if i wanna start a web hosting company, how can I make it work out? what should I do to bring customers? :rolleyes:

Support, support and some more support.

Prices will get them to your door, support will keep them inside.

hey nice advice, thnx.. :)

Customers make customers. Once you have them and they are happy they will start more sites with you and tell their friends to also get hosting from you.

It will take about 20-30 customers though before you'll notice people signing up without you having to do anything for it.

How to get the first customers is a problem though. A year ago it was easy. Give $ 1000 to Google for paid advertising and voila.... customers.

Hmm, these days Google sucks :(

An other method is to bid for clients on the webhosting request forum here and go slightly below your price to get your first customers. Not something I'ld directly recommend because the people they refer also will want to be hosted at the lower price.

Besides paid advertising I think the best way is to talk about your business. Talk to everyone. Talk about it to your grandmother, her neighbour, the guy at the grocery store. Talk about your company until you start people running away when they see you approaching :D

Sooner or later there will be someone who needs a site hosted that knows someone that knows someone that knows someone that hosts sites for a living (that'ld be you mate!)

Originally posted by Pilgrim
Customers make customers. Once you have them and they are happy they will start more sites with you and tell their friends to also get hosting from you.

It will take about 20-30 customers though before you'll notice people signing up without you having to do anything for it.

How to get the first customers is a problem though. A year ago it was easy. Give $ 1000 to Google for paid advertising and voila.... customers.

Hmm, these days Google sucks :(

An other method is to bid for clients on the webhosting request forum here and go slightly below your price to get your first customers. Not something I'ld directly recommend because the people they refer also will want to be hosted at the lower price.

Besides paid advertising I think the best way is to talk about your business. Talk to everyone. Talk about it to your grandmother, her neighbour, the guy at the grocery store. Talk about your company until you start people running away when they see you approaching :D

Sooner or later there will be someone who needs a site hosted that knows someone that knows someone that knows someone that hosts sites for a living (that'ld be you mate!)

that's your 500th post! you hit a milestone :D

great advice so far.....

also like to add - have a solid business plan ready before you launch, nothing worse than hitting an unexpected snag and not knowing what to do

The best way to grow your business is to get referrals. If you check with any of the big hosting companies I am sure you will find that most of their business is from word of mouth. Getting and keeping the first few clients is most important. To get these first clients you need to find your own little niche in the market. The best place to do this is near where you live. Look around; do you have any smaller shopping districts/malls around?

These smaller business and shops are a great place to get clients, make up some flyers or cards and go door to door if you have to. This is how I got started about 4 years ago; I started with designing and hosting a small Antique shop. The Antique shop turned into an Antique Mall with over 300 individual dealers. Not long after that I was hosting more then half of those dealers websites.

Good Luck!

Another good way to advertise your site is to place text advertisements in good web hosting directories plus actively particiapte in web hosting forums.

While selecting a web hosting directory to advertise make sure that its the one which can give you maximum value for your money. :)

As only stated in the first reply, support is always an important thing to have. Customers will always expect to receive some help when they need it, and you can never fill that hole with cheap prices :)

Excellent support requires lot of hardwork but if you stick to it, you will succeed.

It's important that your company maintain a professional outlook. Provide quality customer support, always be around when your customers need a helping hand. No matter how many customers your business has, if they are not satisfied, they'll leave!

Secondly, before you start allocating your servers and get things running, lay out a proper business plan, and create realistic goals for yourself and the company.

Decide who your customer base will be. Your customer base should be the people your business will appeal to.

Finally, I believe that having an attractive and functional website will greatly contribute to your company's success, as it is the first impression people will have on your business, and it is where your profits will come from.

If you do decide to launch a new business venture, I wish you the best of luck. :agree:

I think support and server uptime is very important.

Originally posted by dandanfirema
Prices will get them to your door, support will keep them inside.

Very Well Stated! I will quote you :D