Web Host Spotlight: Register.com

Register.com got its beginnings in the domain name aftermarket ten years ago. Since then, the company has branched out into providing a whole host of services around registering and protecting domain names.

Weve started with domain names and all the sort of simple bells and whistles that go with them -- including stuff that nobody really talks about, like protection so you dont accidentally lose your domain name, said Monica Schulze-Hodges, general manager of Registers retail division. Its a renewal system that is much more robust than really all of our competitors have. In addition to automatic renewal, well also send you letters, and well call ... if they havent responded to our renewal notices.

It might seem a tad excessive, but Schulze-Hodges said that a small business domain name today is one of its most important assets.

We see that for small businesses, a domain name -- although its an inexpensive part of your business infrastructure -- its a critical part. And you dont want it go away.

But Register.com doesnt stop with domain names. Instead, the company is focusing on convincing small business owners that its the go-to source for services beyond simply registering a domain name -- and why they should pick Register.com

Its not about the product or the process -- its really about the service, about what you want to do, where do you want to go, Schulze-Hodges said.

Accordingly, Register.com offers a slew of hosting packages at varying price points, which are along the lines of upper-tier premium providers.

A basic brochureware Web hosting package starts at $14.95 per month and offers up to 50 MB of storage. A storefront-ready setup -- featuring EasyStoreMaker shopping cart software and 100 MB of disk space -- begins at $19.95 a month. More advanced e-commerce packages start at $34.95 per month, for 200 MB of disk space and EasyStoreMaker Pro.

The company also offers site creation tools. Users can design and maintain five-page Web sites using the companys WebSiteNow! do-it-yourself Web site building tool for $4.95 per month. A more advanced 20-page WebSiteNow!-based site begins at $14.95 monthly. Higher-end professional design services are also available.

WebSiteNow! is a do-it-yourself Web site product thats easy to use, very flexible, and [offers] as many different Web sites out there as there are customers, Schulze-Hodges said. It is template-based, and it gives a lot of flexibility in terms of what it looks like.

Our goal is to make tools that are easy enough for the least techie folks to use, she said. But if customers have questions, she adds that Register.com is eager to help.

What [customers] love is the service -- the patient, kind, helpful, one-hour phone call that was toll-free that someone just sat with them, she said. We dont charge -- so it doesnt get listed as a product component -- and yet, it is so central to what we do.

Schulze-Hodges added that with Registers hosting plans, You have the reliability of a big public company that is really thinking that an hour down is a bad thing. Lots of customers, hosting companies, make the claim of being really reliable. The fact that we are absolutely 100 percent reachable all the time, and we will go out of our way to solve a problem for you at three in the morning, is something that our customers really appreciate and we hear all the time.

In addition to hosting products and services, Register also offers add-on products. For instance, it sells personalized e-mail addresses.

A year, two years ago, theyd say My AOL address is just fine. now, it just doesnt cut it anymore to have my e-mail at AOL or Yahoo!, Schulze-Hodges said. I need to have something at my domain name.

On a related note, Register also offers search engine marketing and e-mail marketing tools -- the latter enabling customers to collect addresses on their site and market to them via newsletters. Register provides the collection technology, the newsletter templates and handles delivery.

Also on the marketing front, Register offers a basic Web site forwarding tool, useful for directing traffic from multiple Web sites -- such as those using misspellings of your brand name -- to your core online store.

Additionally, Register.coms efforts to branch out from its origins as a domain name pure-play are picking up speed.

Not long ago, the company debuted a new product for small businesses -- one unrelated to domains or Web sites at all.

For small businesses, the data is their life, Schulze-Hodges said. So we recently launched a service called Data Backup -- an automatic, behind-the-scenes service, that comes in during the night, day, whatever you prefer, looks at your files that are new, [and] sucks them up into a secure directory.

If users need to resurrect deleted or corrupted data, they can retrieve those files from Register.coms secure directory. Whats more, they can even access those files from the road -- useful while traveling or for consultants working remotely from a central office.

Thats our first big entry into the non-domain associated product. Now, were really focusing on what the small business owners need.

Despite the bevy of offerings, however, Schulze-Hodges said that Register.coms chief value remains focused around dependable customer service.

Were proud and confident of our ability to be helpful, she said. As a consumer, its the thing thats more important to be than anything else. Theres an ethic and a style were really proud of, and we invest in tremendously.

Christopher Saunders is managing editor of ECommerce-Guide.com.