Shared Hosting Tips in Turkey

Mehmet Tahta is a business developer in a hosting provider that has three companies, 2 in Turkey and 1 in Estonia. The company is mainly focused on the hosting business and works on expanding its services to Europe through the Estonian branch. We met with him as part of our “Shared hosting tips” series during our CEO’s visit to Turkey and tried to understand the nuances of the country's shared hosting market. Turkey is a huge market with unique features, that’s why the discussion was insightful and interesting. Watch the interview and read our recap below to get a glimpse!

The Turkish Market in Numbers

The population of the country is around 80+ million people, and online, there are around 500,000 domain names. Most of the country’s people prefer to use foreign companies for web hosting, such as GoDaddy. But according to Mehmet, it’s a good thing. “When big companies come to young markets like Turkey, they actually create the market. This is done to some extent through commercials, and people start to understand what websites, domains, etc. are.” In the last few years, mainly because of advertising, people started to realize the importance of websites and started to create them to sell their services and products.

Domain Specifics in Turkey

The local domain, .com.tr, has certain requirements and cannot be used by anyone. For example, if you want to register a .com.tr domain, you need to have a brand or a company. That’s why big companies usually go with .com.tr, while smaller companies or individual users go with the more accessible .com. There are many .tr domain names available, such as gov.tr, info.tr, net.tr. This restriction, however, is not always bad: because the domain names are governed, people can’t buy thousands of domains and just sell them to everyone. In that sense, Turkey can be a good example for the world on how to use top-level domain names. Currently, the Middle East Technical University manages .tr domain names, and they are also the resellers of it. Apart from them, only 5-6 registers are allowed to resell it, and Mehmet's company is one of them.

Hosting Market Is Growing

The hosting market of Turkey is growing, as more and more companies start to recognize the importance of having a website. Typically, customers buy hosting and try to register websites with different TLD names. On average, one hosting client registers 3+ domain names. According to Mehmet, there was also a noticeable rise in interest in website builders. “The market for tools like Site.pro and Wix is growing because it’s easy to make a website. Users can choose templates through website builders, and create websites the easy way through simply editing the details.”

Language and Support

In the words of Mehmet, they offer only a Turkish version of the website, and it’s not translated into any other language. For the support, English and Turkish support are available 24/7. “We are very focused on the quality of support. Support is the most important thing, especially in Turkey, since people expect to receive a fast answer. In our case, we try to reply to a ticket in 20 minutes or less.”

When looking for services, Turkish businesses try to get the best quality. However, because the exchange rates are pretty high, people do pay attention to the price as well, looking for deals that will be affordable but won’t compromise the service quality.

Money Matters

When it comes to payments, Turkey is different from many markets. PayPal is banned in the country, so people cannot use it. To pay online, they use cards, wire transfers, or local gateways such as Iyzico and Moka Pay. “Because of the popular wire payments being popular, the subscription doesn’t work in Turkey. People mostly pay annually, and then forget about it,” says Mehmet.

Marketing and Promotion for Hosting Services

In Turkey, people find hosting services mostly through Google. Although brands advertise, people prefer to find services through search engines and compare the solutions, pricing, etc., and then make a decision. Another way, except for Google, that works in Turkey is word-of-mouth. “In Turkey, if you provide really good service, you can also get customers by word of mouth,” says Mehmet.

Wrapping Up

Our interview with Mehmet was not a deep dive into the Turkish hosting market, but it was a good starting point to understand what it had to offer. A country with a large population that has just started to understand the importance of the digital market, it’s a good market for hosting companies. So, if you are looking for a market to enter, with the right tools and strategies, Turkey can become a goldmine for your business!