plan sizes to extreme amounts. This is a never-ending battle; no one is going to buy from host A if host B has more resources for the same price. This is why we are again increasing our plans at Drift2 Hosting. It’s the only way to compete with the larger companies. I would like to believe that superior support and service would out rule the vast amounts of resources, but on paper people want more bang for their buck.

What do you believe that Drift2 Hosting provides that customers can’t get anywhere else?

Greg: To be honest in this competitive market you should be able to find everything we offer from another host. However, you won’t find the dedication to provide you with the best possible hosting solution that we can offer. We are not a large company so we cherish every client like they are our only client. We can’t always compete with the big companies so we strive for customer satisfaction.

What are some of the daily stresses that you have to live through while running a Web hosting company?

Greg: The biggest stress I have is making sure that everything is running right and that there are no problems. My biggest fears are DOS attacks, spammers, phishing, site and possible server failures. These are all things that can hurt the overall hosting experience for our clients, and our number one concern is customer satisfaction. There is also the stressful process of getting our company noticed in the industry.

Do you see the Web hosting community as being one that interacts with everything or as one that lives in it’s own bubble?

Greg: I think the hosting industry has a hand in a lot of things. There are many aspects of the industry – there are the hardware vendors, software vendors, communication vendors, all the technical support, advertising marketing, and of course we have to be in touch with our clients, which consist of businesses, big or small, people, nonprofit organizations and more.

Do you have any new features or innovations planned for down the line as far as Drift2 Hosting goes?

Greg: Yes, we are currently waiting for the newest version of the Hsphere control panel to come out. This new version of Hsphere will make it easier to run the hosting company, which in return will give us more time to help our clients and to improve the overall hosting experience. Also, with the new version of Hsphere we will be able to offer MS Exchange Hosting, and the control panel will allow us to sell and manage dedicated servers. In addition to this new version of Hsphere we are planning on added Windows hosting, video and audio streaming, MS Exchange hosting, dedicated servers, cold fusion hosting, and VPS hosting.

What is your opinion of The Web Hosting Show and WHIR TV, as far as new mediums to get Web hosting content out to people?

Greg: I love the Web Hosting Show and WHIR TV, this is one of the best things to come about in the industry. This is a great way to learn the ins and outs of what’s going on in the web hosting industry. I really like the fact that a lot of resources and hosting companies are talked about; this allows us to find out about different products and news of the industry. I can’t tell you how many times that I have gone and looked up something mentioned on the Web Hosting Show. This is a great thing for the hosting industry and I recommend everyone to keep up on both of these great shows.

In what areas would you like to see the world of Web hosting change, and why?

Greg: Well I’m going to go on a personal idea and opinion for this one. I would love to see Apple create web hosting servers with its own control panel. If they made the control panel as well as they made their operating system they would have the best control panel in the industry. It would be very stable and very user friendly.

What are your thoughts about the hosting industry’s annual conference, HostingCon?

Greg: I really would love to attend this event. It is a must for all members of the hosting industry. This is where you can talk and meet all your competition, meet vendors, and make friends and possible new clients and/or partnerships. In the hosting industry we like to communicate over the web and we hardly ever see any of the people involved. With this event you will actually get to meet and shake the hand of the person.

What does the Web hosting industry need to make itself better?

Greg: The web hosting industry just needs us to continue our progress of improving the hosting experience by making hosting more user-friendlier hosting, and providing quality support.

Any final thoughts you might want to get across or share?

Greg: On a final note I just would like to thank Mitch for interviewing me and for the great show he provides.

In the first part of this interview with Pinny of BrowseHosts I was able to get the perspective on other Web hosting directories and the Web hosting world in general. Pinny is truly an innovator in a business that needs a few more idea folks running around.

Mitch: Earlier I noted that you have expanded into some other areas of Web hosting. What are some of the bigger projects you are looking forward to rolling out in 2005?

Pinny: Well, Mitch… I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you. No, we aren’t that secretive about our projects, but we do maintain some level of surprise to keep the competition on its toes. I will say however we are in the midst of adding four sites to our network that will greatly expand our market share in the hosting industry, as well as give us rights to plenty of content. We have also been seeking ways of refining our existing properties by adding features, such as your well-written articles, and integrating several sites for added continuity.

Mitch: What does it take to be a real voice in the world of Web hosting? With so many voices, and so many people wanting to be heard do you find it hard to let people know how established you are in the business?

Pinny: I believe the voice needs to be consistent, unbiased and unrelenting on honesty in the industry. The hosting industry needs more people who are committed to making it great, instead of just seeking a few quick bucks. We have been able to let people know how established we are by sending our current member base newsletters each time we have some new features or great news for them. This keeps the buzz going, and has gotten us MANY word of mouth referrals.

Mitch: Where do you see the state of the Web hosting industry in the next two to three years?

Pinny: It was my prediction in August 2002 that we would see a feverish dash by the hosting industry through the mid to late 2005. By that time I assumed that all of the customers who had been left stranded by the fall of many large hosting companies would have settled into their semi-permanent hosting homes. While the hosting industry will be big for the foreseeable future, due to increased interest in e-commerce and the internet as a learning tool, I don’t think that some of the same opportunities that we have seen in the last three years will exist past that point. But then again, I’m confident that new opportunities will form during that time.

Mitch: Do you think people are too picky when it comes to choosing a Web host, or not picky enough? If so, either way, why?

Pinny: I don’t believe most people are picky enough when choosing a host. It is very easy nowadays to throw up a “hosting site”, bid on hosting phrases in Google Ad Words, and get yourself a “hosting company”. Regrettably, that is something I don’t think the general public understands yet. I won’t go into too much detail here about how to find the right host, because you have written some excellent articles on it, and that would be like bringing coals to Newcastle.

Mitch: With both blogs and podcasting rising in popularity Online, how do you think the Web hosting industry will or should change to meet the demand of the people?

Pinny: We are seeing an increase in hosting sites that offer plans tailored to image hosting, so I see no reason why we shouldn’t expect mainstream hosting to pick up blog hosting or podcast streaming and run with it. It might take a bit more time for them to feel it is profitable, but it will surely show up as these two forms of expression grow in popularity.

Mitch: Such as BrowseHosts is with the world of Web hosting directories, what areas of the Web hosting industry would you like to establish yourself as a leader?

Pinny: I have always been a customer first and a business owner second. What this means is with each business decision I make, I try to envision what it will actually do for my current or future customers first. Then I try to find a way to make it profitable. Top notch customer service is something you don’t see often in today’s world, and especially in certain areas of the hosting industry. At BrowseHosts, we practice it every day. On a final note, I hope I haven’t painted the hosting industry in a negative light.

There are many hosts (some of whom I speak with every day) that are honest, work hard, and try to offer the best service they can. We generally don’t hear much from them, and often they don’t get nearly enough recognition, but they definitely deserve it. After all, it’s hard to be competitive while being ethical in an industry where it is so easy to get away with dishonesty.

I’d like to thank Pinny for taking time out to have a few words with me. If you have any feedback, comments, suggestions or ideas make sure you send them my way. Also, be sure to go visit BrowseHosts.com as well as the BrowseHosts Forums. Tell ‘em Mitch sent you!

Nobody can say that BrowseHosts.com isn’t one of the top spots to check when looking for a new Web host. They have listing upon listing of good, solid information that anybody could gain from. Not many people know that the person behind the work is Pinny. Pinny is one of the nicest Web hosting professionals I have met to date. After becoming a regular on the BrowseHosts forums, Pinny was always one to welcome my ideas with open arms. Pinny has done a lot for the world of Web hosting. When the chance to interview somebody came up, I couldn’t think of a better person to talk to than Pinny.

Mitch: Pinny, you have your fingers in a lot of the Web Hosting world’s proverbial pies. I believe BrowseHosts has become your most successful venture to date though. What is it that has made BrowseHosts so successful?

Pinny: Good day, Mitch. First of all, I’d like to thank you for choosing me for this interview. It’s quite an honor, considering your past content. BrowseHosts.com has become our most successful venture mostly because of the investment in the site, both in terms of time and money.

We have always tried to stay a step ahead of the pack with what we offer the Web hosts. I think our site was put up shortly before the large multitude of “turnkey” directories, and we profited greatly from beating them into the market. It was easier for us to be taken seriously before those sites cluttered the market with redundancy. Additionally, our popular forum, which has a non-hostile environment to it, attracts some of the most decent folks in the hosting industry. This has translated into rapid growth as word gets out.

Mitch: There are a lot of Web hosting directories out there today. What makes BrowseHosts so different?

Pinny: Yes, Mitch- there certainly ARE many hosting directories out there. What makes BrowseHosts so different is that we offer everything the other directories are afraid to offer: Full reporting for the pay per click listings, and great incentives to deposit. We have over 1,000 hosts currently registered in the PPC system, ranging from your “next door neighbor” all the way up to the “industry leaders”.

We have served out over 75,000 hosting leads since we started out in August of 2002. And I don’t want to forget that we offer a 100 percent Anti-Fraud guarantee, something which other PPCs have been slow to offer. Our largest difference is that we have our hosts’ listings being displayed on 25-30 of the highest quality webmaster/hosting related sites on the net. We have been able to make strategic partnerships with such great sites as WebHostGear.com, HostLead.com, and WebDesignHelper.co.uk- thereby allowing our hosts to get a very wide range of exposure for the same low price, while administrating the listings from one convenient control panel.

Mitch: Would you consider the competition in the Web hosting world these days to be good or bad? Are there too many hosts or not enough?

Pinny: I think there are many positive results that come out of this specific competition as well as many negative aspects. The good that comes out of this is that the larger or more effective hosts are forced to provide low prices and this is great for the customer. However, there are a fair share of hosts out there who have either very little or not enough knowledge about that which they are selling. This results in many customers not getting the support they deserve. I know of many webmasters and business owners who are very turned off from the hosting industry because of that. It reflects badly on the rest of the hosts, making their efforts less realized.

In each industry, we have forms of “self-policing” that are run by the industry leaders. For example, in the medicinal field, we have the American Medical Association (AMA); in the legal field we have the American Bar Association, and so on. Unfortunately, in the hosting industry, we don’t really have much self-policing. Whether it is because of a lack of initiative or because of difficulty monitoring an online field, we have too much lawlessness going around. There aren’t enough standards that are set.

This is a major hurdle the hosting industry needs to overcome if it is to last. The fact of the matter is that 95 percent of webmasters don’t understand a thing about hosting. They get overwhelmed by hundreds of different features hosts offer and seemingly minute differences between each host. I believe a way to fix this is to create some form of self-policing by the industry, to deter scam artists as well as promote certain ethical standards.

Mitch: The BrowseHosts forums have become an important part of the BrowseHosts Web site. Do you feel like the addition of the forums as helped you build a bigger sense of community?

Pinny: Yes, we have definitely been able to grow due to our forum’s success. We gambled by not making a separate forum and PPC service and ended up winning big. Most of the successful forums out there today have been just that- only forums. We have been able to bring a community feel to our company through our forum, leading to more brand recognition and customer trust than would have been possible through divergent sites.

Mitch: Earlier I noted that you have expanded into some other areas of Web hosting. What are some of the bigger projects you are looking forward to rolling out in 2005?

That is it for part one of this interview with Pinny. Be sure to stay tuned for the second half of this conversation with a real leader in the Web hosting community.