Jesse Friedman interviews Aaron Campbell about hosting.com's recent rebrand from A2 Hosting and building trust through empathetic design. They discuss serving different customer segments, transitioning from infrastructure to product companies, and the importance of business vulnerability when problems occur. Campbell emphasizes hosting companies' responsibility to provide experiences that help WordPress users succeed.

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• (00:00) - Teaser
• (00:35) - Introduction
• (02:42) - What are some of the ways to rebrand a hosting company?
• (08:35) - What is Hosting.com working on right now?
• (12:07) - How do you build success with agencies?
• (13:23) - How do you build trust and empathy in hosting?
• (26:11) - How (and why) to implement vulnerability and transparency in Hosting
• (29:57) - Conclusion

Jesse Friedman talks with Elise Prather, WP Cloud sales team member, about ethical sales practices in hosting. They discuss building relationships over using fear tactics, consultative approaches versus high-pressure sales, and how hosting companies can hit revenue targets while maintaining trust. Elise shares strategies for creating genuine partnerships with customers without compromising ethics or community values.

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• (00:00) - Teaser
• (00:36) - Introduction
• (02:02) - Working at Automattic
• (03:23) - Current Hosting Conditions
• (06:01) - Ethics in Sales and Building Trust
• (09:24) - Hosting Sales Strategies and Relationship Building
• (18:18) - Challenges and Ethical Dilemmas in Hosting Sales
• (28:16) - Conclusion

Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Ivan Pjano and Dale Obradović from Ivapix about building premium WordPress hosting without competing solely on price. They discuss automated real-time failover, custom panel design focused on user experience, and how listening to customer feedback helps small hosting companies deliver enterprise-level features while maintaining quality over quantity.

Click here to watch a video of this episode.

Links:

• Ivapix
• Cloudfest
• Avjar
• Moć planine
• Material Design

• (00:00) - Teaser
• (00:32) - Introduction
• (01:04) -  Meeting at CloudFest
• (03:50) - What Is Automated Real-Time Failover, and Why Does It Matter?
• (05:41) - The Imapct of Great Hosting
• (11:27) - How and Why to Design a Good User Panel
• (15:24) - Empowering Agencies and Freelancers
• (20:17) - The Importance of Customer Feedback
• (27:32) - Conclusion

Jesse Friedman interviews Ivan Pjano and Dale Obradović from Ivapix about their custom WordPress hosting dashboard built on WP Cloud. They discuss flexible pay-per-site pricing, eliminating rigid hosting packages, and creating simplified panels focused solely on WordPress instead of bloated universal control panels that overwhelm users with unnecessary features.

• (00:00) - What Happens in WordPress Hosting When Customers Choose What They Need?
• (03:29) - The Value of Ad Hoc Partnerships
• (06:32) - Building a WordPress-Only Dashboard
• (10:20) - Breaking Free from Rigid Hosting Packages
• (16:13) - Why Universal Panels Don't Always Work for WordPress
• (18:41) - Customer Choice Over Company Convenience
• (21:59) - How to Scale with Customers in Mind

• Ivapix
• CloudFest

Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Krys Lambiase, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Bluehost. They explore AI's role in WordPress hosting, solving the "blank canvas problem," balancing automation with creativity, and product marketing challenges. Krys shares insights on what features should be free versus premium, and both reminisce about the "weird internet" - and how to bring that spirit back.

• (00:00) - Chapter 1

• Bluehost
• Gutenberg Editor
• Wonder Blocks
• Let’s Encrypt (Free SSL)
• Hamster Dance

Jesse Friedman sits down with Krys Lambiase, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Bluehost, to discuss how effective product marketing can transform WordPress hosting. They explore creating personalized experiences that guide users based on their specific goals, avoiding confusing interfaces, and extending onboarding into ongoing customer education and support.

• (00:00) - 106.1 - Krys Lambiase (Newfold) Audio
• (00:29) - Introduction
• (01:20) -  Getting Personal(ized) with Product Marketing
• (04:41) - Serving Entrepreneurs and Agencies
• (14:15) - The Difference Between Hosting and Managed Hosting
• (18:52) - Good Support is Table Stakes
• (24:39) - The Importance of Customer Success
• (26:47) - Conclusion

• Convesio
• Five for the Future
• WooCommerce
• WS Form
• Gravity Forms
• WP Cloud
• Gutenberg

Jesse Friedman continues his conversation with Tom Fanelli of Convesio about strengthening cooperation across the WordPress ecosystem. They explore host contributions to plugin improvement, value alignment between service providers, and Convesio's WP Cloud integration. Tom also shares his vision for white-label support that frees agencies to focus on creative work.

00:30 Introduction
01:12 The Role of Hosting Companies in WordPress Community
03:25 Five for the Future and the Value Proposition of Collaborative Community
08:18 The Race to the Bottom in Hosting in Agency Pricing
13:59 The WP Cloud and Convesio Partnership
19:23 Aligning Hosting Success with Client Success
25:49 How Convesio Implemented White Label Support for Agencies
28:38 Conclusion

• Convesio
• Five for the Future
• WooCommerce
• WS Form
• Gravity Forms
• WP Cloud
• Gutenberg

In this episode of Impressive Hosting, Jesse Friedman interviews Tom Fanelli, CEO of Convesio, about their unique approach to WordPress hosting. Tom explains how Convesio differentiates itself as a platform rather than just a hosting company, focusing on containerized WordPress solutions for mid-market to enterprise clients with complex needs. The conversation explores Convesio's evolution from targeting agencies to serving mission-critical commerce sites, including online learning platforms, membership sites, and WooCommerce stores.

"00:45 Introduction

01:44 The Origin Story of Convesio

04:46 Innovations and Pivots

10:16 The Future of Support is Human Attention in Slack, and AI

19:55 Avoiding the Race to the Bottom in Hosting

23:32 How to Level Up with Your Customers

28:38 The Importance of Plugin Compatibility

37:06 Conclusion"

• Convesio
• Unthread – support tool Convesio uses to manage tickets and SLAs in Slack.
• New Relic – performance monitoring tool used for in-depth diagnostics.
• MemberPress – Membership plugin for WordPress.
• Guildenberg – Community initiative for WordPress professionals.