Our exclusive research data will help you position and sell web hosting to new clients and convert more customers. All our research has been conducted amongst representative samples of the UK population and can be applied to the entire country with a high degree of confidence (we would expect the same results 95% of the time).

Do people know what web hosting is?

The web hosting industry has long searched for a more consumer friendly term to describe itself, with limited success. Our research has found that 61% of the UK do not know what web hosting is. With over 4.4 million active websites currently hosted in the UK (as reported by Netcraft) and over 10 million .UK domain names registered with Nominet, the results of our survey suggest that whilst the demand for owning a personal website is healthy, web hosting still remains a niche technical product.

Web hosting isn’t a mainstream consumer product yet, and we need to be careful that we use the right language and channels to reach them. For example, when selling to people building their first website we should not be using technical terms such as bandwidth or MySQL databases. Instead we need to inform them about the personal benefits of using our product, and how it will help them achieve their goal of building a successful website.

These findings tally with further research we conducted in to the reasons why people don’t have their own website…

Why don’t people have their own website?

83.7% of the UK adult population do not currently have their own website, with the main reasons given being:

• I don’t need my own website: 81.5%

• It is too complicated: 8.3%

• It is too expensive: 6.4%

• I don’t know how to get started: 3.8%

As professionals who work with web hosting and websites every day we know that everyone should have their own website, how easy it is to do and how cheap it is. Your challenge is to overcome these misconceptions and provide clear information why they are wrong.

Reason	Counter-argument
I don’t need my own website	Everyone should have their own website, from small businesses to personal users. Examples include online CVs, blogs, family albums, sharing photos and ideas, forums and hobby websites.
It is too complicated	Creating your own website has never been easier thanks to the easy to use control panels that come with shared hosting and WYSIWYG tools.
It is too expensive	Web hosting prices start from as low as £2.49 per month which is cheaper than a pint of beer or a cup of coffee.
I don’t know how to get started	I can help you get started!

What is the most important factor when choosing a web host?

When someone is researching a web hosting company which of price, reputation geographic location, technical specifications or customer support are most important? With this information you can lead with the key factors when you write your website and advertising copy.

• Price: 34.8%

• Reputation: 25.6%

• Customer support: 15.6%

• Technical specifications (e.g. web space): 14.4%

• Geographic location (e.g. UK) 9.6%

The results also show the importance of proactively managing your reputation online. Key information to share with prospects includes customer testimonials/ quotes, case studies, links to 3^rd party review websites, awards and positive social media comments.