Web hosts till tell you that they are always looking to build a better mouse trap when it comes to getting customers the answers that they are looking for. Love them or hate them, quick responses are a part of the web hosting business.
Bottom line? They allow support workers to get often asked questions answered as quickly as possible.
Let AutoHotkey Do the Heavy Typing for You!
Thinking outside the box though and trying to see what you really need when it comes to quickly publishing these answers – well, there just has to be a better way. Personally I set out to find something that would allow me to type in a few letters – hit enter, and automatically paste a four paragraphed answer to a question. I found my answer after spending some time playing with AutoHotkey.
AutoHotkey is a free mouse and keyboard macro program. The part your going to be interested in is the AutoText feature which allows you to write up a simple script, type in a few letters – hit enter and have your quick response typed out for you. It does have a learning curve to master but once you do get it down it is a powerful tool for anybody who finds themselves typing the same thing over and over again.
Your Own Virtual Notebook
Another tool I like to keep at my side at all times is my Google Notebook. While doing my own tech support work – it is handy to have some of the most asked questions there at my fingertips. Not much has to be said about this, because the concept here is so easy to understand.
Copy and save things you need to type out or access often inside of Google Notebook. While going through the e-mail or help desk at your hosting company, keep it open in another tab and you have yet another personal list of quick response tools.
So there you have two great ways to make your customer support work just a little easier on you.
Johnny sent me an e-mail that was straight and to the point. The control panel solution, cPanel and enabling hotlink protection seemed to confuse him. So I told him I’d go through the process.
One question that I get from a multitude of web hosts is, “Are there any alternative methods to tech support that you know of?”. With everybody doing the standard e-mail, help desk and live chat support, people are looking for an alternative to give them an edge over the competition.
When it comes to dealing with customers, keeping “customer service” in mind is always a good thing. You want to make sure these people are being taken care of because no mater if your the guy who owns the hosting company or your just the grunt that works at one, good things can always come from having a happy customer.
When it comes to basic webmastering – one of the basics you learn about is watching your stats and learning how to read them to see if what you are doing is working. This is extremely helpful for web sites that have ever-changing dynamic content. The suggestions I am going to share with you though could even go for those people with static content as well.
Many of the big boys in the hosting business (and ever a few of the little ones) seem to be rolling out affiliate deals so that you can help them get more clients to host. Now the questions I know a lot of people have are how does this benefit the web host and how does it benefit the web hosting client?
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Not every web site out there has the best search features. Heck, some of the web sites out there don’t have any way to search through them. When you have a web site or resource that you need to search often, trying to use the lame ways the respective owners want you to use is no way to go. Google offers anybody the chance to use their technology to create your own custom search engine.
