Okay, I started this web hosting thing in mid-december. It's early February, and I still have no customers, and I'm losing money. I've tried some stuff to get customers, though. I respond to requests here, and post offers here. I listed myself in some web hosting directories, and search engines. I used Google AdWords, and tried some banner advertising. I created a new design based on your suggestions. I've offered discounts ranging from first month discounts to free months and permanent discounts. I abolished setup fees. But still I have nothing to show for all my work, except for a growing amount of lost money. I'm about to stop this all, because I'd prefer to not lose much more money. At this point I'd be happy to make a dollar a month. What did you all do to get your initial customers? What are your suggestions for getting customers?

How much traffic are your driving to your site? Are you actually getting hits to your site from your advertising attempts? If you are, getting hits from these sources, then the problem is one of conversion, people are not signing up for some reason. If you are not getting any traffic to your site, that is a completely different problem.

Just had a look at your site, and while your standard features are quite generous, it's perhaps the add-ons that have scared visitors away.

I was a little shocked myself.

That's my two bob.


Lats...

Lats: Why? Are they things that shouldn't be addons? Are they overpriced, monthly setup or both? Not enough? Too many? Too confusing?

uuallan: Yeah, I'm getting visits. Not as many as I'd like, though. I've probably received about 750 hits from people arriving from ads.

I just looked through your plans, and for the standard plan, under "ftp/pop/ssh" it said "none" this would scare me away....

Originally posted by 21inchguns
I just looked through your plans, and for the standard plan, under "ftp/pop/ssh" it said "none" this would scare me away....


Now it says SSH Access, Yes/no. Better?

Originally posted by appletreats

uuallan: Yeah, I'm getting visits. Not as many as I'd like, though. I've probably received about 750 hits from people arriving from ads. [/B]

750/mo or 750 between mid-Dec and now? 750 pageviews or 750 unique visitors?

If I were you, I would offer to exchange free hosting for a more professional site template. Your design could be scaring people off. Black, blue, and red text with yellow highlighting doesn't look as professional as some of your competitors. Compare your site to www.dreamhost.com for instance.

I hope this didn't come off too harshly, but these were my impressions.

Originally posted by UnifiedCons


750/mo or 750 between mid-Dec and now? 750 pageviews or 750 unique visitors?

If I were you, I would offer to exchange free hosting for a more professional site template. Your design could be scaring people off. Black, blue, and red text with yellow highlighting doesn't look as professional as some of your competitors. Compare your site to www.dreamhost.com for instance.

I hope this didn't come off too harshly, but these were my impressions.


I've been looking into that. I made this new design as a temporary thing until I got a new design. Unfortunately that did not happen. I was supposed to get a free design from certain persons on this board, but unfortunately after two months of waiting I think I can safely assume that I will not be getting it. Off to template search land I go....


750 total. Isn't that just pathetic? (Yes)

Originally posted by appletreats

uuallan: Yeah, I'm getting visits. Not as many as I'd like, though. I've probably received about 750 hits from people arriving from ads.

A couple of things:

1. 750 referrals in ~50 days? That averages about 15 hits a day. An established web host will have about a 20% conversion rate, even most new web hosts will have a 1-2% conversion rate.

2. It appears that there is something within your site design, or layout that is preventing people from signing up. I would try to get an addition review.

3. One other note: You seem to be willing to change plans, features on a whim. This is usually a bad idea, stable pricing and features are important to encourage customer confidence.

Looking at your Deluxe account for $25 per month, it took me by surprise to see the same dollar amount for redirecting domains, which by way of your explanation - "This lets you have multiple websites with their own domains without paying for a new hosting account!" - defeats itself by being the same price of an account.

I can understand the Merchant costs involved, but the others seem pricey.

And yes, perhaps too many add-on options.


Lats...

Originally posted by uuallan


A couple of things:

1. 750 referrals in ~50 days? That averages about 15 hits a day. An established web host will have about a 20% conversion rate, even most new web hosts will have a 1-2% conversion rate.

2. It appears that there is something within your site design, or layout that is preventing people from signing up. I would try to get an addition review.

3. One other note: You seem to be willing to change plans, features on a whim. This is usually a bad idea, stable pricing and features are important to encourage customer confidence.


1. :bawling:

2. Good plan. I have no trouble (but then, I designed it). Maybe I should have huge red arrows pointing to the sign up button. And have Jolly Jimmy cheerfully guide them through the process. Maybe that's a bit extreme, but do you have any ideas?

3. I'll limit it to the existing "special offers" as shown on plans page. You make a good point.

Now it says SSH Access, Yes/no. Better?

yes, much better!

Originally posted by Lats
Looking at your Deluxe account for $25 per month, it took me by surprise to see the same dollar amount for redirecting domains, which by way of your explanation - "This lets you have multiple websites with their own domains without paying for a new hosting account!"

I can understand the Merchant costs involved, but the others seem pricey.

And yes, perhaps too many add-on options.


Lats...

You make a good point. Perhaps it is necessary to do one last price changeroo. How does $0 setup, $15 per month seem? Now that I think about it, this addon is crap. Look at those prices. Maybe I'll just trash it.

Originally posted by 21inchguns


yes, much better!

:D

You might consider adding more than two hosting plans to choose from.

Also, in regards to additional bandwith, "Pay-As-You-Go Bandwidth back With this monthly traffic option, you never have to worry about running out of bandwidth! Your first 10GB of bandwidth will be included as part of your monthly fee. Then, you pay just $20/GB in addition to your first 10 each month, so you only pay for what you use!" Are you charging $20 per additional gig of bandwidth? Very expensive...

Originally posted by optout
You might consider adding more than two hosting plans to choose from.

Also, in regards to additional bandwith, "Pay-As-You-Go Bandwidth back With this monthly traffic option, you never have to worry about running out of bandwidth! Your first 10GB of bandwidth will be included as part of your monthly fee. Then, you pay just $20/GB in addition to your first 10 each month, so you only pay for what you use!" Are you charging $20 per additional gig of bandwith? Very expensive...

Reduce prices time, once again, eh.

:(

appletreats,

The best advertising sometimes is word of mouth. You need to get a first few customers. Once you get your first customer: bend over backwards for him, do a summersault for him, dance while he shoots at your feet. Keep him above-happy, and he'll refer his friends, and do the same for them.

I realize that this is much easier said then done, especially when that customer has to pay. So, give away a first account, or a few of them for two or three months payment free. And make sure to do the dancing and bending over backwards thing for these free customers...

When they have but a month left free or so, offer to them that if they can refer a new customer to you they will get a second month free. The new customer has to be paying. Continue on with them, then repeat. After a while the good word of mouth you'll be getting will be enough to sustain a steady flow of customers and you'll be able to discontinue the free month offer (but don't start charging everyone -- give them time for their free time to run out then, and only then, send them a friendly e-mail stating that they now have to pay. Be patient.)

GOOD LUCK!

Thanks,
Dan

Reduce prices time, once again, eh.

Appletreats,

I can't recall ever seeing a web host charge $20 for additional bandwith per month. I think the price should be in the range of $5-$10 per gig of additional bandwidth monthly.

Refsoft: I'll be doing that as soon as the current five day cycle runs out @ the offer board here.

Originally posted by appletreats

You make a good point. Perhaps it is necessary to do one last price changeroo. How does $0 setup, $15 per month seem? Now that I think about it, this addon is crap. Look at those prices. Maybe I'll just trash it.

I think you are approaching it from the wrong perspective. If you talk to any of the more established hosts they will tell you that they sit down and set their pricing plans, based on what their costs are, and how much profit they expect to make. You shouldn't set your prices based on what customers want, because we always want as much as possible, for as little as possible.

This does not mean your pricing can be inconsistent with marketing pricing, you also need to research what others are charging for similar services.

I realize this hard, it sucks waiting for customers to sign up, but if you get caught in a money losing spiral with new customers, it will only get worse.

I think a new design template would be a good start to making the site more attracting more signups, and if that does not work, I would suggest loading a script on your server that DoSes anyone who leaves your site without signing up :D.

I will immediately look into the DoS plan.


...j/k. Unless I get really desparate. ;)

appletreats,

I have to agree with all the previous comments, your design is hurting you badly
not to criticize but the main turnoffs are
1. your site is aligned to the left and in a 1024x768 browser it leaves almost the entire right side empty, try centering everything

2. lime is a good color to use but only against a dark background

3. "looking for faq's" just has a bad ring to it, just write "Faqs, and have it in your top nav bar

4., tease your guests, don't lay everything out in the main page, get them to stay a while, offer some pricing info and get them to click a link to get more info on plans, which brings me to #5

5. you need more plans, offering 2 plans conveys a the image of a very inexperienced host or very, very small scale(by the same token, too many plans can prove to be confusing

6. "why choose us" info shouldn't be on the front page unless you have alot more info to support the layout
lastly

7. avoid using images for things that are entirely text

just my 2 cents, I do not claim to be an HTML guru, but do have a few years under my belt

best of luck to you


BTW, this is my 100th post

appletreats,

I have to agree with all the previous comments, your design is hurting you badly
not to criticize but the main turnoffs are
1. your site is aligned to the left and in a 1024x768 browser it leaves almost the entire right side empty, try centering everything

2. lime is a good color to use but only against a dark background

===Working on getting a new design.

3. "looking for faq's" just has a bad ring to it, just write "Faqs, and have it in your top nav bar

===Good idea

4., tease your guests, don't lay everything out in the main page, get them to stay a while, offer some pricing info and get them to click a link to get more info on plans, which brings me to #5

===Okay

5. you need more plans, offering 2 plans conveys a the image of a very inexperienced host or very, very small scale(by the same token, too many plans can prove to be confusing

===Wait a week.

6. "why choose us" info shouldn't be on the front page unless you have alot more info to support the layout
lastly

===Definately.

7. avoid using images for things that are entirely text

===No defense. I was tired.

just my 2 cents, I do not claim to be an HTML guru, but do have a few years under my belt

best of luck to you

Well it was less than a week. What do you think?

<<Edit: Sorry I missed this first time. All discussions about plans/prices must be limited to the Related Offers & Request Forum>>

Is it a Happy Idea?
Or a Sad Idea?

MOOOOOREEEE BANDWIDTH!

Otherwise looks great!

Originally posted by Refsoft
MOOOOOREEEE BANDWIDTH!

Otherwise looks great!


Yes sir. You are enjoying it now?

Originally posted by appletreats



Yes sir. You are enjoying it now?

Much better... :)

Originally posted by Refsoft


Much better... :)

Only if they don't use it all. ;)

Originally posted by appletreats
Only if they don't use it all. ;)

If suddenly, in a few seconds, all hosting customers would use their promised bandwidth..... CNN would put up a new headline on their site: "complete breakdown of the Net" - but nobody would be able to see it. :D

Yes sir. You are enjoying it now?

Not me ... Your price seems too expensive. For $15/mo, i will only get 50MB of HD and 1GB of data transfer. Additional bandwith is $7.5/GB. That's outrageous ... where do you put your server/resell/get your bandwith from? I would say (From customer's point of view), badnwith charge more than $4/mo is already too expensive ...

So here are my suggestions:
1. Increase your HD space ... HD space is the cheapest way to attract your customers. And some people do get attracted by huge amount of HD space although they only use a small portion of it. It would be different story if you are reselling since you would not be able to set your own plans (but, there are many reseller programs that do allow you to do this).
2. Increase your bandwith ... For $15/mo I would suggest at least 3-5GB of bandwith/mo. If you can't do this, then find another place to put/get your server or resell from. If you do this, then you can pass your saving to your customers.
3. Also another trick comes with playing numbers ... Somehow people would think that 1000MB is better than 1GB of bandwith. You can also select pricing as follows: instead of $10/mo you set it to $9.95/mo ... There are advantages of doing your prices like this.

OK ... I am not sure what else I can suggest you, but wish you all the best luck ...

cheers,
:beer:

While I don't know if this is the *best* place to get customers (he says as not to ruffle feathers), I certainly think it is a decent place to at least let people know you exist.

Your ^www button points to http://www.spurvus.com (a blank page), and your signature:

When you're lookin' for a de-licious treat // and don't know what to get! // Look no more! You have found! // The ultimate apple snack! // APPLETREATS! APPLETREATS! Good for you and me! APPLETREATS! APPLETREATS! Yumyumyumyumeee! // Try one now! // Then you'll see! // How good a preservative block with flavorin' can be! // APPLETREATS! APPLETREATS! Apple! Apple! Treats! Treats! Yum!

-is cute but doesn't tell me anything. I hang out here and read the majority of the posts posted (several times), and I didn't even know you offered hosting services.

Might be at least one little thing that helps, I don't know.

I agree that the plans look good except for the bandwidth. Well they might sell, but we'd have you beat, at least. Maybe that's better than what verio offers, though. And it's more than what most people actually need. But bandwidth is all the craze now adays.

I second what chicken said, too. I had to view your profile to see what your web site address was again. But I love your signature how it is now. :)

I swear, if you want some customers, don't be afraid to pick up the phone and make some cold calls to your local businesses. If you can find a designer to team up with, you can get a lot of your local businesses online (and get that redesign on your site done).

Good luck at getting that first customer.

And you'll find that the locals tend to think that $20/mo for 5 MB of space and zero transfer (their sites are usually pretty minimal) is a bargin!

And you'll find that the locals tend to think that $20/mo for 5 MB of space and zero transfer (their sites are usually pretty minimal) is a bargin!
Chicken's right. I can't stress enough the importance of pounding the street and talking to people. Especially if your prices seem a *little* high to hosting-savy people on the net, you can start building yourself up quickly, at your current price, by talking to people where you do business. Don't try to sell your hosting plans locally, sell YOURSELF to people. You will be amazed where business will come from then. Even though Bob the CPA may not need hosting, his cousin probably does. And if he KNOWS you, he will tell his cousin about you.

My business partner spends at least two hours every morning around town before he comes in just marketing us. He does this because we do well enough via the internet, but had very little local business. But it has exploded now, and EVERYONE around here knows where to go to for ANYTHING even remotely related to a computer.

guerilla marketing time, friend!

secrets to local sucess--

a) Stop spending money on online advertising!!
b) find 2-3 willing girls to work for you ( start small wife & mother-in-law )
c) find a very very busy street
d) put them on every corner of that street on a wooden box in a bikini
e) make banners with your company name on them that they rotate peroidically.
f) you walk around and give apples with a note attached to them..
"appletreats, why would you host with anyone else? "

g) call the media outlets in your area & secretly tell them about this ahead of time.

h) name recognition..
i) hits? lol.. you'll need more bandwidth

ps- find out about the law in your area about public nudity to know how much ass the can display..

btw what the heck is your URL


have fun//:)

ciao garz

Originally posted by gargonzo
guerilla marketing time, friend!

secrets to local sucess--

b) find 2-3 willing girls to work for you ( start small wife & mother-in-law )
c) find a very very busy street
d) put them on every corner of that street on a wooden box in a bikini


Good god... my mother-in-law in a bikini would have potential customers running away.

heh well its for a tight budget.. or advertise for some "attractive interns " :P

and plus with the internet the way it is.. there is a market/audience for everything!

ciao

Originally posted by gargonzo
there is a market/audience for everything!


Ok. Let me talk to her. I only hope she can stand for 3 hours with that walker.

Okay, new new plans below. I know the site is a blank page, I am moving. I do not want people to try and give me money now. Not that it would happen if the page was up, though. Chicken, if you read all the posts, didn't you see my signature for the month or so it had info about me host? But it is changed back, because currently I don't. Because I am moving. Also those zero transfer locals seem good. Too bad they don't REALLY think no transfer is a good deal. I'll have to give them at least a megabyte.

As for the plans, are these or the old ones preferred? Or a compromise? If they are not good, what do you suggest I change? More storage? Bandwidth? Subdomains? Databases? Lower prices? Higher prices? ?????

<<Edit: Sorry I missed this first time. All discussions about plans/prices must be limited to the Related Offers & Request Forum>>

Originally posted by appletreats
Okay, new new plans below. I know the site is a blank page, I am moving. I do not want people to try and give me money now. Not that it would happen if the page was up, though. Chicken, if you read all the posts, didn't you see my signature for the month or so it had info about me host? But it is changed back, because currently I don't. Because I am moving. Also those zero transfer locals seem good. Too bad they don't REALLY think no transfer is a good deal. I'll have to give them at least a megabyte.

As for the plans, are these or the old ones preferred? Or a compromise? If they are not good, what do you suggest I change? More storage? Bandwidth? Subdomains? Databases? Lower prices? Higher prices? ?????



4000Gb? I assume that is a typo ;)

Anyway, for $25 a month, 4Gb of transfer is quite a small amount.
Out of interest, do you colocate / have dedicated servers, and where? Approximately what kind of bandwidth prices do you pay?

Good luck!
Regards
Matt

Originally posted by voxtreme-matt

4000Gb? I assume that is a typo ;)


Yeah... I should probably change that.