Hey all,

whilst i just start out in the hosting industry and to get my site out there and get the customer base, would it harm my reputaion by offering free hosting not on all accounts only 1 account, and once the word gets out there i can discontinue the free service,.

however how wold i make money i was thinking maybe charging for support and upgrades such as space and bandwdith etc.. i would not charge paying customers for support obviously.

Thanks

All

Joe

That's a relatively common marketing approach. You do need a proper budget, and to wow your users, so that they have reason to say good things about your service.

A different spin on it is to offer heavily discounted hosting (on say 1 year contacts). The advantage is that these customers are more likely to pay full price for your service once the special is gone, compared to free hosting users, would be more serious about their sites, probably more involved online, and more likely to do the word of mouth advertising you need, in places other than free hosting forums. :)

Since you'd be charging, you'd be able to do a fraud check on them, reducing the number of service abusers too.

Thanks ldcdc,

I have the budget however I dont have the budget for google ad words etc... I was thinking about advertsing in the yellow pages, Uk Side since I am based in the uk. Also since I would be much smaller than the big dogs so to speak I would be able to treat my customers as indviduals rather than a number. and would be able to offer a greater and personal hosting experiance for them.

the only thing that I am worried about is I am going to start on a vps plan and customers mite not like that and not sign up with me. I would like to keep the budget small at the start and not run before I can walk so to speak.

I welcome other people views on what they would do.

Thanks All

Joe

Well, you dont have to exactly tell them your on a vps reseller dedicated etc. They just want a speedy server with blazing support in the end. I wouldn't be worried about people not signing up, considering people do it all them time ^.^

I dont see a problem with this approach you are trying to take. Just work your way up.

thanks all