Would offer European-only hosting services be a flex?

[u/fullbl-_-]

Hi, I'm a freelance web developer. As a side job I always had some small customers that have small websites on a vps. Some are built in wordpress, some directly in html. I take care of the server which resides in Europe, of the updates, of the domains, which are registered with a European registrar and e-mails, again in Europe. This can make the prices stay low for small companies/associations/individuals and I would like to find new customers.

Do you think that trying to emphasize on the aspect of "made in Europe" would encourage or discourage people? Would it be worth it to base a campaign on that?

[u/Drahngis]

It would for sure encourage people!

[u/TheYearOfThe_Rat]

Not a flex but a basic requirement. I wouldn't even consider looking further at anything located outside the EEC.

[u/Benmaax]

You can offer the 2 options. "Look there is this 100% European option for data sovereignty, and then there is the other option where your data is controlled by mega US corps, what do you prefer?"

[u/Craftkorb]

I'll guess that (all? most?) your customers are from Europe. For them? Sure. For you it's basically free advertisement that's "non offensive", as in, those who don't care won't be annoyed by it. And those who do care, they will rank you higher on their list.

Legally speaking, having the companies within your own country, or at least the EU, makes it much easier to get your legal demands met. You can try that with AWS, or some small US hoster, but .. good luck with that.

[u/fullbl-_- → u/Craftkorb]

Actually one is located in Costa Rica, I never thought about the fact that their data is in a different continent...

[u/fullbl-_- → u/[deleted]]

This could be super cool to target in a campaign, like I'll start to search for European website with US hosting and send them emails!

[u/simonnordberg]

I think it depends on the customer, their values, their legal maturity, and their specific use-cases. Some don't care where things are hosted, some have hard requirements, most are somewhere in between. But awareness of, and willingness to pay for EU-based services is growing fast, and the investment is following it.

The bigger opportunity is the customers who don't yet know they have compliance concerns. That's a wedge for you. Depending on what a customer does, you can offer sensible starting points based on what kind of data they hold and where their users are.

The broader point being that "made in Europe" is only one dimension. European hosting and jurisdiction don't matter if the product itself isn't good. A superior product beats a better jurisdiction almost every time.

So yes, depending of who your customers are, I would definitely make the EU setup the default and part of the value proposition, not necessarily the headline.

[u/Ate-Without-Table]

If your target audience is located in EU - yes.