I want to set up plans I won't have to change for a few months- hopefully longer. I'd rather not risk experimenting around just as I start. Got any reccomendations for how my plans should be? Or what prices I should set? Is there any good formula based on how much I pay per gig and mb?

I'm honestly curious. I have the webhost calculation spreadsheed that someone posted here downloaded, no excel yet though.

I'm thinking, ok, if I offer sub 10 dollar plans I get bottom feeders, but I can always just use them at the start and remove them later or only give them to special customers. If I have a ten dollar plan I might want a fifteen dollar plan because the customer might go up five bucks when I doubt they'd go up another 10 to 20 if they're looking at the ten. But,
5,10,15,20 looks awkward, how would I differentiate those plans from each other? So then I spread things out to 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, and the truth is, the chances of someone getting the end plan is very small so I might as well remove it because if someone needs that much they'll just ask me for a custom plan before their load starts exceeding waht they have.

So, 5, 10, 15, 30, and then later phase out the 5 and either the 10 or the 15- if the 15, put in a 20.

I would limit the lower priced accounts in numbers of domains, subdomains, pop accounts, etc, some things should be unlimited but the rest, I might as well show them a difference between plans besides just some bandwidth and space.

Also there's the quarterly / yearly payment option. What if I split a payment up between every three months and say 'PAY ONLY THREE TIMES A YEAR' and then the price- might get some people. I suppose I should give a 5-10% discount on quarterly/tri-erly, and a 8-12% discount on yearly?

Actually... ... looking at the current state of the market and the price wars that are raging on, almost anything goes.

But usually we do not use rounf numbers because they look bigger than what they originally are.

$10.00 and $9.99
$9.99 looks so much lower :p ( Old method but still work ;) )

yeah .95 is a good one so is .98

I use rounds for my own calculations though, estimating prices.

I think the old trick of .9x has been so overused now that people just round up. But then again, maybe thats just myself being logical again. I do remember being taught this in business school ;)

its does not give you the edge anymore, its more of a "there to stay in competition" thing.

Others include the same for More tactic where you can provide extra services 9 that are redundant ) to attract customers.
Something like Unlimited email accounts or Unlimited SQL DBs.

but then I wonder what will happen if i use a script and then create half a million SQL DBs on the service that provides such a thing.... hummmm :p

just a thought no action :)

yea, I always have wondered the same thing. You get that one idiot that creates a ton of SQL databases and you might have some trouble. But I would guess that hosts who are using this method still set a limit. Then they just explain when they get the email from the customer..."Yes, I am sorry but 10,000 FTP accounts is more than enough for your warez site." :P

Just in relation to the $.9x, I remember reading a report about WalMart ( I think it was them).

When they opened up stores across Canada, they had items displayed as $x.95. As soon as they changed it to $x.99, their sales rocketed.

Something about different societies reacting differently. I wish I could remember all the details in the report.

Originally posted by Ackoo
yea, I always have wondered the same thing. You get that one idiot that creates a ton of SQL databases and you might have some trouble. But I would guess that hosts who are using this method still set a limit. Then they just explain when they get the email from the customer..."Yes, I am sorry but 10,000 FTP accounts is more than enough for your warez site." :P

:evilb: maybe we should try that one out some day ;)
but then some TOS for hosting companies also state that they are allowed to suspend your site if it takes up excessive amount of resources... but then again.... it wouldn't be unlimited ;) LOL

I think the idea of Muzzleflash, is good for quarterly / yearly payment option, by way of giving discount.

This can be worked out properly as to encourage the customers for payment which can minimize the size of outstanding list.

I've just made the world's best argument for justifying higher prices over oversellers. The short version is, they gamble on your site sucking. Do really you want a webhost that gambles on your site sucking? Or do you want the real thing?

:D

They don't gamble on 'your site sucking'. They just understand how to manage resources.

That is good resource use. It also gambles on most sites failing to generate traffic- or are you afraid of 'overseller = host is betting on my site failing' becoming a viral meme among hosting customers? ;)

It just seems that alot of hosting companies promise the world and oversell bandwidth and disk. It is really sad.

So defend your resource use strategy by asking customers if they want a host who's entire business model depends on them NOT producing a site that gets repeat visitors and fans, or one that plans ahead for all users to have those resources available! :P Who knows, if enough webhosts repeat that we might end up pulling prices *out* of the bottom of the barrel accross the board.

Here is a promotional image I cooked up to use. No, it isn't all true- is all advertising? Non over-selling webhosts are encouraged to use a similar strategy. I will let you use the fullsize version of the image to edit on request.

http://tinypic.com/5cg3rl

Again, please do not be offended. It is just a simple tactic, much like using .99.

Haha, nice Muzzleflash.

I actually think that overselling 10-20% on each box is not bad. It helps drive a lower end price for the user. Now, we all know someone is going to say... "what is everyone uses their resources?". I say let them... i'll notice it and move their account to a different server...not a biggie.

Now people who offer 2GB disk and 100GB bandwith for $6-8... that's a different story. Major overselling here. They just want the big look on paper. We should have 1 month a quarter where we find hosts like this. Sign up and use our entire disk space and bandwith. See how fast they change their plans.

Haha, that would be awesome. Yeah, 10-20%- I'M even going to do that. That's smart management. Offering 20gb+ for 5 bucks.. that's bad.

For the people who want to strike back, I made a second poster :P

http://tinypic.com/5cm5xu

Originally posted by Muzzleflash
I've just made the world's best argument for justifying higher prices over oversellers. The short version is, they gamble on your site sucking. Do really you want a webhost that gambles on your site sucking? Or do you want the real thing?

:D


I agree with you. Today however products are designed and marketed with a strong emphasis on the unique attributes and benefits relative to prices which the product represents. Primary attention is placed on consumer needs and wants at the planning and development stages.

For example Nivea does not just sell cosmetics it also sales the promise of beauty and glamour.
Microsoft sells more than technologically advanced software’s; it also sales communication technologies plus reliability.
Say in a Budget package in Airline some are marketing transportation per air mile while competitors are selling transportation plus convenience and personal comfort at a higher price.

We should consider strongly that the over sellers are not our competitor and we are not going to compete with them in terms of price and quality. We should compare and compete with parallel companies in a very healthy atmosphere.