Different industries were greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic in very different ways. For instance, large businesses adapted corporate IT requirements to a new distributed workforce. Simultaneously, medium-sized businesses either increased their reliance on antiquated remote collaboration tools or made their first cloud migration.
Depending on their sector, small businesses adjusted, but the pandemic also encouraged people to start side gigs or online hobbies on their own.
A large number of those enthusiasts used services like ASPHostPortal to create their online identity.
ASPHostPortal VP Marketing Dean observed, “It seems like we got more of those folks who finally had the time to dive into stuff for their side projects.”
ASPHostPortal specializes in low-cost hosting. The company provides a range of virtual private server options in addition to shared, semi-dedicated, and reseller hosting packages.
With pricing points as low as $1.00 per month, the company’s array of services draws in a lot of side giggers, small companies, and internet enthusiasts. Additionally, packages provide user-friendly control panels and don’t always need highly technical knowledge to deploy tools, such as WordPress. During the pandemic, ASPHostPortal observed an increase in that consumer segment.
According to Dean, “people started searching for more hobby sites at that point.” “They were able to start working on those projects at last. Perhaps they discovered that they had more free time but no community. As a result, the type of hobbyist signups increased. And because our prices are reasonable, a large portion of our clientele comes from that.
Price Shifts Have Upended the Market for Shared Hosting
A significant update to Plesk’s pricing model set off a chain reaction of upstream disruptions that have made pricing in the budget shared-hosting space difficult. Because Plesk, a control panel for shared hosting accounts, was feature-rich, user-friendly, and reasonably priced, many providers used it. After that, Plesk implemented per-server account limits, which significantly raised prices for providers who crammed a single server with a lot of hosting clients.
Dean declared, “I believe that anyone who said that had no effect on them is lying.” simply due to how significant the price adjustments were. It is not surprising that we are now seeing that with WHMCS management consoles as well.
Providers recovered from their losses in various ways as they weathered the storm. While some stopped using Plesk, others raised their prices, frequently dramatically. That portended the end of the days of extremely cheap hosting, especially for those who ran high server densities. However, ASPHostPortal adjusted to the price adjustments for the control panel with comparatively little difficulty.
According to Dean, sharing is not possible with our semi-dedicated and shared hosting plans. “Those prices were unaffected. However, because our reseller plans incurred the greatest loss based on account totals, some plans were reorganized so that we would have to absorb the costs without affecting them. We therefore had to slightly modify our reseller plans and remove the total number of Plesk accounts that we provide. Thus, while we didn’t raise prices, we did have to modify our original plan. It didn’t seem to have much of an effect on either current or potential customers.
Small enterprises and hobbyists who aren’t involved in the resale of web services have benefited greatly from ASPHostPortal’s ability to maintain pricing stability while maintaining the same plans. And the business continued to live up to its promise to offer top-notch assistance.
Customer Service Makes a Difference in the Market
Ask anyone who has ever used a cheap host that crammed hundreds of accounts onto a single, underpowered server—many of these hosts take short cuts. Businesses that use that kind of revenue-maximization tactics seldom give quality and customer service enough thought to return calls and emails.
Above-and-beyond support models are a key differentiator in the market today.
Dean expressed his sincere belief that the quality of hosting and support provided is exceptional considering the price paid. “We have been making infrastructure improvements. Furthermore, we haven’t raised any of our prices. As a result, clients only pay a few dollars each month, and we consistently achieve 100% uptime. Therefore, if there’s anything that makes us stand out, it’s that we think we provide clients with superior quality and support for the money they pay us.
The migration from bare metal servers to cloud solutions, which are less costly and simpler to scale and manage, has been the main focus of ASPHostPortal’s infrastructure investments. Numerous hosting companies continue to rely on racks of on-site hardware, which comes with expenses for silicon and engineers to keep everything operational. ASPHostPortal uses cloud-powered solutions to provide customers with an improved experience at a reduced cost.
Having worked in the industry for over 15 years, Dean claims to have witnessed a significant shift in client expectations.
“What clients expect from shared hosting support has changed so drastically in that time,” he stated. Many hosts have a tendency to be hands-off, so I think we’ve done a fantastic job of maintaining that. Whether it involves updating PHP versions or offering assistance with code debugging, we handle all types of tickets promptly and considerately.
ASPHostPortal: Affordable Hosting with Extensive Support
The number of hobbyists hosting clients during the pandemic has increased, according to ASPHostPortal. With Plesk and other major upstream hosting players raising prices, the company caused significant disruptions to the hosting industry, which it was ill-prepared to handle in addition to the pandemic.
ASPHostPortal’s support model is another way it benefits clients. Senior executives of the company are seasoned veterans of the shared, semi-shared, and private hosting sectors, so they are aware of the changing needs of these clients. The group puts a high priority on customer service and takes on issues that other suppliers might write off as being outside of their purview.
ASPHostPortal’s next project involves carrying out its cloud evolution.
“Basically, the largest project over the past few years has been moving from a bare metal approach to creating and hosting our own cloud base.”
Combining inexpensive hosting with an excellent customer service strategy allows hobbyists and small enterprises to take a calculated risk at a reasonable price. ASPHostPortal is a well-established company with a cloud-focused infrastructure that will last for a very long time.
Dean stated, “Being employed at ASPHostPortal since 2009, it’s just a way of life for me and my two other partners, the company’s co-founders.” “We enjoy what we do.”
