New, industry-specific 3.0 Web sites We are proud to announce the addition of 50 new, feature-rich, industry-specific templates. These templates have been created expressly for certain types of businesses and industries, with images and content optimized for that particular market. You can use these templates by selecting Version 3.0 on the Web site build form and choosing any one of the templates marked with an asterisk from the drop down menu. Many of our WebCenter licensees have told us that these improved templates have helped them sell more sites—some on the very first call! We're going to add many more industry-specific templates over the next couple of months, so keep checking back to see what new industries have been added!   Over the past few weeks, we have been receiving many calls from WebCenter licensees requesting appointments that are not available in the calendar. We understand that occasionally you may confirm an appointment with a prospect, only to find that the time they requested is no longer available in the Sales Calendar. In situations like this, there is nothing we can do but suggest that you call the prospect to reschedule, or check the Sales Calendar often to see if another WebCenter licensee cancels an appointment at that time. As much as we would like to accommodate last minute, call-in appointments, or even maintain a waiting list for appointments that cancel, we are not able to do so. Sales Support handles a high volume of calls and appointments, and we only have enough Product Specialists to cover the appointments in the Sales Calendar. The Sales Calendar gives you access to our online appointment database, so when there are no appointments available in the calendar, it means that all of our Product Specialists—including the manager—are busy conducting walkthroughs or are otherwise indisposed. We appreciate your cooperation in managing the Sales Calendar, and we will continue to do everything we can to help make your Web site business as successful as possible.   Site disk space now 500 MB Beginning November 6th, 2003, all Web sites will be able to use up to 500MB of storage space. This is 10 times larger than the current 50 MB—all at no additional charge! This makes the Web site solution package you offer an even better value for your customers, so please make sure to update your marketing materials to reflect this change.   Do you have a good sales or marketing tip? A story we can use to teach other WebCenter licensees? Any questions or problems you'd like to see covered in upcoming newsletters? We value your input, so please take the time to e-mail us at newsletter@mawebcenters.com, and please let us know how we can better meet your needs.

Demystifying Cheap Hosting How many times have you had a prospect or customer argue that your monthly hosting fee is way too high? Most of your prospects see those banner ads offering cheap, reliable hosting for only $7.95 a month, and expect to pay less than $10 for secure, dependable hosting service. There is a huge difference between quality hosting companies and cheap hosting companies. Here are a few interesting facts about those cheap hosting offers that your prospects and customers may not know. Cheap hosting companies are notorious for placing banner ads and pop up ads on the sites they host (whether or not the site owner wants them) Cheap hosting companies that offer unlimited storage and transfer capacity seldom mean "unlimited" Cheap hosting companies typically require you to sign long-term contracts or ask for the entire year's hosting fee up front Cheap hosting companies often charge extra to support some commonly used applications (like FrontPage) and databases on their servers Cheap hosting companies usually store Web sites on cheap servers in storage facilities that are not protected or secure Cheap hosting companies often have hidden backend costs for additional storage and higher traffic capacity Cheap hosting companies do not always own or control their servers Cheap hosting companies tend to host more sites than their storage and bandwidth capacities are able to support (they assume everyone will underutilize their storage and transfer capacity) Cheap hosting companies are often unable to support dynamic Web content like Flash or custom catalog pages Cheap hosting companies cannot provide guarantees that they will still be in business next month Cheap hosting companies seldom have sufficient staff to adequately maintain their servers Cheap hosting companies often host Web sites that consume large amounts of bandwidth (like adult sites) and affect the speed of other sites on the same servers Cheap hosting companies are known for charging exorbitant fees if you exceed their storage or bandwidth usage limits Cheap hosting companies rarely have a technical support number customers can call if they are having problems with their service Quality hosting companies that offer secure, top-of-the-line facilities and services do not compete with cheap, bargain basement hosting companies; they do not offer comparable services or support. Knowledgeable and informed Web site owners who take their online presence seriously demand reliable hosting and professional support—something cheap hosting companies cannot provide. The next time you have a prospect object to the hosting fee, take a couple of minutes to help them see what they really get for $7.95 a month. Once they have experienced our superior hosting and exceptional support, we're confident that they will agree that cheap hosting companies are not a viable alternative.