Recession and the Web Industry

[Ian Cruz]

Hi guys, was interested in knowing the impact that the on going recession has had on the web industry in general. Would be great if you guys could share your personal experiences, articles, statistics etc.

From what I've been reading, the general opinion has been that the web industry remains unaffected. Would also like to look at it form a country perspective, as in, certain countries seem to be less affected.

[bob]

I hope the impact is time being, this is the best time to do creative work.

[Ian Cruz]

Hi guys... here are some of the articles, I've been reading.


Taken form DomainInformer.com

The latest Domain Name Industry Brief published by internet infrastructure services provider VeriSign shows that the domain name industry has closed 2007 with a total of 177 million domain name registrations worldwide across all of the Top Level Domain Names (TLD). It marks a growth of 16 percent over the previous year.

But while more than 10.1 million new domain names were registered across all of the TLDs in the last quarter of 2008, this represented a decline of 12 percent from the third quarter 2008 and 17 percent from the same quarter in the previous year. According to VeriSign spokesman Tom Galvin the slower growth in new registrations is a reflection of the recession’s impact.

New Registration Growth
The TLDs with the most registrations are .com, .cn (China), .de (Germany), .net, .org, .uk, .info, .nl (The Netherlands), .eu (European Union), and .biz. Among the top 25 largest ccTLDs, .ru (Russian Federation) is the fastest growing domain extension with 11 percent growth quarter over quarter, followed by .cn with 8 percent growth.


The renewal rate for .com and .net domain names for third quarter is approximately 72 percent. According to VeriSign, the struggling domain name parking industry and the changes in earnings per click are among the main reasons for the lower renewal rate. However, the renewal rate for traditional registrations also declines slightly in the third quarter.

The report also spotlights how VeriSign and other enterprises in the global internet community are trying to help people speaking different languages to navigate the internet. This is an important issue as Internet usage is growing fast in countries where the primary language is neither English nor other Latin-based language.

A "universally accessible internet" is a possibility, "but it must be done right," says Jill McNabb, vice president of naming services at VeriSign.

Tobias Wann, European leader of domain name services at VeriSign, explained that the creation of Internationalised Domain Names (IDNs) will surely trigger more growth in the future.

[Ian Cruz]

You may also have a look at Verisigns latest report at: http://www.verisign.com/static/044518.pdf

[Ian Cruz]

Would love for some healthy discussion on how the recession has affected the following:

1. Has the number of new customers gone up or down in the last few months.
2. Has your sales (Domains, Web Hosting, Digi Certs etc) gone up or down
3. What about renewals ?
4. Have you increased or decreased your marketing efforts
5. Are you offering any promos

Although the above articles states, that domain numbers are down, there are quite a few other sources that claim that the web industry remains unaffected... would love to hear your take on the ongoing recession and what you are doing to fight it. If you have any other take on the current slump do share your views.

[RH1]

Well people already wanted everything for the price of nothing - so really it doesnt effect anything cause they still want everything for nothing

[rumsfo]

I assume that recession take place in all spheres and in the web hosting as well.

[ItsJustHosting]

It has slowed things down in this industry like all others.

[~ServerPoint~]

Well people already wanted everything for the price of nothing - so really it doesnt effect anything cause they still want everything for nothing

That is very well said here. The problem is: some web hosts give them what they want and scam them and then we have tons of negative reviews here

[thewebhostingdi]

Yes, recession take place in web hosting business as well. However, to fulfill tough economic times, many web hosting companies have started providing promos, so people can save money as much as possible.

[Natcoweb.com]

Would love for some healthy discussion on how the recession has affected the following:

1. Has the number of new customers gone up or down in the last few months.
2. Has your sales (Domains, Web Hosting, Digi Certs etc) gone up or down
3. What about renewals ?
4. Have you increased or decreased your marketing efforts
5. Are you offering any promos

We are keeping our marketing efforts on the same level, with even more investments into the colocation and dedicated hosting projects, we have even gone further and launched shared hosting plans.
We are currently running two promos:
- for colocation hosting - Free setup + first month for free for 1U, 10U, 20U and 42U space.
- for dedicated hosting - 40%Off Dedicated server deals.

[~ServerPoint~]

You started offer more promotions... And I believe a lot of web hosting companies as well

[TurnKeyInternet]

Hi guys, was interested in knowing the impact that the on going recession has had on the web industry in general. Would be great if you guys could share your personal experiences, articles, statistics etc.

From what I've been reading, the general opinion has been that the web industry remains unaffected. Would also like to look at it form a country perspective, as in, certain countries seem to be less affected.

What it comes down to at the end of the day is, there are fewer customers. This is especially true in the business market. We have seen a shrink in new spending and we have seen businesses closing up or looking to spend less. The budget industry has received a big bump, I am sure of, from this slow down.

[arslan220]

i think web industry is effected by recession also i think so.

[ling0505]

That is very well said here. The problem is: some web hosts give them what they want and scam them and then we have tons of negative reviews here

yes~ in here i have learned a lot of knowledge ~