How did your hosting website start out?

[Talk2Me]

How did your hosting website start out? I have not had much luck, I'm not getting any hits. I've registered at hostreview.com and search engines.. any suggestinos? I am a reseller of a Big Hosting company

[ProWebUK]

This is the same problem as we had when starting out.

We found the best way was "real" advertising. You may want to look at advertising in popular places such as webhostingtalk (webhostingtalk.com) or if you dont want quite as many sales, you could advertise here.

Some more input on this topic would be nice aswell...i personally wouldnt mind seeing how other hosts advertise

Regards
Chris

[eHostSpace]

I've tried advertising here, 100% no sales at all. There are more hosters than hostees here. Webhostingtalk is too big a market for advertisement. Though there are many fishes there, there are much much more fishermen than fishes who provide better bait. The prices in WHT is pathetic.

[northwind]

Agreed, WHT has become a place where hosting companies die off because of the ridiculous pricing.

When we started out, word of mouth was our best method.

There really is no other way for a new hosting company to start out. =P.

[ProWebUK]

google adwords looks good and you can set the price for each click through yourself, then everytime msomeone searches with a keyword you have chosen it will be shown on the right in the green box..........

We are thinking of trying it...... you can go from £15 per month so you have nothiong to lose either B)

Chris

[eHostSpace]

Those companies offering cheap accounts are just waiting to die one day, and any time, they could pack and run...and you will be sitting there with your site down, desperate for another host.

[ProWebUK]

i use WHT quite a lot but i try to keep my prices as close to normal as possible, the prices are never as low as some of the others and alot of the time i dont even use my favourite web hosting quote....... i just leave our offer there and if they accept it......... well, thats their choice

Chris

[bitstream]

I have had good success using Google Adwords, and I am thinking of expanding to other PPC engines such as overture and kanoodle. My Adwords advertising has been somewhat expensive, though, as I try to stay close to the top of the ranks. Take advantage of as many of the hosting directories as you can, especially if they let you list for free. Other things I have done is to form partnerships with web design companies - I host their site for free, they refer all of their design customers to me for hosting. I have also recently been trading hosting accounts to fairly high traffic sites that would give me exclusive static banner ads, but only sites with over 500 uniques per day. I think the key is to start thinking out of the box a little bit, and don't be afraid to sell inexpensively to begin with. If you give someone a $15 account for $5 a month, and you do a good job supporting that customer, they will start to send you business that WILL pay you full price. So far this is working for me, and I was running at a profit after just a few months.

[bitstream]

Oh, a few other things I have tried - popunder ads suck. At least the ones that I paid for did. $150 cost, zero signups. I have also purchased banner impressions and guaranteed traffic from ebay. Its dirt cheap, so your risk is pretty low, but the results are kind of hit and miss. Some have done ok, some have done exactly squat.

[TLP]

I use WHT also, I keep my Prices as stated.

I do make custom plans every now and then..


This site is more for web hosting companys then people looking for a web host.

Nice place to come and chat.