Hi,

I'm currently new to the hosting business and am running a reseller account at the moment. I am struggling to get any customers (yea have not got 1 full paying account yet, just a few sponsors).

I currently display all my prices in GBP, the question is: Does the currency you display your prices make a difference on the American market, such as that they would not order a package because it is not displayed in USD (even though PayPal convert it during payment)?

Also any tips on getting customers etc. would be much appreciated, however no more of this "start local" stuff, I have heard too much on that and it is well and truly implanted in my brain (+ I'm only 16 and at school most of the time).

Thx,

Sam

if you are aiming for american customers at all, i'd display USD. Most americans (that I know personally, and I am an american) don't know that currency is automatically converted via paypal and a few other methods. They will simply bypass your site because they think they cannot pay.

Or, they will bypass it cause they are not sure of the price. I am not familier with GBP. If I saw a price of, say, 50 GBP i'd think "what is that? $12 or $600?"

People in other parts of the world, however, are used to currency conversion. They are much more likely to order from your site still.

If you are not in the US and looking for US Customers i would do two brands. One US Brand and another brand/URL for everyone else. Americans like to see the price up front. As for struggling to get new customers for shared hosting I would say even the guys that have been in this game for 10+ years are struggling at the same thing. Its not easy find your sales cycle and repeat it over and over. Remember a customer can get a pretty good host godaddy.com for under $5.00/Month today if not for free you have to do something to set yourself apart from the rest.

Thx, also would the Unlimited bandwidth (that i am able to offer) put people off?

Thx, also would the Unlimited bandwidth (that i am able to offer) put people off?

If it is a serious price , then it shouldnt.

I mean real serious.

I see that you're offering unlimited bandwidth for about $5 US. I would run the other way if I were looking for hosting. Unfortunately, the customers you sign up at that price aren't going to be the ones you want.

--Tina

Yea. i understand. Its a shame cause I really can offer unlimited bandwidth at that knida price.
But of course i would much prefer more serious clients, maybe i'll do an update this weekend, put a bandwidth limit on & get a US page sorted out.

Its a shame cause I really can offer unlimited bandwidth at that knida price.


Don't be silly. ;)


--Tina

Don't be silly. ;)


--Tina

OK, i am using a Heartinternet.com reseller account at £400 a year, they allow you to chose whatever bandwidth & space you want. I understand peoples strict belief that nothing is unlimited etc. but when its large enough it might as well be considered so.

Oh and love the design of your site design btw, they may have just got them selves another customer, depending on the price of course.

You're still offering something you can't possibly offer. I also don't see you mention anywhere on your site the extensive prohibitions Heart puts on it's use:

We do not allow certain types of Websites to use our services, these are:

* Adult content-orientated websites.
* File distribution websites e.g. a website distributing large movies, software or MP3s.
* Hosting banners, graphics or cgi scripts for other websites.
* Storing pages, files or data as a repository for other websites.
* Reselling or giving away web space under a domain, sub domain or directory.

A potential customer would want to be able to find that kind of info on your site.

Sam,

We Americans are generally a flighty lot. :) It would definitely be best to display prices in USD (for your American clients), as well as GBP. Americans just aren't "internationalized" enough to think through the fact that PayPal would automatically convert. :D

This makes me wonder, what if you program your site to check the browsers locale and show the set $ price for US customers and GBP for the rest?

^^ You could, potentially. I am assuming you are referring to running a check on the IP's geographic location. The only problem is that this is not always 100% accurate.

A general rule is: 'Every time you make potential clients have to think, you're going to lose a percentage of them.'

A lot of Americans would probably sign up, but most wouldn't want to bother having to think about currency conversion and some might even see GBP and think you don't take dollars at all.

^^ You could, potentially. I am assuming you are referring to running a check on the IP's geographic location. The only problem is that this is not always 100% accurate.


Thx soo much guys :P I'll just have to run 2 of the same cart script (its a bit simple but automates for my reseller account)

Not a bad idea with the ip thing, but as stealthy said, my dads ip makes him look like his in France (that's AOL for you), Google do it, so he gets google.fr automatically :P

on and i have one of those byet host things as well (won the beta) www.velox-host.com , think mine's more simple :P

Hi Sam,

Have you ever thought about perhaps putting an ad in your local paper?

Sometimes you get "Local Business" sections and they are pretty cheap to put an ad in, you could try that.

Remember, your local businesses are good businesses to get on board ;)

I will see if there is one, thing is i live in the center of london so there quite expensive, but i'll see whats a good one. thx.

you could just buy the .com and .co.uk versions of your name and post the appropriate pricing on each.

you could just buy the .com and .co.uk versions of your name and post the appropriate pricing on each.

because .com = America :P

A couple of the "brands" we acquired show their pricing in USD, and the clientbase are from every country. Our main sites are all priced in GBP and we have clients all around the world.

The only time I've ever noticed a particular geographic bias was a Canadian VPS company we tookover, prices were all shown in CAD and *every* customer had a Canadian address. Whether that was to do with sales-strategy or branding or currency - who knows....

My personal opinion would be to price it in the ccy you want people to pay :D

Hi everyone.

I used to have a separate UK site and US/International site but have recently changed to having just one.

I list prices in GBP, as I live in the UK, but also have the approx USD next to them.

"Hosting Package One - £19.99 Per Year (Approx $39.99USD)"

I also have on the site:-

"All payments via PayPal are done in GBP, however PayPal will automatically convert your payment to your preferred currency".

It's much easier than having separate checkouts etc.

Good luck with your new hosting business :)

I think that if you are targeting the U.S. hosting market you really should have prices listed in USD. Maybe having a separate site that you market to U.S. clients would be good. Or, use a GeoIP database to detect the visitor's location and display prices in their local currency.

Although I know better, I still have that alert that goes off in my head for those couple of things you've listed. I have definitly turned down web hosts just because I saw some other kind of currency, besides the American dollar. As for the unlimited bandwidth..that just shouts in my head "OVERSELLING!" and I would never chance that. Although, you're site does look a bit unprofessional(just a little) and might attract ignorant people that like seeing that unlimited label.

Although I know better, I still have that alert that goes off in my head for those couple of things you've listed. I have definitly turned down web hosts just because I saw some other kind of currency, besides the American dollar. As for the unlimited bandwidth..that just shouts in my head "OVERSELLING!" and I would never chance that. Although, you're site does look a bit unprofessional(just a little) and might attract ignorant people that like seeing that unlimited label.

lol, yea I have decided to do a total fix-up of the thing. New packages (no more unlimited bandwidth), a more professional site design in USD, and when that's all done, some advertising in the metro maybe or something similar.

I thank you all for the advice, just hope this all doesnt get in the way of my AS levels :*)

... just hope this all doesnt get in the way of my AS levels :*)

Your customers might hope your AS Levels dont get in the way of your hosting company ;)

First things first. If you're hoping for american customers you need a separate listing altogether in my opinion.

The first thing anyone thinks (and rightly so) when they see pricing listed in other currency, is "Why would I ever want hosting in the UK?" I don't think currency conversion is nearly as important as that.

If you want US customers you need a strictly US site.

This 'internationalization' stuff is silly. It's not that it's a different country. it's a completely different continent with something that IS location important.

Had a look round your website

I personally wouldn't mix prices per month and prices per year
Either do one or the other, and consistent
Trying to compare 60MB webspace for $24 a year and 200MB webspace for $5 a month, requires a calculator!

Had a quick read of your Terms and Conditions, and no mention of your compliance with the distance selling regulations
This requires that you offer a FULL refund if the customer cancels within 30 days
You can get round that though, by offering the first 30 days for FREE!
An exclusion is also the Domain Name, if required, as that is purchased externally
Furthermore, if the customer mis-spells the Domain Name to be ordered they will need to purchase a replacement without refund

I have a link on my website to all the currencies and rates, that way the customer simply selects the country or currency, so consider that for UK / US
Ironically, I now take more in Euros than US Dollars!

Had a look round your website

I personally wouldn't mix prices per month and prices per year
Either do one or the other, and consistent
Trying to compare 60MB webspace for $24 a year and 200MB webspace for $5 a month, requires a calculator!

Had a quick read of your Terms and Conditions, and no mention of your compliance with the distance selling regulations
This requires that you offer a FULL refund if the customer cancels within 30 days
You can get round that though, by offering the first 30 days for FREE!
An exclusion is also the Domain Name, if required, as that is purchased externally
Furthermore, if the customer mis-spells the Domain Name to be ordered they will need to purchase a replacement without refund

I have a link on my website to all the currencies and rates, that way the customer simply selects the country or currency, so consider that for UK / US
Ironically, I now take more in Euros than US Dollars!


I would go for USD pricing , if your servers are based in the USA and your target audience is USA.

Also the above post is wrong its actually Seven days under distance selling regulations in the uk ( was 14 until recently)

link : http://www.oft.gov.uk/advice_and_resources/resource_base/legal/distance-selling-regulations/

But I would also not reccomend starting a hosting company when trying to study something like AS and then subsequently A Levels.

Would you like it if your host didn't respond or wasn't aware of problems because he was studying ?

Also you can't legally enter into contracts until 18 and even if your form a ltd company getting a business bank account will be near impossible.

I would put both currencies on a website. If you are going to make something out of it, you will need to put a lot of your time (which also would be a good time to review your studies and make sure that you will be able to complete both efficiently). Creating of another brand/website would take some time I guess, so instead of that you can spend it on improving your current brand. I would simply put GBP and USD prices one next to other. At some point, when you reach some amount of customers, you can have servers (or reseller accounts for starters) in both US and UK, and your customers can choose where to be hosted during the sign-up.

Do not mix different billing cycles like m8internet already suggested to you. Either put monthly or annually, or put both of them but for each package.

I see that you reviewed your packages and that you are not offering unlimited bw anymore. However, maybe your current packages are a bit tight right now? You could lets say double bandwidth on them and it will still look good.

As somebody above mentioned, you should make purchase easy for your potential and current customers. I would throw out your front page completely. Put the packages there. Feel free to put that you are refined and honest host, but put your packages in focus.

Try to boost your sales by visiting popular communities. Spread the word, make some holidays special offers. Add yourself to free hosting directories/listings. I assume you currently don't have much if any funds to spend on advertising, and because you are 16, local adv. can go hard on you since not many people would take you serious enough, if you would start mailing the local companies.

Hope any of this will help you. Keep up the good work and have all the best luck. Every beginning is hard. You must be patient and hard working to see some results.