In 86k hits last month I had NO signups
Even if I had the worst site in the world I would atleast get 1 signup out of there wouldn't I?
:(

i average 1 signup for every 50 visitors... so there is something really wrong with your results...

Where did You advertise? on some porn sites?

Are this hits people looking for hosting or are they popups ?

That is a lot of traffic a ton actually What type of marketing are you doing ?

and that you didnt get 1 is kind of worrysome.

One thing I can think of is that you only off yearly billing, Alot of consumers are getting more cautious with their hosts and choosing to "test the waters" for a few months rahter than just jump in a pay a whole year knowing they risk the chance of loosing the money should you decide to close shop and pursue other interests.. This is something I would personally change ASAP..

Try looking into the entry page, exit page, and which page was hit the most during the particular month. That makes it clearer to determine where your customers hit the page most, etc.

Change the type field of your password during the signup process. Make a little bit of description what transfer or register means, etc. And besides, it requires me to fill in all information if I have missed one option in the signup page, try to change them to javascripts instead.

There are several suggestion of mine, hope that helps.

maybe it's because your signup page doesn't use ssl and just sends the customer's info via a formmail script? or because people have no way to know what payment methods you accept? or because your order confirmation page shows the price as $49/$84/$119 per *month*? or because you have a disclaimer on the order/confirm pages saying you're 14 years of age? or...?

Originally posted by CyberSol
In 86k hits last month I had NO signups
Even if I had the worst site in the world I would atleast get 1 signup out of there wouldn't I?
:(
Is it 86k "Hits" or 86k "Visits"? That's a big difference. A "Hit" is any file loading when a page is brought up (ie. loading your HTML is 1 hit, if you have 15 graphics on your homepage that's another 15 hits, etc.). Each time they click a link and go to another page, that's more "hits" but from the same visitor. So if you want to know the real number, look at the number of Visits you have in your logs, that's how many users have come to your site over the given time.

Originally posted by Woofcat
or because you have a disclaimer on the order/confirm pages saying you're 14 years of age? or...?

LOL

Originally posted by AboveCenter
Is it 86k "Hits" or 86k "Visits"? That's a big difference. A "Hit" is any file loading when a page is brought up (ie. loading your HTML is 1 hit, if you have 15 graphics on your homepage that's another 15 hits, etc.). Each time they click a link and go to another page, that's more "hits" but from the same visitor. So if you want to know the real number, look at the number of Visits you have in your logs, that's how many users have come to your site over the given time. Yeh. What Kevin said. :)

Yup..that'll do it.

Originally posted by Woofcat :
or because you have a disclaimer on the order/confirm pages saying you're 14 years of age? or...?

That should be the reason... at least your honest!

Well for starters the reason I have put my age on there is for the protection of myself and my clients, if I didn't put my age and I got into a sticky situation it would be more trouble than it will be now I have my age on there, also I will look into changing the order form into SSL instead of a normal form, there seems to be a glitch in the PHP on signup... I have asked my webdesigner (The person who does the website) to change the images on the front page to the according prices and payments etc..
Thanks for the advice

Also, the reason I have Bronze and Silver as yearly is because its to much hassle to just receive $5 dollars a month and I'm sure people wouldn't want to go to the hassle of sending it anyway...

or because you have a disclaimer on the order/confirm pages saying you're 14 years of age?


If you keep this, I don't think you will get any customer.

Another thing I forgot to mention, It is 86k hits and 1k Visitors... :) I'm wondering if these are including my clients hits and visitors aswell seeing as I am a reseller? I doubt it but just a thought

So your saying I should hide my age because I won't get any customers? I don't believe this to be right and ethical... I would rather be honest and get few customers than have loads of customers and get in trouble when something goes wrong.
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

Hey Cybor Sol, I would have to agree that one of the big problems is that I can choose credit card for a payment type but unless it asks for the number on the next page I don't see anywhere to enter my credit card #. And then there is the concern about your age. The one referral that you list is some guy named Peter, but if you go to his site it isn't even a site. Looks like he could be 14 too. The nice thing about refferals is you get to choose when people ask for one. You should choose that person carefully. I don't think Peter is a good choice in this case.

I just went back and looked at your site and read the pages carefully. You don't need to tell anyone you are 14, the verbage of your text says it for you. This isn't a put down or anything, I am just saying that from your text I would guess your age to be between 14 and 16. May want to change some of the verbage to be more business like.

I didn't write out the site. So there are probably alot of verbage mistakes and things that don't look right... Also I have noticed that error you pointed out to me :) Thanks,

Your prices look horrible! And 86,000 hits doesn't mean crap. How many unique visitors did you get? How did they get there? Did you pay a company that sends traffic to your site? It depends on the KIND of traffic. 86k hits from random visitors isn't worth anything. It has to be traffic that is in the market for web hosting. Also your site seems to lack, like it was setup overnight to run a scam or something. Fix this and you should get some business.

Hmm, you being 14, and letting potential clients know this, what do you think they think about when wondering who is monitoring the servers, providing customer support, etc. First thing that popped into my head was, wouldn't he be at school? So I think that when you have potential customers who probably have children your age they don't exactly think of Sabre Hosting as a professional service.

Do you do the support yourself?
If not you should place this on the site if you are stating your age.
How are you able to run this for credit cards anyway?
Are you using someone elses bank account?

Hi, I had 942 Unqiue visitors... The only advertising I have is in about 20 Hosting DIRs and a few banners around mates sites and a exchange program which asked where to specify so I selected hosting...
Also what do you mean my price look horrible?

Yes I do the support myself, I have a joint account with my father, Also I do private schooling via the internet so I am always available.

Iwould say the monthly hosting options are a good idea.
Looking at your deals I was drawn to the $9.99 a month one even though its more expensive in the long run. I think you could make the other options monthly payment, and of course increase the monthly costs to cover your expenses when processing the credit cards monthly. As for horrible prices I would say that the majority seem quite reasonable and would encourage rather than put me off due to the number of 'cheap hosts' I've had to endure in the past.
On the Company page don't tell people you are just starting out , you won't be lieing because you haven't claimed otherwise.

On the Services page put positive rather than negative words.
"Our plans offer the best quality hosting options for low affordable prices" This is good. :cool: Don't include the rest of the sentence ", we may not be the cheapest hosting service online but we do assure our service to be 100% quality" Your customer doesn't need to read this, so leave it out. Also you are telling them you are expensive, no you are not! So don't make them think you are.:mad:

I hope I am encouraging you rather than the opposite, but with just a few minor alterations you may do very well.
Also when advertising it pays to look at traditional media , your local paper, community forum, maybe advertising in local stores with an A4 poster in the window?? Coloured paper works best for this, just black ink on coloured paper mind you, no full colour posters!
It may not get you results quickly, but it will promote your company name, and result in some sales hopefully.

Good Luck! :cartman:

Originally posted by CyberSol
Also, the reason I have Bronze and Silver as yearly is because its to much hassle to just receive $5 dollars a month and I'm sure people wouldn't want to go to the hassle of sending it anyway...

i offer 3.95/mo and people pay it!

most jump on the yearly prices after a month or two simply because i offer a 25% discount on prices.

Rule #1: Don't make up your customers opinions based on yours :)

...resisting urge to comment...

*sigh*

I cannot.

There are literally hundreds of reasons I would never use your service, but in order to give the air of pleasantry i wont list them here, pm me if interested.

AIM me at alterasupport. I'll give you some pointers.

Originally posted by CyberSol
In 86k hits last month I had NO signups
Even if I had the worst site in the world I would atleast get 1 signup out of there wouldn't I?
:(

uhh how do you have feedback if you dont have any customers???

In reply to DarrenS thankyou ever so much for that advice it was the best I've had in this forum. Pyschalgia, please share with us your comments in this thread I'm sure we're all interested in hearing them :)
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

I didn't say I haven't got any customers... I said I didn't have any signups in those 86k of hits, also I am advertising locally in the newspaper and I have a few flyers around :)

Originally posted by CyberSol
In reply to DarrenS thankyou ever so much for that advice it was the best I've had in this forum. Pyschalgia, please share with us your comments in this thread I'm sure we're all interested in hearing them :)
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

Well the interaction ive had with you, outside this specific thread has shown you to be basically a mindless drone, and whats worse you're a minor. A minor with bad grammar. I wouldn't trust a cheese sandwich to you, much less my web services.

I am sorry if this is an unpopular opinion, but minors do NOT belong running companies. It is irresponsible and reckless. I know you post a disclaimer, but thats of little matter...the point is it is innapropriate.

Like I say, sorry if my opinion is unpopular, but as you know I choose my business interactions very carefully. I guess that would make me "an agist." :rolleyes:

Your not the only one w/ hits and not 1 signup.
So far this month 231 Unique not 1 signup and only 1 posted in pre-sales.

I know my site isn't best, but gosh bad enough ppl don't want to save upto 65% off signup :( :eek
I didn't think my plans sucked that bad, even if ugly site ;)


back to subject- I think your refferring to "hits" my hits are "44592" thats 44k but only means 231 unique ppl.
Recheck your stats ;)

hits are typically every little file on your page being downloaded. It is likely youve had around 100-1000 unique visitors.

Originally posted by Esr Tek
Your not the only one w/ hits and not 1 signup.
So far this month 231 Unique not 1 signup and only 1 posted in pre-sales.

I know my site isn't best, but gosh bad enough ppl don't want to save upto 65% off signup :( :eek
I didn't think my plans sucked that bad, even if ugly site ;)


back to subject- I think your refferring to "hits" my hits are "44592" thats 44k but only means 231 unique ppl.
Recheck your stats ;)

Make sure your order form is working, because I found out the hard way. I had an error on my order page for about 15 days and didn't realize it. That would explain why I didn't get any signups for those 15 days :)

>>Sabre Hosting is a top quality web hosting, web design and domain registration services at affordable prices.

Soon as I saw that sentence I was done. You might want to have your grammar cyber-teacher go over all of your pages for grammar/spelling checks. I didn't see any obvious spelling errors, but the grammar and plurals thing is pretty bad, bro. No shame in using an editor's services - if yer gonna have a commercial website it needs to be top notch.

Are you in the US? Isn't it illegal to enter into an agreement at 14?

re: $5 a month - there are a multitude of software packages out there that will automate this for you.

the thing is, lotsa folks will pay $10 a month before they'll pay $90 for a year's service. Looks cheaper. I didn't think your prices were bad, they're just presented badly.

But - while I think you're a bit young to run a hosting business, I certainly applaud you having interest...most 14 year olds I know care about nothing but what's on MTV and hanging out in the mall.

Bravo!

and posted references would be good. Very good. As long as they appear competent.

I posted earlier about the verbage in your site and site and Hux mentioned it again. You say;

"Bronze service plan is designed in mind for small sites, that is for information to people about your company or non-company, or hosting a web site for a gaming group as a section of your overall gaming group. Where you have a few pages and images."

"Silver service plan for medium site's that has large community and heavy on graphics, best suited for the type of people that design web base games or a medium buisness site with a huge client list."

"Gold service plan, designed to support large buisness sites, gaming clan home site and sites with auctions or E-shops like Amazon.com or Ebay.com"

I am going to give you examples of what not to say.
In each of your plans you refer to "gaming sites". If I am a businessperson, (oh yeah, I am a businessman) I don't give a s$^t about games. It tells me that whoever wrote this is a kid. I told you before that I could tell your age by the verbiage. And as Hux pointed out the grammar is horrible.
If you are serious about your business you need to revamp your entire site and make it professional. I posted earlier about the verbage in your site and site and Hux mentioned it again. Then there is the spelling. In the few short sentences I pasted here I glanced at over it and see at least 5 spelling errors and numerous grammatical errors.
If you are serious about your business you need to revamp your entire site and make it professional.
I hope you take this as constructive criticism and not a personal attack. You asked, I told.

Originally posted by psychalgia
hits are typically every little file on your page being downloaded. It is likely youve had around 100-1000 unique visitors.

__________________
I am a racist because I don't like people who cannot spell.


Sorry, I couldn't resist. Don't be too hard on yourself. ;)

i think what the previous post means to say is '**** or get off the pot' if gaming sites are your focus than FOCUS. if you want business customers than STOP talking about game sites. its a turn off. kids are a pain in the ass to get money out of, but there just arent as many sites catering to them. and if i was 14 i wouldnt mind giving my money to a 14 year old, but if i was a business it WOULD bother me.

Is there anyone who would offer a service to go over the site with a fine tooth comb to find out any grammatical errors and bad verb age, ?
Thanks for the advice its all taken well in mind :)
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

Originally posted by optout
__________________
I am a racist because I don't like people who cannot spell.


Sorry, I couldn't resist. Don't be too hard on yourself. ;)

i dont like apostrophes.

it means "you have" and its legit, but apostrophes hurt my finger.

CyberSol,

Can I ask you some questions? Please don't be offended.

Honestly, why did you want to start a hosting business? How are you going to handle support, do you go to school? Do your parents approve of you taking on the responsibility and workload that accompanies owning this type of business?

Certainly Optout :),
The reason I wanted to start a hosting business, was because I am interested in the internet/computers/technology in general and I came to these forums back in October 2002 and as most people were looking for a free host to run my shoutcast server. Well after that I checked on these forums regularly and spent hours reading about what interesting things were happening, so I started doing some research into actually becoming a hosting company. After about 3 months research I decided to start up a hosting company, on a reseller account, I had long discussions with my parents about starting it up and they approved and we also saw it as a great learning opportunity. So I created a business plan and sorted out all the relavent things.

Yes I do go to school, online though. I am going to handle support via emails and instant messengers, and hopefully soon a help desk.

Hope this helps :)
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting.

Originally posted by psychalgia

I am sorry if this is an unpopular opinion, but minors do NOT belong running companies. It is irresponsible and reckless. I know you post a disclaimer, but thats of little matter...the point is it is innapropriate.


innapropriate = inappropriate

Service with a smile.

Have you looked at your stats to see where most people leave your site at? If its your order page then most likely it has to do with your choice of elements on the page.

Originally posted by Caffling
innapropriate = inappropriate

Service with a smile.

i was on the phone.

Cyber - to answer your question. yes my order forms worked, I successfully got a fraud order :eek :(

Where may I ask you go to online school..
I'd like to look into this option if they do younger kids too ;)

(edit) wow as we speak an order.. checkin twice now though ;)

Hi, I don't want to go into detail about my schooling but check out www.theschools.com :)
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

thanks, just wanted to look at what they offer ;)

Originally posted by CyberSol
Hi, I don't want to go into detail about my schooling but check out www.theschools.com :)
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

How does that actually work? I mean, how can you sit infront of a monitor for 6-7 hours straight?

Originally posted by dbbrock1
How does that actually work? I mean, how can you sit infront of a monitor for 6-7 hours straight?

i work in tech support for online banking, (full time), then i go home

www.downshiftonpedestrians.com/slush/bedroom2.jpg

and do that for another 6-8 hours.

you get used to it over time :(

i spend ~100 hours in front of a monitor every week

This is a joke, and honestly I don't think it is good practice for everyone to encourage and give pointers to 14 year old hosts.

As stated before, I admire his drive and wish him good luck in the future.

But for the protection of his customers, his parents assets, and in the name of all of us who are in the industry: If you are under 18, get the experience you need, learn, and then eventually jump in.

I personally wouldn't use a 14yr old host parents backing or not. :eek

However I do admire his ambition :) I feel that maybe a better avenue (where it seems age isn't such a factor) would be Web Design+Web Hosting those clients ;)

It seems that the "young" designers will get their good share of clientele, as long as they can design or code decently. Then you host those clients and gain that aspect of experience via a reliable reseller account.
This may be a area to look at.

This would give you experience in 2-3 different areas that would server you good :D
Then if nothing else would set you up for "real world" market jobs for design, coding. Linux or NT admin.
with 4yrs experience (when your 18) and a few certs by then and your choices would be so vast and could literally be swamped w/ options.

My best advice is do everything now a learning experience, don't focus so much on 1 aspect.
Use this time not to make money now, but set yourself up for a good life from a very young age. :D

Cybersol,

I would suggest that you market your hosting service and overall Web design appeal towards teens. Maybe offer a single plan with a few gigs of bandwidth for $50 per year for personal Web sites. You can make descent money and most teens wouldn't have a problem with your age. Consolidate your market and offer your services to a particular group and you can be successful.

Yea, definitely. Let's not forget that we have a bright young person here actually looking to do something constructive. If I could get close enough I'd give the kid a hug :)

I have a mother in law that taught English for years and years and years, master's degree in education, blahblahblah - she proofs all my copy, and she is brutal - but accurate. My copy is much the better fer it.

BTW - fer those feeling the need to correct spelling in a forum post - please. It's not the same thing. There's absolutely no shame in getting someone more educated to proof professional copy, and I sho 'nuff don't discount good advice here because of an apostrophe in the wrong place. Bah.

Cybersol, if you'd like, I can ask her to look it over and make some suggestions. Doubt she'd charge much, if anything. She's on a mission to rid the world of bad grammar, you see :)

PM me.

I have my own personal doubts about the value of intellectual education without the social education you get from being around other live humans, but I reckon that's prolly getting off topic pretty heavily.

hmmmm....is english your native language?

Yes it is why?
And I will contact you about looking over the site and stuff :)
Thanks for your time,
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting

I was just curious, yer whois came back with a non-US addy....thought that might explain the grammar stuff.

I am British, I live in Spain, The person who did the site is foreign thats why there are so many grammar mistakes that I didn't see :)
Thanks,
Regards.

FACT: During Gulf War (part I) Cybersol wasn't even 2 years old!

Amazing that someone this young can figure out this much about computers, though. I think he will go very far, and do very well - I just think you should take it a bit slower. By the time you are 18, I am sure you will be making more money then I am :-)

A few things struck me . . .

1, EVERYTHING about the site screams 'amateur' - the grammar is awful. As the guy said above I wouldn't trust you with my lunch much less my site.

2, This sentence : "Sabre Hosting is a web hosting company that puts customer satisfaction before profits !" - my first thought is that you're a liar, why the hell would you pour the effort into a company if not to make a profit ?

3, If I accept that you're in it as a hobby (not for profit) I am NOT going to trust you with my site - I expect my account to be run professionally by someone who depends on my satisfaction to earn their living.

4, 14 year olds have absolutely NO place in business - they are simply not mature enough to accept that kind of responsibility. Nothing personal, it's a simple fact.

Overall your site 100% looks like it's been knocked out by a 14 year old - that's why you're not getting, and don't deserve, any signups.

And before everyone flames me, no I won't go easy on him because he's 14 - if he's mature enough to run a business he's mature enough to receive criticism.

The whole thing just sucks - kids should NOT be running businesses.

Originally posted by CyberSol
I am British, I live in Spain, The person who did the site is foreign thats why there are so many grammar mistakes that I didn't see :)
Thanks,
Regards.


It doesn't sound like you are taking this too seriously if you, as the "head" of the company, do not realize what you are portraying to your prospective customer base.

You shouldn't have to micro-manage, but when you are first getting off the ground, I would assume that you would have your fingers in every aspect of what is going on.

Thankyou all for the advice.
:) I am in the process of getting a new designer to redesign the site and also getting a few people to go through the site to get rid of grammar errors.
Once again thanks for the advice! :)
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting.

Originally posted by CyberSol
Thankyou all for the advice.
:) I am in the process of getting a new designer to redesign the site and also getting a few people to go through the site to get rid of grammar errors.
Once again thanks for the advice! :)
Regards,
Sabre-Hosting.

You know, some of you threw some pretty hard fastballs at this kid but he didn't flinch. Good luck in your business. You've been polite and ignored every harsh word about your age that I saw while browsing this thread. I've seen some true maturity in this youth that I have not seen in several others in this forum.

I'm not saying that the advice was not good, just commending him on keeping it professional no matter what people told him. :)

Hi Solomon,

I'm gonna have to say, that the "14 years old" thing, being straight out published on your site, is going to kill almost every sell, you could otherwise have made, if this wasn't on your site.

Being honest with your customers, and offering information that they didn't ask for is two different things.

If you want to be honest with customers, tell them how old you are, if they ask. You don't have to put this information on your forehead, so to speak.

I think everything has pretty much been covered in this thread.

Just remember...if you don't put your age on your site, you're not lying. So long as you tell them the truth when they ask.

Originally posted by gazibidian
You know, some of you threw some pretty hard fastballs at this kid but he didn't flinch. Good luck in your business. You've been polite and ignored every harsh word about your age that I saw while browsing this thread. I've seen some true maturity in this youth that I have not seen in several others in this forum.

I'm not saying that the advice was not good, just commending him on keeping it professional no matter what people told him. :)

yeah, i was a bit surprised...those limeys are pretty cool headed people though :stickout:

Solomon is a very good kid.

I chat with him on AIM from time to time, and he has always been polite, inviting to advice, and mature about the whole thing.

I truly would like to see him succeed.

I feel he is very serious about this business, and didn't doubt that a few harsh words would shake him.

You have to remember....this same "kid" came to me asking for advice about business plans, hosting package setup, how he should go about setting up his business, what type of payments he should accept, having his father register a business name, etc... So at least he knows the right questions, and wants to do it legally

His head is straight. He doesn't seem to be the typical 14 year old kid that decides to start a hosting business, because it's the "cool" thing to do (like we've seen so many of here).

I just hope he stays on the path he is on.

So many young business people start seeing $$$ and have a hard time handling it, hell a lot of adults have the same problem....lol

4, 14 year olds have absolutely NO place in business - they are simply not mature enough to accept that kind of responsibility. Nothing personal, it's a simple fact.

I saw a lot more maturity displayed by this "kid" than by most of the people who have responded to this thread.

I wish you the best of luck Solomon. If you can take the above criticism and constructively apply it, you'll be way ahead of the game!

Thanks guys :)
One thing

yeah, i was a bit surprised...those limeys are pretty cool headed people though

What are limeys? Lol
Also thanks to Mark from AvidNewMedia, its nice to know someone realises that not everyone is the same :)

Kind regards,
Sabre-Hosting

around here:

yanks == americans
limeys == brits
micks == irish
canucks == canadians
bagpipers == scottish

we can go on from there if you like, but id rather not :)

Ah right, thanks Psychalgia :)
Kind regards,
Sabre-Hosting

Way to hang in there CyberSol. I will be in contact with you soon. Been a chaotic week for me.

Originally posted by CyberSol
Ah right, thanks Psychalgia :)
Kind regards,
Sabre-Hosting

No need for the:

Regards,
......
or
Kind regards,
......

You are writing to a public forum, not one of your client's:)


-Name here will do

Originally posted by gazibidian
You know, some of you threw some pretty hard fastballs at this kid but he didn't flinch. Good luck in your business. You've been polite and ignored every harsh word about your age that I saw while browsing this thread. I've seen some true maturity in this youth that I have not seen in several others in this forum.

I'm not saying that the advice was not good, just commending him on keeping it professional no matter what people told him. :)

I couldn't agree more with this. All I see on this board is criticisms, “you can’t do this because of this”, etc. In case people didn’t realize, times are changing, you don’t have to be a slave at a job until you’re 40 and then branch off and start your own business. You can jump in on the web any time you like. If you don’t like it, great, but slamming people all the time for having different beliefs than you gets no one anywhere. I don’t think the goal of this board is for people to ask for help and then get slammed. If I’m wrong and that’s the goal of this board, could someone point me in the direction of another board where it’s to actually help people?

im just not positive you can legally operate a business as a minor?

Originally posted by psychalgia
i work in tech support for online banking, (full time), then i go home

www.downshiftonpedestrians.com/slush/bedroom2.jpg

and do that for another 6-8 hours.

you get used to it over time :(

i spend ~100 hours in front of a monitor every week

OT:
Isn't that Laptop placed a bit too dangerous on top of your tower? It looks like it will fall off soon :rolleyes:

Originally posted by dbbrock1
No need for the:

Regards,
......
or
Kind regards,
......

You are writing to a public forum, not one of your client's:)


-Name here will do

Or so you think.

Regards,
Caffling

Originally posted by Caffling
Or so you think.

Regards,
Caffling

You're evil ;)

Regards,
Owner of AlteraHosting
Daniel B. Brock

Yall are brutal.

warm regards,
hux
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
just some guy