WEB HOSTING BLOG

You are the head of marketing for a successful web hosting enterprise in America, providing a full range of services to your clients, from straightforward internet access to website design and layouts. Your boss has called you in to discuss a new challenge – he wants to take the company and its services to Europe, to take advantage of the growing European internet community and the opportunities it offers.

Your task is straightforward – draw up a marketing plan and budget for your company’s entry into the European market. You stand up and salute, promising to be back with the plans within forty-eight hours.

You head back to your cubicle, boot up your computer and start working – and within the first hour, you are tempted to call for an extension of your self-imposed deadline.

Understanding Europe

The first thing that comes to your attention is the sheer size and potential of the European market. Europe is composed of fifty-two countries (including Russia and various newly-formed republics from the former USSR) with a total population of nearly 700 million people. It has the second largest number of internet users in the world.

If you want to refine your plans a bit further, you may try thinking in terms of the European Union – which virtually reduces your market to twenty-seven countries, which comprise 60 percent of Europe’s total population but which account for 80 percent of Europe’s internet users – still a fair margin higher than total internet users of North America.

Even reducing your market parameters, however, would not prepare you for the sheer diversity of the European market. The European Union’s 27 countries, for example, speak a total of 23 languages (including Greek, Bulgarian, Maltese and Swedish), have different cultures and attitudes, have differing levels of economic prosperity, and have varying frequency and patterns of internet usage.

The European Challenge for the Web Hosting Industry

It is the sheer diversity of that creates the biggest challenge for a web hosting company planning to enter the field. No matter that web hosting in Europe and America share certain commonalities (e.g. same demands, channels and services), the sheer diversity of Europe (in terms of culture, economy, infrastructure, lifestyle, etc.) provides a major marketing challenge.

First off, it would be difficult to establish a single umbrella hosting enterprise; as said, different markets require different approaches. Having established that point, the question becomes which market do you target first – go after the advanced economies first (such as Britain, France and Germany) since they have the highest levels of internet penetration and use, or establish a presence in the mid- or small-sized economies (such as Belgium, Sweden and Poland), knowing that these countries will eventually have a formidable market presence themselves, and you were there first.

What kind of services will you offer? One suggestion is to go beyond providing basic hosting services such as internet access or web hosting. Consider offering other value-added services to your target consumers: web site and layout designing, web marketing and advertising, site optimization for search engines, and so on.

In the end, no matter how diverse the European market is, it will always boil down to the basics of marketing: identify your market, draw up a listing of service offerings (including value-added services the competition may not currently offer), and move in. Bear in mind, however, that the culture and approaches may be different from your past experience – having a local guide or partner may be a crucial first step.

Europe Hosting by Brontobytes

One of the most strongly-held beliefs in the internet community is that Europe is falling behind other countries or regions – especially the United States or Asia – when it comes to internet use. This may be true, or not, but do bear in mind that if you let this belief stop you, you may find yourself missing out on European internet-based business opportunities.

Europeans and the Internet

One of the most tossed-about statistics of internet usage is the “percentage of penetration” – or the percentage of the population which have access to the internet. Under this definition, North America (covering the United States and Canada) leads the pack with almost 70 percent of the population having access or using the internet – which is nearly double that of Europe’s 39 percent internet penetration.

What is often overlooked, however, is the actual numbers that these percentages represent. North America’s 70 percent internet usage may seem huge – but it applies to a population of 335 million people and thereby translates to 232 million internet users. Europe’s 39 percent penetration, on the other hand, applies to a population of 809 million (more than double that of North America) which means that there are around 313 million Europeans who use the internet. Simply put, there are 81 million more Europeans than North Americans who use the internet.

Admittedly, however, Europeans may seem to be more backward than North Americans in the uses they make of the internet – but this may be more a function of available technology than anything else. Recent studies show that in one week, Europeans spend an average of four hours in the internet, while Americans typically spend around triple that amount of time.

Observers note, however, that this may be due to the fact that broadband connections are more widespread in the United States than in Europe; Europeans with broadband connections spend some seven hours a week surfing, compared to their counterparts with dialup connections who allocate two hours a week on the internet.

These same observers point out, however, that the situation will change rapidly, as European broadband connectivity increases and more people get online. This implies a market larger than North America.

Web Hosting Opportunities in Europe

The large European internet market potential opens up a wide range of opportunities for web hosting enterprises, especially those with knowledge or expertise in the nuances of e-commerce.

A few years ago, most of the European web hosting enterprises were primarily ISPs (Internet Service Providers) or operators of public telephony services. In effect, the primary web hosting model used in Europe was co-location (which offers only data ‘space’ and assured internet connectivity) as opposed to the hosting model where the web hosting provider is responsible for supplying the servers as well as managing these on behalf of customers.

The latter web hosting model is the most conducive model in e-commerce activities, with the web host offering not only space and connectivity but also insights on design and layouts, web marketing and advertising, search engine optimization, and even e-commerce software.

Web hosting in Europe faces its own unique challenges, however, most especially the diversity of countries, languages and cultures in the region – to say nothing of the different economies (ranging from developed nations like Britain, France and Germany to the ‘emerging economies’ of Latvia, Slovenia and Estonia.

It presents an interesting challenge – providing web hosting services to a region with a growing consumer base, wide access to the internet, and divergent languages, cultures and economies.

Europe Hosting by Brontobytes