ISP Update
We have written several articles on the growth of Retail Web pages on the Internet, and have even suggested that becoming an ISP (Internet Service Provider) can be an excellent compliment to the Financial Services that you are already selling, but of course you no more want to do this work than you want to build terminals, or authorize checks or bankcards. However, when there is something to sell, and someone else that can create the product, and you in-turn can sell it for them, it is ready- made for ISO's. So then, what you want is to sell, and you want to sell the "best", if you can find it. Herein lies the problem, and the reason that we are being asked for more recommendations on companies that want to work with ISO's, or how to find companies that do this work. After calling 25 of the most prominent Web service companies across the nation, here are some of our thoughts and impressions: 32% of the companies contacted do Web page design or maintenance in house. A full 60% of them offer referral to HTML code writers. Of the 32% that did offer the design services, as well as hosting services, it sounded to us that some of these (3 of the 8) were being operated out of their homes. (We could hear babies crying, TVs with tabloid shows on, or dishwashers in the background.) By far, the most professional of the companies that we contacted, was TriTech Marketing Inc. They provide WEB Page design, and integrate the page's "look and feel" into a full marketing package, with response qualification and assimilation of all the responses into a usable report with contact information forms.
Of the companies which did not offer any Web Page design, it seemed to us that there is an Old Guard mentality amongst them. A direct quote we got from one was, "I like to think of us as being in the 'information transportation' business." They wanted to rent space in the garage, but you had to find the car yourself. Another likened his position to a family doctor, he could provide many general services, but called in a specialist when surgery (HTML code) was required. Finding a company to make Web Pages also caused us to run into the new, hungry organizations. They had fresh outlooks and enthusiastic points of view. But, finding one that also had demonstrated advertising professionality was tough. Tritech was the ONLY one that fit this bill. The Old Guard organizations seemed to us to be resting on the laurels of times past, waiting for the public to come to their senses and do what they are told. It seems that you still get what you pay for, and buying the first thing that you find still makes for hard earned experience. None of the companies that we contacted, including the four below, currently work with ISO's or have given any real thought to having someone else sell their services. The following four companies, however, are all aggressive and head and shoulders above the pack. TriTech and C Cnet are both very business savvy, and Interpath and Demoines Internet are both very creative:
TriTech Marketing Inc. Pleasanton, CA 94588
(510) 734-8440
C Cnet, Inc. Walnut Creek, CA 94596
(510) 988-0680
InterpathWebPress Raleigh, NC 27605
http://www.interpath.net
Des Moines Internet, Inc. Des Moines, Iowa 50322
http://www.DSMnet.com
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