Hi,

Just wondering what people have found to be the best promotional ideas , not 'spend 100K on advertising', but little things that worked really well....

Posting on this board :)

The best promotional ideas are those that you don't share with your competitors ;) Is your business related to hosting or design?

Originally posted by Kiwi
The best promotional ideas are those that you don't share with your competitors ;) Is your business related to hosting or design?

It is hosting :)

The reason I asked was that was I believe these forums are overly commercial, tales of woe over hosts, and offers and counter offers of services. I just wanted to push the openess factor into exchanging ideas etc

Besides, any stupid wacky things could be interesting - like I emailed on spec a quite well known UK comedian and gave him some free hosting etc - and most of his fan club decided to get domains etc from us!

Originally posted by Studio-51
Besides, any stupid wacky things could be interesting - like I emailed on spec a quite well known UK comedian and gave him some free hosting etc - and most of his fan club decided to get domains etc from us!

Hmm... (Mentally going through list of people/orgs with big followings that could use some free hosting.)

:D ;) :D

haha, good idea, i'll have to try that....

Originally posted by slade


Hmm... (Mentally going through list of people/orgs with big followings that could use some free hosting.)

:D ;) :D

hmmm... as opposed to physically going through the list? :D :D :D

This will be my first time advertising.
I'm about ready to start advertising my business, I have teamed up with a print shop and we will be advertising together to keep costs down.

I came up with some ideas using some pictures that I took of my friends to help grab the readers eye and then hopefully get them to call us or go to our web site to find out more than what's on this small flyer.

I'll be printing one of these 3 designs, I would like feed back, I'm not sure what one will catch their eye better, and sell my services.

http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/134.jpg

http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/136.jpg

http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/135.jpg

Also, if anyone has tried mailings before and their success?

u mihgt want to reconsider the first one, unless of course u have an agreement with DC Shoes.

Originally posted by jessep
This will be my first time advertising.
I'm about ready to start advertising my business, I have teamed up with a print shop and we will be advertising together to keep costs down.

I came up with some ideas using some pictures that I took of my friends to help grab the readers eye and then hopefully get them to call us or go to our web site to find out more than what's on this small flyer.

I'll be printing one of these 3 designs, I would like feed back, I'm not sure what one will catch their eye better, and sell my services.

http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/134.jpg

http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/136.jpg

http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/135.jpg

Also, if anyone has tried mailings before and their success?

Good point, i'll just photoshop that out. You'll never know it was there.

Can you tell the sweat shirt is ROXY? Too obvious?

Originally posted by jessep
Can you tell the sweat shirt is ROXY? Too obvious? It's obvious now that you've mentioned it! Seriously, might as well get rid of that too. And, while you're at it, correct the spelling in the copy; that should be "we'll waive the setup fee."

Thanks for the suggestions.
I'm sure no one will stop me for just sending out 5,000 flyers to small businesses in my local area for having a somewhat visible ROXY present. (would be too difficult to remove, might look funny)

It looks like I'll most likely be going with:
http://jessebox.pluginbox.net/downloads/136.jpg

I'll be fixing spelling and some wording before sending it out.
"forever" & "In-house"

It's kind of funny how everyone I ask comments on the images or design but doesn't point out a favorite.

I think the most proven idea is starting an affiliate program. It seems to do well for most hosts ... especially if you run it through a large affiliate network like CJ.com.

iPowerweb and Lunarpages use CJ and they are very well travelled sites as a result.

I think the most proven idea is starting an affiliate program. It seems to do well for most hosts ... especially if you run it through a large affiliate network like CJ.com.

iPowerweb and Lunarpages use CJ and they are very well travelled sites as a result.
That's a great idea. I didn't know that there are web sites that specialize in that sort of thing. I wrote an affiliate program/scripts that I am about to dump because our 90 some odd affiliates haven't gotten me one new hosting contract.

I get all of these affiliates by using a program that my partner wrote called "Ghost Surfer" you can find it on Downloads.com I thought that Idea was pretty genius but it hasn't really gotten us much because our affiliate program is busted and we have outrageous pricing on our site until i post the new pricing. :D

Originally posted by jessep

That's a great idea. I didn't know that there are web sites that specialize in that sort of thing. I wrote an affiliate program/scripts that I am about to dump because our 90 some odd affiliates haven't gotten me one new hosting contract.


Of course, running a successful affiliate program requires longterm commitment ...

And If you pay generous commissions, you can expect to grow very fast with CJ.com.


I get all of these affiliates by using a program that my partner wrote called "Ghost Surfer" you can find it on Downloads.com I thought that Idea was pretty genius but it hasn't really gotten us much because our affiliate program is busted and we have outrageous pricing on our site until i post the new pricing. :D

You're talking about this software??

"Ghost Surfer is a tool used to simulate a user surfing the Internet. It uses any browser by typing the URL from your input list, and then moving the mouse about the page, and scrolling at random. Every movement and keystroke delay is computed at random, to better simulate a user's input. Many other features and realistic enhancements. The program may be stopped at any time by moving the mouse, and then picked up where it left off. Ghost Surfer only runs for as long as you set it. The program also allows to favor a certain area of the screen and switch to "Invisible Mode" for stealthy surfing. "

Yep, that's my partner's C++ program project he did for fun. The first site it surfs is pluginbox.com then surfs other sites that users suggested.

I've found some cool sites using that. It got popular because it was found to be a way to cheat alladvantage but didn't work too well. They didn't pay peole that continuously surfed the net for 720 hours a month. :D

Alladvantage thought they had an endless treasure chest ... :rolleyes: