Web Designers, MSPs Profit Big from Verio's Partner Program

fact sheet Vendor: Verio, Inc. (www.verio.com) Vendor's Information: About Partnership Opportunities with Verio About Verio, Inc.

Many things have changed about the Internet in the past 15+ years, but one thing hasn't. If you want to do business online, you need a Web host. Some intrepid people and organizations will do the hosting themselves, but most will not. Instead, they will turn to Web hosting solution providers to handle their hosting for them.

If you're a Web designer, developer, or online marketing agency, or anyone else in a position to recommend hosting products and services, then Verio, one of the founders of, and most experienced names in Web hosting, has a great deal for you. Make it two deals: Verio partner programs that pay recurring monthly commissions if you sign up and use Verio to host your customers' online presence.

Verio's partner programs are known by the names Via1 and Via 3. (Stay tuned for news of a Via2 program in the near future.)

Via1 is an agent partner program that works like most online affiliate programs. Members earn a 15 percent recurring monthly commission for business they refer to Verio. Businesses with the ability to attract new customers for Verio, but with little interest in getting involved in hosting and customer support themselves, can advertise Verio's products and services in e-mail campaigns, Web banner ads, and on their Web sites and simply earn the commission on all the business they generate.

Verio's Via3 partner program is a full-blown channel program for those interested in reselling Verio's products and services. Members of Via3 sell the products, handle the billing for their customers, and are the first line of tech support when there's a problem. Via3 partners receive full technical support from Verio to help them resolve end-customer technical issues, and lead generation support. Via3 members purchase Verio solutions at discounts up to 45 percent off retail prices, and set their own pricing to make a profit.

Verio also has a private label program geared toward large industry players like telcos and large cable operators that want to expand their service offerings to include Web hosting. The service offering is seamless in its look and feel and can be re-branded by private label partners.

Setting Verio Apart
Channel programs in the tech industry can be tricky. For many tech companies their partners are a valuable source of revenue but can also work as competition for an inside sales team. That's not the case with Verio partners, said Scott Calvert, senior director of sales at Verio.

Calvert calls Verio a 100 percent channel-centric organization. "Everything we do—every dollar we spend—is focused on the channel," he said.

Verio's products include UNIX, Windows, and e-commerce hosting for businesses. Verio was the first to market with virtual private server solutions, and offers managed private servers as well. Dedicated server solutions range from single server to multiple servers configurations. There are also hosted business applications available for customers who want to streamline and protect their business without the headaches or cost of owning their own infrastructure.

The Via3 program is a good place for managed service providers, an area that's become popular because of the recurring revenue model, Calvert said. Managed Service Providers can easily add Web hosting services to their existing end-user customers and/or leverage Verio's managed servers to support their clients' IT infrastructure requirements.

But even Calvert admits many Web hosting services are becoming a commodity with little differentiation between the various players in the industry when it comes to the products. The key, Calvert said, is in the support structure Verio provides for its partners and customers.

All of Verio's technical support is done in the United States and not outsourced. Verio owns it own datacenters and has a top-notch network infrastructure that gives it the most robust offerings in the industry.

"We do provide very good technical and customer support," Calvert said. Verio's support revolves around a viaVerio Sales Team (VST for short), a team of people that handles account management and technical issues for Verio partners. The VST allows Verio's partners to focus on growing their business and serves as the product expert for hosting.

Verio also provides its partners with a number of tools to help grow their business and establish contacts in the tech industry.

Verio's 5,400 partners (and growing) are able to network with one another by opting into a Partner Directory that is accessible by all Verio partners through a dedicated partner portal. The Partner Directory can help partners find other businesses that complement their own services so they can work together to go after an end-customer opportunity. A partner that specializes in data migration who needs to find a Web content management specialist, for example, can find one in the Partner Directory.

Partners in Verio's programs can also meet face-to-face at Verio's annual Partner Summit. Sessions at the Summit range from deep-dive technical presentations to product roadmaps and outside speakers addressing current and relevant industry topics. In the past, the Partner Summit has featured experts giving presentations to help small businesses navigate the economy and day-to-day business issues like billing.

Verio partners also have access to downloadable, co-branded marketing collateral to help market their Verio hosting products. Verio combines the pre-designed content with the partner's look and feel. The VST can also help partners with lead generation marketing campaigns by directly conducting prospecting calls or by fielding in-bound calls on behalf of a partner from a partner marketing campaign.

Web hosting is a low-cost, high-volume market, Calvert admits, but Verio partners can capitalize on the opportunity with recurring monthly revenue. That's a deal partners are unlikely to get from the competition, where one-time commission payments are the standard.