I was wondering if anyone could share some advertising tips.

rossk

-Get yourself listed on Google and Dmoz
-Hosting directories

after that it's a matter of budget...

If you have some capital for branding, try advertising in magazines.

Again, this all depends on if you have capital to advertise.

Originally posted by ARETNA
If you have some capital for branding, try advertising in magazines.

Again, this all depends on if you have capital to advertise.

I would recommend to stay away from magazines. I've read some
poor hosting magazine ad stories -- low results and almost no branding.

For ads I recommend you try some ad networks, and some hosting
directories and finally some PPC search engines.

If you are just starting out, I suggest targeting local business first, then move on to the smaller (ie, not too much traffic) websites. Word of Mouth is the most effective type of advertising around. Once you get your first few extremely satisfied customers, you *will* get more if you keep playing the cards right...


Also, Dan's HostingAgent is pretty cool too :D

Just satisfy your customers that is the best promotion there is! Further more don't you EVER SPAM!!. When you are doing that you will rewn your very own business!

And always do things legaly :-)

Originally posted by Starhost
Just satisfy your customers that is the best promotion there is! Further more don't you EVER SPAM!!. When you are doing that you will rewn your very own business!

And always do things legaly :-)

U have to get those customers first so you'll have who to satisfy :)

Never promise anything on ads you can't offer, etc etc.

Hosting directories, search engines and message boards is the way to get started.

Good luck in trying to get into DMOZ. I've been trying to get into it since ummm last June? Pay the $299 for both Yahoo and Looksmart to get listed in their directories. Though Looksmart is going to be PPC too (sigh).

Originally posted by acetate
Good luck in trying to get into DMOZ. I've been trying to get into it since ummm last June?

Took us nearly 6 month to get into dmoz.org - they couldn't find an editor for a hosting dirs category for a really long time.

but after you are in dmoz.org it's rule :) well not for all but if you are lucky enough....

im sorry i just didnt get that last post

I think what they were trying to say is that once you're in Dmoz you are automatically listed in a lot of other places, as they use Dmoz's database.

May I ask what Dmoz is? I really don't got as clue, sorry/ I'm dutch :)

http://dmoz.org/

the Open Directory Project, basically a free Yahoo-style internet directory. Anyone can become an editor of a category (choose which sites go in it, I would guess). And it's used in a lot of places. If you want more info (ha!) go here (http://dmoz.org/about.html)

These are just some that has worked for me. They are listed in the order of where most of my customers came from.

1) Hosting Directories
2) Word Of Mouth
3) Local Trade Shows

Stay away from magazines. I still have yet to see where advertising in magazines helped my business.

Originally posted by appletreats
http://dmoz.org/

the Open Directory Project, basically a free Yahoo-style internet directory. Anyone can become an editor of a category (choose which sites go in it, I would guess). And it's used in a lot of places. If you want more info (ha!) go here (http://dmoz.org/about.html)

Thank you for the explenation. :)

For getting into DMOZ - I've heard the horror stories also about it taking forever - so I expected the worst when I submitted our new site.

After 2 weeks - no entry into DMOZ - I sent a polite message to the editor of the hosting directories section, got a very nice email back in a few hours telling us that our site had now been listed. It was really a pleasure to deal with the editor of the section submitted to.

Given the DMOZ is human edited - it's always going to be somewhat subjective if you get listed - but if you have a good site then there is no reason why you shouldn't get listed, but editors may only periodically do their admin on the ODP - which is to be fully expected - given that they are unpaid volunteers.

If you hear nothing after submitting - wait a few weeks & then follow up with a polite question. If after several months no response & no listing - it probably means that the site needs to be reworked & re-submitted.

It's true that DMOZ results show up in lots of pages - many sites use DMOZ clones, plus many of the search engines use DMOZ results to a degree. Google likes sites listed in DMOZ (adds PageRank & also the Google directory is DMOZ results ordered by pagerank) - so it's worth the effort to get into DMOZ - especially given that costs nothing except patience.

blacknight, yes, correct :)

Okay, so the first step is to register with lots of web directories for search engine exposure. If I was willing to pay for advertising, where would you suggest that I go to get good exposure aside from a magazine or other local options? Is it generally a good idea to establish a relationship with another site or organization and possibly pay for advertising on their site on an individual basis? Most of the advertising I see these days is highly ineffective. The web is rife with pop-ups and cheap promotional ads that seem to turn away customers more than anything. I'd like to find that happy median.

Thanks
Ross K

I also recommend to get listed in search engines, Hosting directories.



Thanks.