Gone are the days where web hosting remained an elusive commodity owned by a select few companies on the internet. In today’s age of DIY everything, it’s no surprise that some of the larger hosting companies are finding themselves in stiff competition with their peers over a rapidly diminishing pool of clients and future customers. In fact, it’s common knowledge now that providing hosting alone just “isn’t enough.” If you take a look around major hosting providers, such as GoDaddy, you’ll see exactly how far these companies are going to ensure that you remain loyal and paying. In addition to your snippet of web hosting, you’ll be lavished with a wide range of tools and features, including publishing and content management systems (CMS) such as Joomla, WordPress, and Drupal, to e-commerce and more.
Complicating the matter further are services such as Wix, which offer a “one-stop” approach to website building, allow users to forego the typical arrangements required for creating a seamless integration between hosting provider and website and allowing them to build “beautiful” products “right away.” Although services such as Wix are obviously geared towards a marketplace of individuals and small businesses, large-scale hosting providers must pay attention to these trends. Web hosting, like web design, is now widely available to the masses, and this can pose a threat to those who once held a firm grip on the internet’s most valuable resources.
As more and more small-scale hosting companies are partnering with equally compact web design services, it seems that, at least for now, symbiosis has been achieved. Whether it is here to last, however, is another matter entirely. Only time will tell if these monoliths of the internet will remain in control. The chances are good that, regardless of who ends up on top, we’re all in for a wild ride.
The internet remains an ever-evolving frontier, and it only makes sense that the cut and dry logistics of this arena should be equally dynamic. For the consumer, the end result will always seem to be a “step in the right direction.” Behind this pleasant facade, however, is a fiercely competitive arena where key players must constantly think on their feet in order to survive.
