An intuitive, easy to use website builder reduces friction between the buying of a website, the building of the website, and that valuable upsell that every webhost desires.

by Alex Goldman ISP-Planet Managing Editor [March 30, 2006]

Every time a large company launches in the U.S. after success elsewhere, we recommend to ISP-Planet readers that they seize the opportunity to work with a company who would usually not work with them. This week, Cologne, Germany-based CM4all launches in the U.S.

CM4all is the developer of a website builder called WebsiteCreator that is used by many of the largest ISPs in Europe. It is part of the answer to a key problem posed to the ISP industry by Elliot Noss, President and CEO of Tucows, at ISPCON Fall 2005 (see Common Sense in Selling Services). Noss said that everyone in the ISP industry is still selling services based on the technology offered, not based on the needs of the customer.

Features of WebsiteCreator include:

• WYSIWIG editor
• Multi-language spell checker
• Form editor
• Flash editor
• Poll tool
• Blogging tool
• Store
• Database
• Content syndication
• Usage reporting and statistics
• Photo album
• Driving directions
• Numerous templates
• Media database
• Simple online games
• Integration with all major control panels
• Integration with billing systems

While the official launch is this week, the company opened its U.S. sales office in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. in August of 2004 when one of its customers, 1&1, entered the U.S. (see The Most Aggressive Webhost). "Everyone was wondering how they could sell so low," says Robert Schovenberg, CEO of CM4all. "We were delivering the DIY tools for 1&1." This year, it is opening another office in Boston to house the headquarters of its U.S. operation.

Sell a service, not a megabyte of space
Schovenberg says that ISPs are now bundling so much into their basic hosting package that the upsell needs to offer truly impressive benefits. If the basic hosting package includes a limited version of WebsiteCreator that can build three web pages and has a limited number of templates, ISPs can upsell to their silver package, with more templates and five web pages, relatively easily.

The end goal, of course, is to upsell to the full version, but Schovenberg says that ISPs often struggle to get users to go beyond a single web page. "With our tool bundled," he says, "people who just bought the domain as a future investment now have a tool to start working with the domain and then when they use it they upgrade."

He says that CM4all delivers results. "At the end of the first year, on average, the company is earning more money just from paid users of the full version who have upgraded than it paid up front for installation."

Hosting companies are starting to advertise to a bigger market, Schovenberg says. "For years, the focus has been on technical customers, advertising in PC magazines, focusing the pitch on FTP upload and storage data numbers. But most consumers don't want to think in technical terms. They have birthday parties and hobbies and want to use a website to communicate about them. This requires an intuitive, no install website builder tool."

One company making this adjustment, Schovenberg says, is GoDaddy. The company is actively advertising personal websites for weddings, resumés, photo albums, and other similar uses. "The prerequisite for a service like this," Schovenberg says, "is that it must be easy to use. You have to be able to integrate a weather forecast just by clicking. For example, a birthday party might be outdoors or indoors depending on the weather."

Small businesses, Schovenberg says, find CM4all's higher end features useful too. He points out that a small business cannot update its website every day, but if it can syndicate content that is updated regularly, then the website will always be fresh.

Schovenberg will be moving with his family to the U.S. for six months to oversee the opening of the U.S. headquarters and the launch of CM4all's U.S. operations. If you're interested in the company, now would be a good time to get to know it.

Pricing and availability
CM4all reaches small- and medium-sized ISPs through its OEM partners. Setup costs can vary from $5,000 to $100,000 or more depending on the ISP's requirements. CM4all did SAP integration for one large customer in Europe, for example. CM4all takes a revenue share of 50 percent.

The product has numerous APIs and is designed to be own-branded by ISPs purchasing the product through resellers. It is available through a revenue share or through a license purchase.

The product is available now from the OEM partners and available to large hosts directly from CM4all.

—End