I was wondering how new web hosting companies can attract customers?

anybody got any secrets?

Word of mouth
Local customers (friends, neighbours, talk to people in your city ...offer your services to local companies and expand.
Web Hosting Directories
Paid Advertising
TV Ads :D


... there are so many ways. :)

Be honest.
Be respectful.
Be honest.
Be responsive.
Be honest.
Be reasonable.
Be honest.
Be helpful.
Be honest.

When you do those things, the rest falls into place.

thanks.

but I was wondering how to get noticed, basically where to advertise for free.

I'm working on getting some ads up for around my community but I live in Newfoundland, Canada. I do not live in a city area. so most people in my area don't make web pages. lol

thanks for the advice.

Annette, I like the "be honest, be honest" thing, that is really what you need to get ahead. :)

I am interested in learning more about this also. I am considering reselling in a geographic area that is relatively =unconnected=. Because they aren't as connected as the rest of the country (USA) it would seem that now would be a great time to get in and start creating a presence.

Pricing needs to be inexpensive. There are lots of plans out there that would allow me to offer several plans for both personal and business use for under 20 bucks a month. Making 5-10 bucks per account a month.

My business model works with this type of revenue stream. I think adding 1-2 accounts a week is possible once some sort of name recognition is created.

Unfortunately, marketing needs to be =very= inexpensive in the beginning. From what I have read on the board so far it seems that gorilla marketing methods that are most effective are-

1- Personal informational visits to businesses in the area.
2- Always carrying business cards to had out
3- Barter hosting for advertising
4- 30 day guarantee for new sign ups
5- Referral program- Something like 1 month free for each new client referred
6- Offer several high profile businesses free hosting for a short period of time (1-3 months) to build client list

What additional ideas do you folks have? It sounds like a lot of people get into this as a second income with hopes of building it to a full time situation working out of a spare bedroom in the beginning and having a couple hundred bucks a month for initial marketing.

Thanks for any input you can give
Bill