Has any web host here advertised in the web host directories?

I am curious how many hits did you get from the ads?

Would you do it again?

Adam:

We have advertised and received about a 4% hit rate on our ads.

Would I do it again? Maybe, in the future, but I have found that going to businesses locally in our community is the best way - for us - to build our business. We have tried many ways to get the word out, and ultimately good old hard work is the best.

People like to know who they are doing business with. They prefer local businesses because if they need someone to help them out, they know who to call.

I would suggest that you save some money on the hosting directories and put it into joining your local chamber of commerce. It is a wonderful place to meet small businesses - the ones who need your service. Word of mouth goes very far. More so than advertising on the Web.

Then, after you are making a lot of money :), advertise. You will have a lot more purchasing power that way.

We tried it as well but the results were <5% of our total expectation. No we will not continue any more.

The most effective way for sale in this industry is word of mouth and therefore the most effective way to promote yourself would be to keep your exisiting customers happy. Our 70%-80% new clients are through referals.

We've tried ads on:

http://www.webhostdir.com/

and

http://www.hostfinders.com/

We did not get nearly as many referrals as I would have liked. We also tried advertising on Linux.org, got a lot of click-thrus, but no sales :).

We get most of our sales from local businesses (we're very active in the Chamber of Commerce), and from here.

Definately word-of-mouthis the best advertising.

So it appears that the general consensus (from 3 replies) is that the hosting companies prefer alternatives to advertising on web host directories. But the hosting directories are loaded with ads so it must be worth it otherwise why are all these companies advertising there?

Just because people advertise does not necessarily mean it is worth it.

We are not saying don't do it. We are saying that other advertising usually works better. And if you learn from other peoples experiences, it may save you some of your advertising budget in the future.

But, do what you think you should do. Learn from your successes and mistakes. And welcome to the world of business!

Well, I think that banners are meant for 2 things:

1. To show presence, the real customers come from word of mouth, but when someone sees your ad, and you are recommened well, what can I say, you got yourself a new customer.

2. If you have some special deals it would be a good reason to advertise.

Very important is to list your plans in the web hosting directories, you might be surprised but people do search those :)

Good luck

I agree with you there, Banners are for branding really.

As a consumer, the more informative the advertising is the more chance of me clicking on it. If the banner has prices and features, it has more details on what the host is offering I'm more likely to be lured in then click on it.

The best advertising I've seen on the directories are the directory listings with text descriptions:

http://www.webhostdir.com/spotlight/showcase.asp

We have spent thousands on advertising and to be honest, they aren't effective. We did more into sponsorships, recommendations, etc. No banners. Since the market is too saturated, it makes it too hard, plus you are advertising at a place that has tons of other ads where people can go instead. We have tried hostfinders.com too and that site just brought spammers.

What we have found is the best thing ever, is the search engines. Such as go.com, we are listing #1 for web hosting. We have been on Aol.com also in the past, great results, better than anything else. For one reason I think, is when you do a search, there aren't very many competitors, and if you offer more than them, you have a much better chance.

This may be a little long winded, but it may assist some of you:

Let's face it, webhosting (and designing and the related industries) are SERVICE industries. Shopping for products online from an anonymous company is much easier than shopping for a service.

My main line of business is totally a service one (private investigator). We no longer spend any of our budget on solely advertising in directories (including the yellow pages), and instead rely on word of mouth and referrals. We do spend some money each year on reprinting company literature, and also make some 'gift certificates' which we hand out to clients and ask them to pass along to others who may need our service. This works great for us. The majority of our clients are attorneys and corporations, so we go for the high sells, not the bargain basement jobs.

People do shop around on the net for services, and they are usually looking for the cheapest one out there. Being the cheapest is not the answer. If you are the cheapest, you probably are not making money, and if you are not making money, how can you stay alive/afloat. Quality for the buck is the answer.

And quality for the buck is the way to spend money in advertising. Banners no longer work. Cold calls waste your time and get the potential clients upset. Spam sucks. Directories lump you in with hundreds of others with the same service, and probably at a lower price (see cheap above).

Find something that works for you, and use referrals.

A Tactic I used when business got a little slow that worked was this: I contacted a couple of my better clients. I simply said "Do you like my work?" The answer was always yes (that's why they were repeat client). So I told them that if they referred me to half a dozen of their colleagues, and I got any work from any of them, I would give them a big break on their next job they needed done. It worked. I received about a dozen new clients. The big breaks I gave included free work (found witnesses, ran databases, etc) or substantial discounts (take $200 off a $1000 job and the client wants to buy you dinner). The new work I got, and continuing work from making the new clients happy, more than repaid any loss from the free/discount jobs. And the old clients were happy to get the break and to help their colleagues. This kind of tactic has been adapted by many hosting people as a refferal program. But many don't push it.

Also, like what was mentioned earlier, check out your local chamber of commerce or similar association. Make a trade with a local company: find a mom and pop business that has products you need (like a printer), offer them free website/hosting in exchange for a box of business cards and a sign in their store advertising your services. Stuff like that.

Just don't write a check / enter a card number / etc. into a site/directory that lumps you with a hundred clones.

(resting fingers)

Hope that helps some of you,
Steelsun

[Edited by Steelsun on 03-01-2001 at 06:33 PM]

As a publisher, here's my take on the subject. Whether or not online advertising works depends largely on your approach. If you take the standard, cookie cutter route, more often than not, expect a return not large enough to even cover the expense. Personally, I feel the winning formula is to seek out targeted sites, and work with the publisher one-on-one in coming up with the right combination of banners, text-based ads, and non rotating buttons to deploy. In other words, a sponsorship type arrangement where the advertiser is either exclusive, or competing with no more than 3 other companies. Finalize that with a well suppressed price tag, and the outlook should appear a lot brighter.

George

Precisely.

You should also be aware that some hosting directories are absolutely littered with advertisements. The sites themselves look like gigantic advertisements.

You should look around and find a directory when you think your ad will gain appropriate exposure.

Matt
mlightner@site5.com

Originally posted by Site5-Matt
Precisely.

You should also be aware that some hosting directories are absolutely littered with advertisements. The sites themselves look like gigantic advertisements.

You should look around and find a directory when you think your ad will gain appropriate exposure.

Matt
mlightner@site5.com

But the problem is most of the popular hosting directories are coupled with ads and you have less chances of exposer and I don't think it is worth to advertise on site which is only used by few people, since they do have some ads at least. Overall the result seems to be same no matter where you put your ads. Repeat - keep your customers happy, offer them attractive discounts/commissions on referring an account.