Hi All,

I have recently started a small hosting company, and am trying to find a few cost effective ways to advertise. I thought of using Goggle AdWords. And wanted to know what everyones opinion was. From a personal POV I tend not to click the paid ads as I feel someone paid to be first... Any opinions? Any one have any other cheap ways of advertising?

Unless you're serving a niche hosting market, AdWords will cost you a pretty penny to get customers. The hosting industry is so over saturated, especially on PPC ads at Google and Yahoo that you need to be creative to make PPC ads pay off. AdWords (as long as you turn off the content network setting) can definitely pay off for other products, though.

I have tried adwords with no hosting site, and I can say that this kind of avertising brings good results when you start you promotion. But It was a big problem to me pick up the words and daily budget.

Josh is right, you need a niche or to target very long tail keywords that not many people search for yet you build up a huge list, its hard to do.

Well try YPN then google adwords, just my personal opinion.

Towards the point is that Choosing keywords is a big problem and next is setting a price for your keyword.

You can advertise in other solutions like double click , well webhostingtalk is not cheap.

Adwords has worked well for us.

The ROI on Adwords is better than any other PPC service. In my previous campaigns it had the highest conversion rate out of anything method I used (that was trackable), although it did not have the best ROI because it was costly to run.

You really need to know what you are doing with Adwords and it can be costly to test and optimize your campaigns.

I dont think Google Adwords is a good solution for Hosting Providers. Keywords are really really expensive. why pay 1 dollar for a single click ??

I dont recommend it for webhosting firms.

Good Luck !

$1 per click will get you on about page 10 for most all hosting terms. $3 and you might be visible by page 3.

That is why you have to build landing pages, and learn how to convert at the greatest rate (dynamic landing words, live chat etc), if you convert every 10 or 20 customers that is a great campaign and well worth it at 3 bucks a click.

3bucks a click??? You crazy, what keywords are you talking about ? the major keywords are going almost $15/click for #1... mabye $10 for #3

3bucks a click??? You crazy, what keywords are you talking about ? the major keywords are going almost $15/click for #1... mabye $10 for #3No they are not that high, it might say you need that much but with the quality score it goes for less, at least it should in theory

So GoogleAd words seem fairly beneficial... Does anyone else have any other ideas for cheap but effective advertising?

depends on your niche, what is your niche and i can give you a list of examples?

might take a look at this thread
http://www.resellerguide.com/articles/hosting-marketing/low-cost-hosting-advertising/105

lots of local opertunities
sponsor high traffic sites

I'll be targeting small businesses and also designers looking to host sites, I also want to target design students, looking to host little portfolio sites. I think these three areas will be best as they are very prominent. My site is going to be really focusing on good design, so (while this will take time) I want people to use the service who appreciate good design, that sounds like wank I know but just thinking out loud...

They are $15/click if you have 0% CTR and a bad quality score. The advertisers at the top of the page for the keyword web hosting are not paying $15/click I can guarantee that.

Hi All,

I have recently started a small hosting company, and am trying to find a few cost effective ways to advertise. I thought of using Goggle AdWords. And wanted to know what everyones opinion was. From a personal POV I tend not to click the paid ads as I feel someone paid to be first... Any opinions? Any one have any other cheap ways of advertising?
AdWords used to be effective for us, but not anymore. Any keywords related to hosting have been bid up so high by major players (iPower and GoDaddy are two of the bigger culprits :)) that it's just not too cost-effective anymore. I would recommend checking out AdBrite instead.

This is a bit off topic, but I met some guys who were driving leads to mortgage companies with Adwords and making up to 40 grand a month. Not a game for civilians or the faint of heart, but wow, not a bad income for someone who has no clients or employees.

They are $15/click if you have 0% CTR and a bad quality score. The advertisers at the top of the page for the keyword web hosting are not paying $15/click I can guarantee that.

Could you please explain.

I ran some ads on Google Adwords using some of the standard keywors like best webhosting or cheap web hosting etc...

I had a 100$ budget set and was paying $15/click for position 3 or 2

Can you explian what is bad quaility score??

Could you please explain.

I ran some ads on Google Adwords using some of the standard keywors like best webhosting or cheap web hosting etc...

I had a 100$ budget set and was paying $15/click for position 3 or 2

Can you explian what is bad quaility score??Those are the most expensive keywords, if you want cheap target stuff that is longer, or what is your niche and focus on those areas.

Bad quality score is not a big deal as you are a web host advertising on those thing. What you need to do is test to increase conversions. Your landing pages need to be very very specific to the keywords you advertise on, there are all sorts of tricks you can do, a/b split testing designs etc. A basic example is if you are advertising on php hosting keywords, you land your clicks on a page about how good your company is with php hosting etc.

go read marketingsherpa.com or search for landing pages on google for some more reading, it gets pretty detailed...

I'll be targeting small businesses and also designers looking to host sites, I also want to target design students, looking to host little portfolio sites. I think these three areas will be best as they are very prominent. My site is going to be really focusing on good design, so (while this will take time) I want people to use the service who appreciate good design, that sounds like wank I know but just thinking out loud...
Ok so your hosting company is going to be focused on hosting designers, small business isn't a very small niche, I would choose something smaller, like small realtors or something like that and focus on their needs.... Also I would choose one niche...

Ideas for if you focused it towards designers to host their portfolios and in progress pages for their jobs
- Advertise on any html related sites, very easy to do, adbrite.com or just do a search on google for html help, html tutorials, any sites in the top 20 email for ad info.
- be active in css and html forums etc and use a signature
- be active in all design critique forums, try to help people and build relationships with designers
- run a blog on the host talking about design to get searches and help people
- sponser html/css/design tutorials on other sites (usually a small fee but awesome placement)

Also might be good to really emphasis your uptime as that is imp to designers who need to show clients designs.

Adwords is not all about cost per click. They use a complicated algorithm to determine what position you will receive. The factors are:

Bid Price per Keyword
Click Through Ratio
Quality Score
And a lot of people will tell you that there are more factors that are not publicly known.

The price you pay per click is dependent on these numbers. You may be paying (not bidding but actually paying) $15 per click for position #2, but the company in position #1 may only be paying $5 per click. How? They have better CTR and Quality Score.

If you can learn and master those 2 items, you are on your way to winning with Adwords.

Your conversion rate ultimately is the most important number in your campaign, but to me it doesn;t matter what ratio you have if you are paying astronomical prices for clicks because your campaign is not optimized. Nobody can make it at $15 per click.




Could you please explain.

I ran some ads on Google Adwords using some of the standard keywors like best webhosting or cheap web hosting etc...

I had a 100$ budget set and was paying $15/click for position 3 or 2

Can you explian what is bad quaility score??

That is why you have to build landing pages, and learn how to convert at the greatest rate (dynamic landing words, live chat etc), if you convert every 10 or 20 customers that is a great campaign and well worth it at 3 bucks a click.

Every 10 customers? Who in this industry has a 10% conversion rate? We are not talking affiliate numbers here we are talking actual providers. 10% would be insane and every person in the world would be a web hosting provider and clicks would be $50 at Google.

Every 10 customers? Who in this industry has a 10% conversion rate? We are not talking affiliate numbers here we are talking actual providers. 10% would be insane and every person in the world would be a web hosting provider and clicks would be $50 at Google.
10% is achievable, I've seen 20% on some keywords... things that are very specific and landing pages that know how to sell.

Its not the norm as this industry hasn't learned yet and doesn't care as they still make money, the problem is hosts don't stop to realize they need to capitalize on the traffic they have instead of just thinking they need to buy more traffic and convert 1% of visitors. Someone is going to get it eventually i hope...

You may be paying (not bidding but actually paying) $15 per click for position #2, but the company in position #1 may only be paying $5 per click.

This breakthrough pricing system has been carefully designed by brilliant Google enginners to ensure that the maximum number of their advertisers get sick and tired of Adwords, Google's only real strategy for profitability, at the earliest possible moment.

Important unmotivational principles such as secrecy, unfairness and needless complication are engineered in to every stage of the process to ensure your ultimate disatisfaction.

In the event these automated discouragement devices should fail to displease you, professional Adwords editors will faithfully reject your ad campaigns and the money you are trying to offer them.

Ultimately no effort is spared to ensure you spend your ad dollars elsewhere so that Google can return to the business model it truly excels at, providing the world's busiest website to everybody on the planet for free.

Due to the high sarcasm score of this post, it can be made available to you at only $35 per read.

This breakthrough pricing system has been carefully designed by brilliant Google enginners to ensure that the maximum number of their advertisers get sick and tired of Adwords, Google's only real strategy for profitability, at the earliest possible moment.

Important unmotivational principles such as secrecy, unfairness and needless complication are engineered in to every stage of the process to ensure your ultimate disatisfaction.

In the event these automated discouragement devices should fail to displease you, professional Adwords editors will faithfully reject your ad campaigns and the money you are trying to offer them.

Ultimately no effort is spared to ensure you spend your ad dollars elsewhere so that Google can return to the business model it truly excels at, providing the world's busiest website to everybody on the planet for free.

Due to the high sarcasm score of this post, it can be made available to you at only $35 per read.I disagree, I've worked with the big 3 and a lot of the second tier and adwords is by far the best, most fair, and delivers the best ROI.

Ok, no problem, to each their own of course. Really, I'm glad it's working out for you.

Personally, I prefer to give the money directly to other site owners via an affiliate program. There's something to be said for spending your money with folks who actually appreciate it, and work with you, instead of against you.

But again, to each their own. A lot of people do of course like Adwords, for a variety of reasons.

For those who say Adwords sucks maybe we should ask the affiliates that rake in $10,000+ per month on Adwords alone and see what they think about it?

The biggest mistake Google made with Adwords is allowing anyone to use it. Lots of negative publicity from those who never took the time to learn it.

Or we could ask the much larger number of folks who lose money on Adwords, due in part at least to it's hilariously over complicated system?

Try this. Line up advertisers on your website. People who are willing to give you thousands of dollars a month of their hard earned money.

Then present them with a baffling system that they must master in order to spend money with you. Hide the prices, have lots of mystery formulas etc,

If they object, call them weenies, question their intelligence, cancel their campaigns, tell them to rewrite their ads to please you (but don't tell them how) etc.

If you will take this from Google, will you take it from me too? Can I sell you ads in this manner?

If it's such a good system, should we all shift over to selling ads like this?

Or we could ask the much larger number of folks who lose money on Adwords, due in part at least to it's hilariously over complicated system?

Try this. Line up advertisers on your website. People who are willing to give you thousands of dollars a month of their hard earned money.

Then present them with a baffling system that they must master in order to spend money with you. Hide the prices, have lots of mystery formulas etc,

If they object, call them weenies, question their intelligence, cancel their campaigns, tell them to rewrite their ads to please you (but don't tell them how) etc.

If you will take this from Google, will you take it from me too? Can I sell you ads in this manner?

If it's such a good system, should we all shift over to selling ads like this?Its not hard to use, its the easiest system to use in the world. Overture sucked until panama came out which just copies google. Also there is no mystery formula really, you bid money to get it higher and if lots of people CTR google uses this to indicate you have content that people are looking for and they scan your page content to make sure as well. So that people selling butcher knives dont advertise on web hosting keywords.

I hope all the big 3 switch to the ease of this system. Panama makes improvements but MSN still sucks.

btw if you guys are interested in increasing your conversion here is something google has coming out to pair up with adwords

http://www.conversion-rate-experts.com/articles/101-google-website-optimizer-tips/

Also there is no mystery formula really, you bid money to get it higher and if lots of people CTR google uses this to indicate you have content that people are looking for and they scan your page content to make sure as well. So that people selling butcher knives dont advertise on web hosting keywords.

Well, Ok, your description is useful, but perhaps not complete.

Google cancels ad campaigns you've spent hours on.

They do this not just because you are selling butcher knives with hosting keywords, but because your clickthrough doesn't meet their income goals. Actually, they will cancel your campaign if it reaches the CTR goal on the Adsense network, but not on Google's own site.

So you have to rewrite _your_ ads at your expense to serve Google's needs. And they don't tell you how to rewrite your ads to satisfy them, they just say, try again.

This isn't immoral or illegal or anything like that. No scandal involved. Google has every right to run their business as they wish.

But canceling an ad campaign a customer is perfectly happy with, to force the customer to generate more income for you, is a system guaranteed to generate negative publicity like this.

Run a banner on my site. If I don't like it, I'll pull it. When you ask what you need to do to fix it, I'll say I don't know.

How long would you keep buying banners from me?

This is a bit off topic, but I met some guys who were driving leads to mortgage companies with Adwords and making up to 40 grand a month. Not a game for civilians or the faint of heart, but wow, not a bad income for someone who has no clients or employees.
Holy schnizzle-butts! :o If you're willing to share more info, could you send me a pm? I run a similar business on the side, and would love to grow it into something like that!

Ok, someone please explain, i'm a little lost now. Lets say I'm advertising on "cheap web hosting" How is it possible that if I'm paying $15 per click for position 2 and the guy in position 1 is paying only $5 per click. What does he do to get this. I've used Google Adwords for almost 2years (for an unrelated industry) now and I never knew this.

Holy schnizzle-butts! :o If you're willing to share more info, could you send me a pm? I run a similar business on the side, and would love to grow it into something like that!

Yes, Holy schnizzle-butts! That's what I say too! Thanks for the smile! :)

Here's the URL:
http://www.affiliate-marketing-school.com/

You'll need an invite to get in, but they aren't hard to obtain, just ask.

Here's the deal, as best I understand it. And I might not.

This group is willing to help students learn pay per click advertising - IF - you submit leads to merchants through their system. They are trying to build a large volume, so they can negotiate higher payouts.

The teachers will earn a commission on your income, a fact they are willing but not anxious to discuss. They won't discuss it, unless you already know it. And now you do.

I came away with mixed feelings. I can't verify ANYTHING claimed on the forum, but came away feeling that real people were making real money, and that the right students could maybe learn a lot there.

On the other side, a lack of forthrightness by the person who recruited me, and the forum in general, left me unwilling to dive in to their game. That could be just me, I'm fussy about such things.

Best of luck!

Haha. :) Hey, thanks for sharing! :) I'll definitely look into that.

Ok, someone please explain, i'm a little lost now. Lets say I'm advertising on "cheap web hosting" How is it possible that if I'm paying $15 per click for position 2 and the guy in position 1 is paying only $5 per click. What does he do to get this. I've used Google Adwords for almost 2years (for an unrelated industry) now and I never knew this.ya its called quality score and if you have a high CTR then google doesn't charge you as much, try lowering your bidding and see if your position stays the same, of course you need to have a decent CTR rate and good connected landing pages.


squirreldog I've never heard anything like that before and hasn't ever happened to me or anyone i know. It also doesn't make sense.

squirreldog I've never heard anything like that before and hasn't ever happened to me or anyone i know.

Well, Ok. I guess you can't say that anymore. :)

It also doesn't make sense.

Yup, I agree.