Meet our Reseller: Argeweb
Argeweb is a leading web-hosting provider in the Netherlands that recognizes that customers look for great customer support when they choose a host. Argeweb serves a mix of individuals and small- and mid-sized business customers across the Netherlands.
Gerben Van Leeuwen, Argeweb’s CEO, (pictured right) founded the company in 2000, offering hosting and domain registration services to the Dutch market. The company recently spun off a second division, Amsio.com, offering managed hosting to enterprise customers across Europe.
Argeweb initially partnered with OpenSRS for domain registrations in late 2000. The company wanted to have the ability to completely manage the customer relationship. Working with OpenSRS offered them that flexibility and control, according to Van Leeuwen.
"Our initial domain provider was billing the end customer directly, and had the relationship with the end customer," said Van Leeuwen. "We wanted to have a company where we had and managed the relationship with the end customer."
Argeweb uses OpenSRS for most of its domain name registrations, with the exception of .NL domains. Argeweb is itself a .NL accredited registrar and recently passed the 100,000 .NL domain registration mark, making it one of the top-five hosting company registrars in the Netherlands.
"We really want to help the customer"
With more and more people and small businesses getting online everyday, Argeweb knew that they needed to give their customers a helping hand.
The company strives to help their customers with questions about hosting, websites and the Internet in general. While Argeweb isn't a web-design company, Van Leeuwen said they recognized that they needed to give their customers that extra bit of help creating their online presence in order for the customer to be successful.
Recently, Argeweb produced a web video series with popular Dutch actress Froukje de Both that provides its customers with the help they need. The video series can be found at http://www.webmee.tv
"We've now made two seasons of the Internet TV program about how to make your own website - how to start, how to register a domain, how to set up a shop, how to get a high ranking in Google," Van Leeuwen said.
Open and Transparent Support
When the company started, quoting server specs and having a 99.99% uptime guarantee was the accepted way to market to customers. Van Leeuwen noted that things have changed since then.
"We are one of the best in the market in terms of technology," he noted. "But it's no longer something you can use to differentiate with."
Customer support is where Argeweb focuses itself, and they go beyond marketing hype, offering what Van Leeuwen called "a look into our kitchen."
Argeweb customers are asked to rate the quality of the support they receive after every interaction. That data is available in an open and transparent way to everyone, providing proof that Argeweb's service is meeting high expectations.
"We show that rating on our website," says Van Leeuwen. "We're very transparent in terms of how we do our support and internally we have goals about how high our level of support must be, and we reward our support people for meeting those goals."
The potent combination of high quality hosting services, and a commitment to helping their customers with all aspects of their website needs, helped grow Argeweb into one of the top hosts in the country.
