How can I increase my client database?

I'm disabled and hoping that I can make a reasonable income off hosting and web design. My focus will not be on being the cheapest web host, but being the best support available. I can handle the advertising in my town but I'm lost when it comes to gaining clients from advertising on the internet. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Brad Nelson

brad,
keep your prices above $15 and don't sell crazy packages for $5.
This way, you can maintain the high support and make some good money while doing it and be happy about it!

How to advertise on the net...
Webhosting clients mostly comes from word of mouth, You will have a long period till you gain about 50 customers which is the basis of your word of mouth advertisers.

Long period will take around 6-8 months, If you have some money you can buy advertisements, get yourself listed in all the engines, resources, chat on this board.

Once you reach around 50 clients you will have a somewhat steady base of referals , open up a referal program and you'll get some more customers.

If you need more help, Send me an ICQ message

#18356714

I have not done this, something Im planning to do, if you have the money, signup with cj, or a program like it. Do pay per sale. Seems to me that it is a great way, you only have to give money when you make it, and if you brand the banners it would help get your name out.

Pay Yahoo 200 bucks :D

i don't think internet advertising is worth the money. Instead, get a listing on the host directories and maybe give away some accounts to people who you know who talk a lot. Give them great support and they will recommend people. I think these 2 things would work better then web ads.

If you pay yahoo, make sure your site is viewable in netscape, I made that misatake before..

I am with Dogma, give away a few accounts on forums such as this and people are going to hit your site and see what you have to offer. If your truly want to offer excellent support Word of Mouth, the best advertising, will spread and you will have more clients than you know what to do with, in no time. Good luck.

Hi Brad.

20GB seems like a lot of transfer for $19.95.

Can you still make a decent profit?

Originally posted by horoscopes2000
Hi Brad.

20GB seems like a lot of transfer for $19.95.

Can you still make a decent profit?

Only if their customers don't use it. Bandwidth is more expensive than $1 / GB for most hosting companies.

Most web accounts don't use anywhere near that much bandwidth, so its a safe bet.

Take care,

Brian

I see. Playing on the law of averages. I always imagined if you offer xGB, you get flooded with ppl who make darn sure they use it.

horoscopes2000 ,

20gb is what im allowed to give to each client, therfor i decided to just advertise that. I really think for $19.95, 20gb is a heck of a deal and im suprised only a few people have signed up for it.

thanks,

Brad

Yeah, seems like a good deal. There's so many hosts out there nowadays, it'll take time for word of mouth to get out, just like Gordon said.

He's an old pro you know. :o)

Since you are offering design as well as hosting, cold call some local businesses and offer up your service.

That was the hardest thing for me to do, but it worked. Do some research first and learn how, then go for it.

The people you sell locally will pay more and refer more than others.

Chris

Originally posted by brad_nelson1
horoscopes2000 ,

20gb is what im allowed to give to each client, therfor i decided to just advertise that. I really think for $19.95, 20gb is a heck of a deal and im suprised only a few people have signed up for it.

thanks,

Brad



Maybe it is because not everyone needs that much of transfer. I mean, most of the web sites are not bigger than 5megs, and people look for low-cost-hosting.

If I would be looking for a web host, I would sing up for 20gigs of bandwidth only if I needed it. I would make sure I would use up all of it, or otherwise I would look for a cheaper host, with less bandwidth. ;)

Originally posted by davidb
I have not done this, something Im planning to do, if you have the money, signup with cj, or a program like it. Do pay per sale. Seems to me that it is a great way, you only have to give money when you make it, and if you brand the banners it would help get your name out.

What a way to CHEAT webmasters into giving you free branding. I make money running ads on one of my sites, and when I use cj I NEVER EVER try out ones that pay per lead/referral/sale. Just too easy for those advertisers to cheat me.

Originally posted by Skeptical


What a way to CHEAT webmasters into giving you free branding. I make money running ads on one of my sites, and when I use cj I NEVER EVER try out ones that pay per lead/referral/sale. Just too easy for those advertisers to cheat me.

Agreed. This is true because there is no really good way to determine what is a lead. Sure a click through could be considered a lead, but unless the advertiser defines that ahead of time as what constitutes a lead, you cannot be sure.

If the advertiser determines a lead as someone who fills out a form on their website expressing interest, there is no way for the affiliate to track the lead, thus no way for them to know if they should be compensated for it.

Stick with Pay per Impression, or Pay per Click unless you know the company is going to live up to its promise.

Take care,

Brian

Hi Brad,

Some good advice so far, especially about word of mouth. We have found that word of mouth within a specific industry or field helps. You mention that you are disabled. There are many businesses geared toward the disabled, many business people who are disabled, many services, etc. out there. Perhaps if you cornered that market, you would be on your way with a solid client base from which to grow. People always like to help their own in business, y'know... use that to your advantage is what I'm suggesting :D

"How do I reach that market?" you ask.

Consider what others have suggested by offering some free hosting or take out some targeted advertising.

Hope that helps -- good luck to you!

Marc

Originally posted by bteeter


If the advertiser determines a lead as someone who fills out a form on their website expressing interest, there is no way for the affiliate to track the lead, thus no way for them to know if they should be compensated for it.

Brian

Sadly, this is very true. There are many sites who consider a "lead" to be a long series of actions the visitor has to take. As you quite rightly said, filling in a form is typical, and some then add some kind of "confirmation" that has to be carried out.

I experienced exactly this with paypal.com. The list of requirements to actually get your $5 is now about 5 items long, whereas it only used to be "sign up and confirm".

From a personal point of view, my affiliate program will remember where your visitor came from (via a cookie of course) and if they leave, then come back and buy (which is most common) you still get rewarded.

My program is operated and audited by clickbank.com, and they credit the affiliates account before they credit mine. I have not had one query with regards to "where's my money?" from any affiliates.

But unfortunately there are quite a lot of liars out there though so being guarded is the best approach.

Yep, I made a whopping $5 off them... Before they came out with the long lists of hoops one has to go through before they pay off.

ReFresh

:eek: A year old thread? :eek2:

Originally posted by SoftWareRevue
:eek: A year old thread? :eek2:

He brought up another old thread in the webhosting forum about unlimitedhostingplans.com too :rolleyes:

Just a note, the Yahoo! Express fee is no $299 Annualy. Just a note for all of you who are interested.

http://add.yahoo.com/fast/add?+Business

You will find out more information at that link.

Let the past die.... :rolleyes:

I think his name 'Refresh' says it all ;-)