Attracta to become new feature in cPanel & WHM (Q & A)

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TroyMcCasland

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Mar 22, 2010
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This is decision is terrible and this is why people started to move out of Plesk.


First of all, you said its an addon, and cPanel has no financial incentive on this. So why is an addon from an external company turned by default to on? This is sending money to them, not to you our us, your clients.

Attract only works in English, What about your international cPanel customers? Do you think they will turn it on or use it for their customers that don´t speak English? Cpanel is multi language, Attract is not. So how can you even consider this.

Attract tools are terrible, nothing that a 10$ PHP script or even free you get on the Internet can´t do. Sending a XML sitemap to Google? Are you kidding me? Do you expect people to 50$ a month for that? Their very big and expensive prices are because they give a % to companies, hosting and now it seems also cPanel for every new signup. This is like an affiliated program and you call it a new feature? So cPanel is now adding Affiliate programs by default on our paid cPanel software? I expect this from a free control panel but honestly I feel insulted byt this because we are paying cPanel, its not free and you should not have control on what we show or send our customers. This is why people quit Plesk. They paid 1000$ a year and Parallels put banners advertising, by default on and yes you could remove them to, at first editing the code, then on complains they added a turn off button. And they do the same with allot of other services and icons in their panels.



I don´t have anything against Attract but they are an external company that want to sell their SEO services. Im sure other SEO companies are left out by this, and not to mention hosting companies here using cPanel which sell their own SEO services or are partnered with other SEO companies which are not Attracta.

I also don´t appreciate that cPanel sends our customers to other servers externally, did you even considered privacy laws for this? You are basically sending our customers automatically with their data to another company. And if servers are hacked from Attracta side someday who will we blame, cPanel or Attracta?

Does cPanel even read this forums because most people here have only complained about this. Instead of focusing on developing features which are good for us you waste time on this partnerships (affiliate programs). There are so many things to do in cPanel, I can even point my thread in the Cloud Linux section, where some people send me PM and said "thank you" for that which means that is what people are looking. DNS clustering is another, sync settings between WHM servers, another one. Clustered Win Servers with Linux servers, another one. I can go on and on, features that are important and people will appreciate. Stuff that is related to cPanel and the control panel instead of this things which bring nothing new. And honestly how can you even call this a feature?

Its just an icon in cPanel which anyone can add and automate the sign ups. Nothing more. If we where so in love with this, some companies would already done it. The reason some big hosting companies use them is because Attracta cut a % with them and they will not do the same for all of us. Even if they do im not interesting in sending my customers to them.

I agree with Glowhost, you cannot put every single offering and icon on a cPanel build. There are allot of options out. If this is an approach cPanel wants to do, then I would suggest adding a Marketplace icon on WHM (nothing turned on by default, nothing, all get the same fairness) and providers can choose, install and enable from there what they want as default. Allot of hosts are using for example Cloud Linux, does this mean cPanel has to kill their DNS feature and ship Cloud Linux turned on by default on each customer as well? No. Again no. Any provider or service should be optional, not turned on by default which gives the impression its a cPanel product and endorsed by cPanel.

Hostgator turned this by default on their VPS customers severs and you can bet their customers where not happy, allot of them complained about this.

Last on my rant 2.0. Is cPanel in financial troubles that they need to make money with this affiliate program? Because that is exactly what this is.
Wow, this a long post. I understand your concerns and see how passionately you feel. I'm going to try to address all of your concerns here and offer to schedule a conference with you and Aaron and myself. Feel free to send us a PM if you wish to talk.

Every Host who offers Attracta gets rev share on upgrades by simply filling out a form in the WHM Attracta configuration plugin, and telling us where to send the check.

Attracta is in the processes of localizing its portal, so that by the time the cPanel integration is complete we will support all the local languages native to cPanel.

Many of Attracta's SEO tools are FREE and are actually very sophisticated. With over 1.7 million customer sites, Attracta is by far the most popular SEO tool. There's nothing comparable, certainly not a $10 php script. Attracta provides a FREE XML Sitemap creation and submission service. Attracta's most expensive package, Turbo Traffic 100, is affordably price at only $11.95 per month, not $50/mo.

The art of SEO is a very complex, and ever changing science. Many SEO companies use Attracta SEO Tools as a platform to help sell their professional services.

Attracta is SafeHarbor compliant and violates no privacy policies and requires users to opt-in.

GlowHost is actually an Attracta partner. Perhaps there's another reason he doesn't want cPanel to bundle Attracta...?

Hostgator installed Attracta on VPS servers without notifying customers. They made a mistake and apologized. There were a few complaints about the lack of notification. However, users groups are designed to encourage complaints. That's what they are here for. They don't capture or display the hundreds of thousands of happy customers. Hostgator has over 800,000 sites using Attracta. They have received less than a dozen complaints. While every customer counts and we want 100% customer satisfaction, .0015% is statistically insignificant.

cPanel learned from this and is providing plenty of advance notice to it's customers so we can get your feedback and address all the concerns ahead of time.
 
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TroyMcCasland

Active Member
Mar 22, 2010
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By adding it into the control panel and enabling it by default, it's easy for the client to assume that we have a relationship with Attracta; how do you ensure this confusion does not occur?



Right and those examples aren't really supported beyond the integration.

Troy, let's put it this way if this is such a great product/service, why not make it opt-in for the hosts?. Explain to me (and keep it simple 'cos I still have to have my coffee), why does this need to be opt-out?. Looking forward to your response.
Great questions. We ensure customers know they are subscribing to a third party service by providing an interstitial page when users click on the Attracta SEO icons in cPanel. This interstitial page provides proper disclosure and gives the user the opportunity to opt-out of e-mail notifications. SafeHarbor compliance ensures no privacy violations occur.

Why make it opt-out? Every site needs traffic. It's the whole reason they buy a website in the first place. XML Sitemap creation and submission is more important than disc space, bandwidth, and backup, because if the site's not in Google, nothing else matters. Sitemaps ensure new sites get found right away and existing sites get more traffic. According to Google submitting a Sitemap can never hurt your site. The Attracta XML Sitemap creation and submission service is FREE. Everyone needs it. It makes cPanel better, and it makes your hosting service better.
 

dhabets

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Dec 31, 2001
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Great questions. We ensure customers know they are subscribing to a third party service by providing an interstitial page when users click on the Attracta SEO icons in cPanel. This interstitial page provides proper disclosure and gives the user the opportunity to opt-out of e-mail notifications. SafeHarbor compliance ensures no privacy violations occur.
Can we see this page? Can we edit it on our servers to make sure it complies with our local laws and regulations? Not everyone is in the US.

Why make it opt-out? Every site needs traffic. It's the whole reason they buy a website in the first place.
That really isn't a good answer; what if I provide this service already and now you are undercutting me? (I don't provide this service, but let's just say I do).
 

nibb

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Mar 22, 2008
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Its very simple, consumers don't appreciate opt-out services. This is also why email subscription has to be opt in and not opt out. You are giving people more work if they need to opt out instead of giving them the choice to decide if they want it or not.

You said everyone website needs this, but cPanel is a hosting software for hosting providers, its not a website creation tools. Said this every websites also needs visitors, should we also put Google Adwords automated registration then? Every website needs allot of things, besides visitors and sales, and I don´t see how cPanel needs to be involved with it.

Google Analytics and Webmaster tools are by far the top tools used by webmasters, but I don´t see cPanel partnering with Google to offer them as a default either.

Nobody answered my question. If I offer similar services to Attracta will cPanel also offer them build in as default?

I think the answer is no. So they are biased towards a specific brand and company, and this is exactly what is wrong.

And Hostgator is not an example of greatness either. They are a cheap budget provider, their customers could care less what they offer or not, they also offers banners ads with 1 cent coupons on every 404 error page on their hosting customers, something a serious providers would not do either, they are branding their customers cPanel pages and errors pages. This is also not welcomed by serious customers in the hosting industry. Said this they are not exactly an example. HG is more like a marketing company then a hosting company.

If I search in Google "seo tools" I get 48 millions results, so why Attracta and not someone else?

You can´t have them all for sure, but this is dishonest competition to other providers which will now look at cPanel with other eyes. Today its Atrracta but nothing guarantees us tomorrow it will not be for example a SiteBuilder, with the same excuse that everyone needs a tool to build websites, and the day after it it could be a Stats Software, etc.

This are not hosting control panel tools. They are website tools, this is a gray area for cPanel, they provide software for hosting companies which then provide tools to their customers. This is a tool directly to end customers, our customers. Not Attracta customers, not cPanel customers. Our customers. A little respect should be considered, specially because cPanel is not free, its a licensed control panel.

In other places this would be called corruption. Attracta has gained some internal benefits which others don´t get. Of course since both are private companies you could call its friendship instead. There are thousands of tools and services that can be bundled to cPanel and WHM, none of them come as a default build in.

Now imagine hosting companies that offer SEO services to their customers? What are they going to tell their customers now when they ask "In the OTHER company they offer Attracta, why you don´t if it comes with cPanel" or some others could have already partnered with other SEO tools as well.

So why do we as customers have to support now Attracta in sales and support? The minute its bundled in and its a default, customers will see no difference. cPanel users think sometimes cPanel is hosting, they cannot tell the difference about anything and they will think Attracta is a cPanel services and providers not offering will be targeted as rendering features off for their customers.

The reason why you don´t see to much complaints yet, is because cPanel owners have better things to do then looking here in the forums. You will see the complaints when they start to see this is a default in their new servers. And you can bet they will not appreciate this move which will hurt both, cPanel brand and Attracta brand. This is probably why Attracta is trying to get the big hosts in the boat as fast as possible, to reduce complaints. If the big boys use it, then everyone will right?

And you keep mentioning the free tools. The free tools are worth nothing if you ask me, I tried Attracta and saw nothing from another world, its just an upselling tool and even so I would have serious concerns about paying for the tools, the prices are higher than what most hosters charge for their plans. So how could they possible offer an addon which is priced higher than their hosting services, remember, this is still an addon or extra service. And do you think companies like stealing their customers? Customers that sign up with your services, also go to your website, where they can see a lists for partners and hosting companies, OTHER companies which compete each other, nothing guarantees us that you will not suggest a hosting company in the future like you are actually doing already in:
http://www.attracta.com/partner.jsp

So like I see it, Attracta is actually heavily promoting some specific companies in the first place. Hostway, Hostgator, etc, they are all on the TOP. No wonder they offer your services, Im sure they even get the paid plans for free or get a bigger % cut than what the rest of us will ever get leaving us in a dishonest spot to compete.

This is completely unfair competition. Customers being driving away from the cPanel software into controls of others companies. At least we should have a choice, and not an opt out choice.

Im actually impressed that Plesk got this right this time. They have Attracta as "Attracta is now a certified app for Plesk. Parallels Automation is available in the Apps Catalog."

Which means a choice. And cPanel "Attracta is the first, and so far only, third-party software to be bundled with cPanel."

Please read the words just like you are promoting the services in your own pages "FIRST and ONLY, THIRD Party, BUNDLED."

That´s right. First, Only, Third Party, Bundled.

That may sound some bells. So why not others?

Well, I think someone else will take cPanel place eventually and do things in the best benefits for their customers, not their pockets. Internet and the software industry, and gladly the hosting market is huge. And someone else will realize and take advantage on others mistakes. This is not doing cPanel customers happy, we are the ones paying the licensing fees, not our customers. And then you are up-selling our hard work, earned customers, with your services.
 
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TroyMcCasland

Active Member
Mar 22, 2010
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nibb

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Mar 22, 2008
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Can we see this page? Can we edit it on our servers to make sure it complies with our local laws and regulations? Not everyone is in the US.



That really isn't a good answer; what if I provide this service already and now you are undercutting me? (I don't provide this service, but let's just say I do).
Of course not. Its not on your servers. Its not your service and its not your pages. You are not even charging customers directly for this. No, they think the US is the world, so they don´t care about international customers, same reason why its only workingin English and targeted to US companies, just see the partner list, all are mostly US companies.

Undercutting? Of course, that's the whole idea, and cPanel has probably shares in Attracta or the deal must be really juice. If they think people will actually believe they are doing this for free without any commercial interests then they must have a very low image on their customers intelligence.
 
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TroyMcCasland

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That all sounds fine, except:



Don't turn it on by default; or is that going to cut down your revenue stream? Also, can you disclose what happens to the signups that are through hosts who don't have a revenue sharing agreement with Attracta? I'm assuming that will go to cPanel? yes/no?
Can we see this page? Can we edit it on our servers to make sure it complies with our local laws and regulations? Not everyone is in the US.



That really isn't a good answer; what if I provide this service already and now you are undercutting me? (I don't provide this service, but let's just say I do).
You can see the interstitial pages once installed on your server. Let us know if something's wrong and we'll fix it.

You will be able to configure the service to remove tools to avoid channel conflicts.
 

dhabets

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You can see the interstitial pages once installed on your server. Let us know if something's wrong and we'll fix it.
Any way to see it without installing your software? You really want us to install it... why?

You will be able to configure the service to remove tools to avoid channel conflicts.
Well, if it's all so easy, then why not make it opt-in instead of opt-out? If I want it, I'll opt-in... I definitely don't want it right now, so why am I being forced to accept it?
 

TroyMcCasland

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Mar 22, 2010
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Are you going to put every host on the planet on this page?

Attracta's Partners

How come we are not there now?
Once our integration with cPanel is complete there will be a place to upload your logo and provide a company description. The system will automatically to check to make sure you have the Attracta logo on your website as well. Now it's a manual process and we are still waiting for you to provide us with your logo and company description.
 

texo

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Mar 28, 2007
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This should not be enabled by default. I pay a lot of $$$ every month for my cpanel licenses, and I don't want things like this appearing in my clients' cpanels without my permission.

Most of our clients use CMSs like WordPress and Joomla which have plugins to automate sitemap creation and submission.
 

Kent Brockman

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Jan 20, 2008
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Interesting discussion, but wait, the issue that is mostly concerning to OUR security policy is: the Attracta dashboard will run on OUR servers or in Attracta's servers?

Given the direction of this thread, I will definitely turn off this feature when available. Probably we'll check it on one or two test domains before allowing our customers to have access to this app. It has to pass or QA revisions and even that won't guarantee we agree to offer this to our customer base.

I'm sure you're ok with this kind of decision. But I can say that people is not aware of this future de-facto addon to cPanel. I'd like to recommend cPanel to make this feature more noticeable to forum participants, in order to get more opinions. You could highlight this feature the same way you are doing with the Siteocity thing. This thread have been viewed <1000 times, but only a few users have given their feedback, and it's very negative feedback, guys. @t Mail and Logaholic should also be highlighted since not everybody may be aware of this section of the forum (I must confess that I wasn't until a few weeks!)...

I want you to explain me PLEASE, WHY ATTRACTA MUST BE shipped by default, when other products are only available as plugins. I think Attracta should be nothing else than other cool plugin that you can add IF YOU WANT, like the ones from Fantastico Scripts, ClientExec, Softaculous, NDC, Munin, ClamAV, ConfigServer... They are all cool, and I need them and use them, but I'm happy because they are free and more important: I installed some of them because I wanted to, I was able to evaluate and choose, nobody forced me to use them.

I don't know guys, I'd like to read better arguments that "XML Sitemap creation and submission is more important than disc space, bandwidth, and backup", because those words sound like the typical from a sales rep trying to convince an end user, non-IT, audience. At less, I don't feel comfy and I still feel am willing to deactivate it from our feature manager.

Hope to see more diversity in opinions, negative or positive, but I'd like to hear more voices here.
 

lostmind

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May 4, 2006
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I have nothing against Attracta. I'm not opposed to the product they sell in anyway yet (I'm just installing & evaluating it now myself).

I AM opposed to having this turned on by default.

What if I decide the Attracta program isn't for my company & clients? I have to go and ensure after every cPanel update it's turned off?

What about my clients who have dedicated servers or VPS/VM's with me yet I do not have root access to their boxes? I *can't* go and turn it off? Yet you know they will complain to me that we've somehow mucked about with their cPanel/WHM and included Attracta. They won't be complaining to cPanel or Attracta.

So it's just an extra support ticket for my team to deal with. This makes me unhappy.

Maybe in a couple days when I'm done testing Attracta, I'll think it's the best thing since sliced bread. But I still don't think it's something that should be turned ON by default.
 
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tank

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The ironic thing is that I actually do seo (search engine optimization) practices for several clients and I offer web hosting. Even more ironic for SEO purposes don't confuse your product!!!!!!! Cpanel is great the way it is, why add a product like SEO services. Product confusion. Where is attractas automatic recommendation on that? Really come on. those "free tools" are also provided mostly by google as well. In all the books and seminars that I have attended, not one SEO professional has told me..... ready for it... "Oh yea attracta is a great for SEO". I honestly wonder why that is? Please don't pretend that submitting site maps is a very complicated thing. Also this is just the "foot in the door" Now you can also offer services by all our cpanel servers linking to your site.

Clearly the community has spoken on the issue of attracta being turned on by default. Why can't it be the other way around? If Attracta is so fantastic, then we should all want to turn on the this awesome product right.... Troy let the product speak for itself. Let us be the decision makers for our companies and our policies.

Here is a hint most people don't like the option of being forced into something. Heck that is why most of us use a linux environment. Very flexible.

Please Cpanel listen to the cries. If you guys aren't truly biased please formulate a response to all the questions.

Update*****
If attracta gets this... they will literally get thousands of incoming links from around the world to them. This alone is a SEO boost for attracta. Don't be fooled by their generosity.

Testimony: http://www.seomoz.org/q/attracta-com-weekly-submissions-to-top-100-search-engines
 
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TroyMcCasland

Active Member
Mar 22, 2010
32
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The ironic thing is that I actually do seo (search engine optimization) practices for several clients and I offer web hosting. Even more ironic for SEO purposes don't confuse your product!!!!!!! Cpanel is great the way it is, why add a product like SEO services. Product confusion. Where is attractas automatic recommendation on that? Really come on. those "free tools" are also provided mostly by google as well. In all the books and seminars that I have attended, not one SEO professional has told me..... ready for it... "Oh yea attracta is a great for SEO". I honestly wonder why that is? Please don't pretend that submitting site maps is a very complicated thing. Also this is just the "foot in the door" Now you can also offer services by all our cpanel servers linking to your site.

Clearly the community has spoken on the issue of attracta being turned on by default. Why can't it be the other way around? If Attracta is so fantastic, then we should all want to turn on the this awesome product right.... Troy let the product speak for itself. Let us be the decision makers for our companies and our policies.

Here is a hint most people don't like the option of being forced into something. Heck that is why most of us use a linux environment. Very flexible.

Please Cpanel listen to the cries. If you guys aren't truly biased please formulate a response to all the questions.

Update*****
If attracta gets this... they will literally get thousands of incoming links from around the world to them. This alone is a SEO boost for attracta. Don't be fooled by their generosity.

Testimony: Attracta.com / "weekly submissions to top 100 search engines" | SEOmoz Q&A

Many people question the need for an XML Sitemap, and for frequently updating it.
However, creating and submitting an accurate up-to-date and properly formatted XML Sitemap in a fundamental part on good on-site SEO

Google recommends XML Sitemap submission in all of their Webmaster and SEO tutorials:
" Whether your site is old or new, we highly recommend you submit an XML Sitemap" - Google Webmaster Tutorial

Testimony: In fact, recommending people NOT use an XML Sitemap is #4 on SEOmoz's list: "The Biggest SEO Mistakes SEOmoz Has Ever Made" written by a widely recognized SEO expert, the CEO of SEOMoz himself:
The Biggest SEO Mistakes SEOmoz Has Ever Made - Whiteboard Friday | SEOmoz
 

Kent Brockman

Well-Known Member
PartnerNOC
Jan 20, 2008
1,354
79
178
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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What about my clients who have dedicated servers or VPS/VM's with me yet I do not have root access to their boxes? I *can't* go and turn it off? Yet you know they will complain to me that we've somehow mucked about with their cPanel/WHM and included Attracta. They won't be complaining to cPanel or Attracta.

So it's just an extra support ticket for my team to deal with. This makes me unhappy.
This is an issue to me and others. You're surely not the only one in that position. Value added or annoyance added? That is the question.


The ironic thing is that I actually do seo (search engine optimization) practices for several clients and I offer web hosting. Even more ironic for SEO purposes don't confuse your product!!!!!!! Cpanel is great the way it is, why add a product like SEO services. Product confusion. Where is attractas automatic recommendation on that? Really come on. those "free tools" are also provided mostly by google as well.
I do SEO for my customers too, and sending sitemaps to the 2 major search engines (Google + Bing, which is running the Yahoo index actually) is the simplest task every SEO noob knows about. Also, looking for the best keywords for content is possible thru a number of services like AdWords Keyword Tool... One can question: how does Attracta improve those tasks for people actually doing SEO?
In the other hand, this app will put a great power in inexpert and/or bad guys. That should be at less, creepy, because Google will be receiving lots of sitemaps incorrectly build, or even for inadequate websites for the ecosystem.
 

dhabets

Well-Known Member
Dec 31, 2001
68
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306
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Ok, please answer this Why is this not opt-in?.
Troy, can you answer the question above? And please don't go on a rant telling me sitemaps are great and that's why it's on. Why don't you disclose the agreement between attracta and cpanel inc? I don't understand the hard sell...

Also, I still have to see the privacy pages, etc. I don't think I should have to install your software to see the terms of software use/service. And what if we don't agree to the terms? Are you going to accept all liability from the use of your service/software?
 
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