With over 100 hosting partners and more than 2m published sites, BaseKit has gained wide experience of what works and what doesn’t when hosting companies partner with site builders. We look at what’s worked in the past and what’s likely to work in the future as the industry adapts to the changing need of it’s customers. This presentation was first given at WHD 2015.

1. SECRETS OF
SUCCESSFUL
SITE BUILDING
PARTNERSHIPS
Gordon Plant

2. Do you remember your first date?
Do you remember the excitement?
The Anticipation?
Maybe it turned out well, maybe
not so well but either way you can
probably remember it.

3. Mature hosting company seeks young
SMB for long term relationship. Must
have computer and enjoy reading help
docs. Sense of humour essential.
No mobiles.
DESPERATLY SEEKING SMB
What would happen if
you were dating a
hosting company?
What would a dating
advert for hosting
company look like?
Actually most
hosting companies
really are trying to
find customers for
a first date.
And that takes us
to secret #1…

4. Secret #1
Onboarding is like a first date

5. 5
First dates
have many
uncertainties
Will this be the start of something beautiful?
Or will you need to keep looking?
Do you have what each other are seeking?
Or is it going to get complicated?

6. 6
First date tips
• Keep it simple
• Get the site builder
Talk site builder early – show that site building
is an integral part of buying a domain
No jargon and no questions that
can’t be answered from memory
right up front

7. 7
Avoid tears
Not every first date ends well…

8. 8
Avoid tears
Don’t let your first date
end with an unloved
and unresolved
domain
Unresolved, unloved and
unlikely to be renewed – a
terrible fate for any domain
A domain attached to site is
better renewals with more
chances to upsell

9. 9
Improve your chances:
Swing both ways
People often assume a free trial is the only way to go, but
we think there are more possibilities

10. 10
Domain-Led Free Trial Buy Now
Free-for-life 1 page site
attached to every domain
Time or feature limited
trial with every domain
Purchase sitebuilder
direct from website
Onboarding flows
Many of our partners use all three of these flows so that different
customer entry points are well covered.

11. 11
Happy
Ending
The happiest ending is
a domain attached to
published website close
to the point of
purchase.

12. Choose
Domain
Get
Content
Site
Design
Publish
Site
Purchasing a domain and attaching a site to it can all be done on
the first date if you keep things simple.
I’ve shown it a phone because I can’t think of any reason why you’d
turn someone away just because they aren’t using a computer

13. Secret #2

14. It’s Not Just For Kittens
Many businesses use social media long before they get their first
domain name, so that’s where SMB content goes first.
Content, like water, always follows the path of least resistance

15. 15
SMBs start talking business
from their social apps
Why do we care where the content goes?
Where content flows most easily, that’s where your customers are
Getting content to flow in the direction of a recently purchased
domain is part of a good onboarding flow
Facebook is the biggest pool of content

16. 16
Content and search are in
different universes
So all the content ends up on Facebook…
…but search happens on Google
…and increasingly on mobile
A domain attached to a site that offers social import is the best solution

17. 17
ONBOARDING needs SOCIAL
and
SOCIAL is mostly MOBILE
so
ONBOARDING needs SOCIAL & MOBILE
Onboarding = social
that’s where the content is
And Social = mobile – people update from their on phones
So a great onboarding flow should bring all these together

18. Secret #3
Keep Young & Beautiful

19. 19
Old Stuff Has More Buttons Than New Stuff
This is true of almost every new product
More buttons = more learning

20. 20
Old Stuff Has More Buttons Than New Stuff
Newer = simpler

21. 21
Old Stuff Has More Buttons Than New Stuff
So we can pretty tell much tell the age
of something …

22. 22
Old Stuff Has More Buttons Than New Stuff
…from the button count

23. 23
Q What’s the easiest way to tell
the age of a site builder?
Count The Buttons
When you’re looking at sitebuilders, here’s a simple test for telling their underlying age: count the buttons
Young and beautiful software appeals to a far wider audience than old and complex software.

24. 24
You can’t be too simple
You can’t be too mobile
All SMBs are busy, and many are busy
away from computers. They won’t
touch a PC and this means they will
never touch a website either unless the
entire stack is mobile

25. 25
End To End Mobile is Inevitable
Responsive websites were just the start
All Small business software needs to work everywhere
Onboarding needs to work on all devices, no install
required. It’s the simplest way to do it

26. summary

27. Onboarding
is like a first
date
Facebook
isn’t just for
kittens
Keep young
and
beautiful
1: Keep things simple and get
the sitebuilder up front. Most
importantly, don’t let it end with
an unloved domain
2: Social integration is important.
Make it easy for your customers to
bring their social content to your
site.
3: Your software and your
onboarding flow need to be young
and beautiful and work
everywhere.

28. Simple. Social. Mobile.
Onboarding, site creation and site editing on
phone, tablet and PC