Hi,

I have been hosting since about December 01 and have now picked up about 6 or 7 customers. This may seem small to most people but I think it is ok. I am dedicating time to ensuring that they are happy.

I was wondering what opinions you had on my setup? I handle most support via Email and a little on the forums. After these three months I am eager to expand my clientel and looking for opinions.

The only problem is that I can't afford to pay for advertising. Does this seriously limit my ability to market?

Originally posted by The Laughing Cow
Hi,

The only problem is that I can't afford to pay for advertising. Does this seriously limit my ability to market?

Absolutley... I sat around for 2 months with 10 customers wondering why no one was signing up. I put about 250.00 into some ppc advertising and things started getting alot over time. I personally suggest ppc advertising as opposed to ppi but thats another debate..

Yeah I think it may be an idea. I'm unsure. I really can't afford it thats the problem.

Since you're on a tight budget I'm sure you tried the various hosting directories and gotten your free listing.

a) You could hit the pavement and try to hit up some affluent businesses in your area.

b) Print out some flyers and hit the local trade shows, etc.

c) Since it seems like you have a close relationship to your customers have them put a link up on they're site. You'd be amazed at the amount of business you get that way.

There is so many ways out there. All it takes is a little imagination. Market yourself in an imaginative way.

Or you could just pay for advertising but you might be a little disappointed on the returns in the short term depending on where and how you advertise.

Well I think that your setup is decent. I agree that most of the support should be handled by e-mail or trouble ticket software. The thing that I disagree with is if you are a smaller host and have forums. I think that forums should only be used by a host if they can drive traffic to it. I checked out your forums, and while they are nice in design they are pretty empty as some of the last post dates were in January. If you were a potential client, you would not view this as something positive, as you would see that this host's forums are basically empty. So I think support should be handled initially by e-mail/trouble tickets then via AIM,ICQ,MSN finally when you have enough traffic throw the forums online.

Yes I can agree with you, The main thing I am using the forum for is building up the FAQ's and TIPS everytime I get a new question asked. I think that is the easiest way to maintain FAQ's. Also we keep staff documentation in a private forum too.

Terry-
Why not get a knowledgebase or faq manager script, as this could be one viable solution for you? Then you wouldn't have to deal with the forums as the faq manager. Also, there are some trouble ticket programs as well as some billing programs which have built in FAQ/Knowledgebases as well as giving you the ability to keep staff documentation in them.

Yeah possibly a good idea. I have used a few knowledgbase scripts before and think I may go back to them.

I think I may have a new appeal to potential clients since soon I will be offering Cpanel, Hsphere or HostGUI to clients.

I was in that same situation and i found that offering a referal progam to your current customers is beneficial.

:)

I am not trying to be rude or anything, but maybe you should consider getting a better design. Looks more like a personal website rather than a hosting website. The reason whay I think this is because when I used to be on the hunt for a good hosting company and I saw a bad design, I hit the back button as fast as I could click. Won't give give you hundreds of customers right away, but in the long run you will be happy you did. Just my opinion. Take it or leave it ;)

Thanks for the opinions especially fractiousws,

Does anyone else think that the design is particularly 'bad' and would turn you away? I felt that it was not too bad a design?

I personally don't see anything wrong with the design. However, We have http://paradise-designs.net and I don't care for the design that is why i'm changing it and we have over 100 customers. So, I don't b elieve that the design would be his problem. We had experience in waiting before as well the reason why we didn't get any customers is one Ensim,Prices To High, Not many people knew about it. Now the most hits within one hour time we have now is 2,342 hits within 1 hour (For March). I have to admit that is pretty good. You may be more or less but IMO, 2342 hits within one hour time is pretty good. Most of our customers come from customers telling others and so forth.

nice design, i don't know how fractiousws would have asked u to get a better design. so the guy just wants to add a little artistic element in his header, thats called 'uniqueness'. ;)

Thanks guys,

I like the design a lot, A very talented designer made it (not me). Maybe he was after some $$$ to replace it :rolleyes:

Your design looks fine Terry. It may not be the most eye catching design, but it has the necessary elements. It's easy to navigate, and honestly there are a large percentage of hosts with much worse design. Unless you have a designer in your pocket, don't wast the money on a redesign.

What you have to do, is sit down and decide what you want out of your business. I started out thinking that I was going to change the world, and by offering great service people would come. Unfortunately that does not happen so fast when you only have a handful of customers to spread the word for you. That means spending some $$$ on advertising. If you really want to make it happen, you have to dive in.

Also as mentioned here, offer your current customers a nice referral plan. Signup a friend get a month free, or something. Get your current customers involved. They are your best sales weapon. If you offer great service, they will let others know. Most would be happy to write reviews for you on the various directories.

-Dan