where should I advertise a new hosting site?? I was thinking about google ad words. Does any one have any experiance with this.?? thanks:pray:

I have also already submited to directories

Submit to as many online directorys as possible. Also I would suggest looking into local advertisments. Advertise on buildboards, in magazines, news papers, phone book. Also just simple call places in your local area asking if they have a web site and if they would like to get one.

Lots of ways to advertise in the local area.

Unless you have a large budget for advertising with Adwords, it's not worth it.
Local Offline Advertising is great, along with friends and family during your start stages.

I would suggest doing a search on this forum. You'll have tons of threads about this kind of stuff.

Anyway, just my two cents! :peace:

Google Adwords can be a waste of money unless you do everything right (something I'm still figuring out :), and use the best combination of keywords... plus have a lot of money to compete with the big players.

I would go and have a look in the advertising offers forum, there's quite a few people selling advertising on various different sites. You just need to pick the one that's right for the audience you're aiming for.

Online directories - that is the key

I would go and have a look in the advertising offers forum, there's quite a few people selling advertising on various different sites. You just need to pick the one that's right for the audience you're aiming for.

Agreed, there's alot of threads that consent to this in one way, or the other. My advice is just to get people you already know, and offer them more of an affordable price, and make sure there site get's popular and have a banner of what you host, and there's alot of revenue etc with that alone. Dir's are also good, get on as many as you could.(most of them are free anyway) so Good luck with that.

I wouldn't say that advertising in online directories is the key. It doesn't hurt, but there are many ways that are better than the directories. Why? Because you are being thrown into a huge pool of hosts such as yourself, you will not stand out. I would recommend going with local advertisements at first, start small, and when you have enough revenue, think about advertising on such places as WHT. Advertising on smaller sites where maybe only 200 people visit per month will be a waste of money. You also have to keep in mind to "build your brand". Don't advertise for a month and then just disappear. Try to get a contract for a year or more so customers get accustomed to your name and know of you. Think longterm and not short.

Link2me.com is a Great site for Link exchanges / advertise

Online directories is not a good traffic source. It is a link building opportunity but that is it. There are thousands of hosts in a directory what makes anyone think someone will scroll to page 84 to find you?

Adwords provides the best ROI for us. But it takes weeks of studying and eperiments to make a successful campaign.

Purchasing banners and spotlights in hosting directories provides good eposure and will generate some new business.

I would go and have a look in the advertising offers forum, there's quite a few people selling advertising on various different sites. You just need to pick the one that's right for the audience you're aiming for.
Keep in mind that it's likely their site has been advertising hosting services in the past. If a user has been visiting them for a year and always sees hosting ads, they're likely to ignore them. Make sure to ask them questions for things like that and search around to see if they've been selling lots of advertising to hosting companies.

i am not a big fan of google adwords -- our company spent over 3K on adwords in the summer last year with poor results -- we submitted to directories, spent money on SEO and now we get orders weekly

Google is expensive. Can I ask what SEO is??

Google is expensive. Can I ask what SEO is??
This is where you need to research, a simple google search will tell you what it is: http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=SEO&btnG=Google+Search

Also, http://www.acronymfinder.com is a good site.

Google is expensive. Can I ask what SEO is??
Search Engine Optimization - Getting your site high rankings on search engines by changing code and optimizing pages.

Same here with the Google Adwords. We didn't do too well but ended up spending a fortune. I later switched to Kanoodle, www.kanoodle.com, which was less costly, and then started hand-submitting to online directories and interest groups.

It made a difference for us.

SEO = Search Engine Optimization. Making your pages search engine friendly.

Does anyone know a good company that provide this SEO and if it actually works.

There are many companies who can do this, or claim to. A true SEO that will bring you good results is costly. I'd suggest to do your research. We have always done our own SEO however, so I can't suggest you anyone.

Same experience with Google AdWords....premium prices for less-than-stellar results. There are some SEO companies that specialize in a given target market, and promise great results. However, unless you have the budget to play in that field, it might be better to research less expensive (or free) options that you can implement to expand your exposure. Free submittals in online directories, search engines, interest groups, etc can get you going in the right direction.

Wow, ill check out SEO when i have the chance. Thanks in advanced.