Hi,

I wonder for any of the hosts out there - where have you invested money to advertise your company? I am thinking of Google's AdWords, plus one or two other banner opportunities that I know about.

Anyone else have ideas?

Thanks,

James

I havent tried google ad words but have heard about it.
That may be worth doing, Im not sure.
I run a few banner ads, if the price is right BUT overall I still think word of mouth is the best ad for any company, regardless of what the company is.

People use a product (or in this case...service) and then spread the word, and it goes from there.

I like banner ads simply for getting the name out there.
Good Luck

Word of mouth, mostly. :)

Also working well for us is our affiliate program. This is different than resellers becuase ANYONE can do this. It just requires that someone sign up for an affiliate ID link with us. If anyone purchases hosting through their affiliate ID, they get 10% of the sale.

We've had very good luck with webmaster specific newsletters as well.

--Tina

My personal opinion is that google adwords has really gone down hill. There used to be 3 ads per page, but a few months ago they allowed more ads per page (up to 7 now I believe). Since then I have noticed a drop in the effectiveness of the ads and have dumped them for now.

Banner ads are ok I have found, don't expect too much from them right away though. I would suggest not going for a host directory right away and advertising on a place where webmasters go, like a popular script archive. Basicly I figure out how I found the many hosting companies I was with three years ago and advertise in the places I used to look ;)

well first start submitting your site to search engines like yahoo.com and lycos.com. They are free. Then see how many customers you get and if its working. You'll know there is no need to pay that money for banners.:cartman:

Yahoo isn't free.

--Tina

But I beleive yahoo has had great results. I know a medical supplies distributer who sold his stuff online only at yahoo. He did not use any other search engine and he had customized his site and used a domain name such that his site would figure on top of yahoo lists . I know he had incredible sales.

The best way to advertise is branding your service....
Advertise everywhere and you would see results.

Companies Branding their services:

www.addr.com
www.*****.com

take a look at most of the directories and you would see their name on a button or a ad..... The more people know about the name of your company, the more chances that they would come to you.

Yes word of mouth has worked the best for me :)

Thanks for all the replies - especially about google's adwords.

Of course, SE submission is a given - and would certainly happen..

but it's also interesting about the advertising where people go. thanks for that. :)

James

You might want to try some web hosting directories and web hosting portals, word of mouth is definately the best type of advertising but you need clients first :)

If you have a budget of over $1300, you should try CJ.com - make an affiliate porgram, and sell on CPA, or CPC basis.


Cheers!

What is CPA basis?

CPC is Cost per Click right?

What the heck is CPA?

CPA - Cost Per Action

get paid every time you sell something through your site.

like Amazon affiliate program.

List your company in as many hosting directories as possible!