[TYPO3-UG US] US Marketing Plan

[Dennis Shewmaker]

Virgil,

> The above said, the real question for me is what exactly does this
> group want. Are you looking to develop TYPO3 in the US so you can
> increase your business? That is fine and would probably mean you
> wouldn't want installation, set up, and administration to be easier.
> Do you want this to be an easy out of the box solution that people
> like me could figure out? I would like that, but that would cost you
> business.

Actually I want all of those things to be easier if possible.  That is why
we are making the install tool for Ensim control panel, to speed up the
process.  I also want an increase in business in hosting Typo3.  Typo3's
market has the potential to be huge in the US.  If this happens there will
be so much demand that none of us should be wanting for work.  If developers
like you don't need to figure out how to install and upgrade Typo3 and just
create websites, but used a company that specializes in Typo3 hosting like
the hosting companies on this list it is a win-win situation.  The market
grows and you build more Typo3 sites.  The big fear I think is that the
hosting companies would steal your customers.  This would be a very dumb
thing for the hosting company to do as they want more websites and they just
ticked off a developer that is bringing the websites in.

> Or perhaps the answer is some kind of collaboration between people
> like me and the developers, something in between the above options? I
> would love to be able to use TYPO3, but I just don't have the time to
> learn everything on my own.

We help out the developers by hosting the sites and helping out with Typo3
issues.  This has worked really well in the past for both parties.  Just
having someone you know is available is great.  I give out email and direct
phone access to help out with issues.  What I find is the learning curve
speeds way up until all of a sudden very few questions are asked and the
frustration is limited.  Once you have a couple sites under your belt it
makes a WHOLE lot more sense.  I know the frustration of being completely
ignored on the English list and spending 4 hours finding that one nugget of
information out of mountains of documentation.  If instead you could ping
someone knowledgeable and it would have taken 5 minutes.  How much is that
worth?

We try not to just be a hosting company, but a support partner with the
developers.

Would this be valuable to you or others on this list?  Would other Typo3
hosting companies do this?  I think this would improve the spread of Typo3
and cut the frustration for new developers.

Dennis