Hello,

What are some good free marketing tips for hosting companies?

Thank you all for your contribution,

Jack

word of mouth is the cheapest and most effective.

You might might want to check with your chamber of commerce, local religious entities (bulletins), or local tech schools/universities.

Print up some flyers and hit the streets of your local area. Find restaurants, libraries, banks, etc, that have a bulletin board, and pin your flyer up.

Talk to the business owners in the shops and services you use in your town. Ask if they have a web site.

The best marketing is word of mouth... but it is hardly free, you have to service your clients well to get it -- and that costs money.

That said, other 'next to free' options might be:

- Getting a toll free phone number that is easy to remember (e.g. 1-866-your-company)
- 'Tell a Friend'
- Referral Program to help stimulate some word of mouth
- Link directories and blogs
Etc.

Hope that helps,

Dan

Affiliates, manual submission to any directory out there and 77 Ways To Get Traffic (http://www.associateprograms.com/free-downloads/77ways.pdf) :)

Nice PDF, thanks Tony :)

Yes, Thank you. I read almost all of it. Very very useful info.

Thanks!

Jack

I like the sound of going out and searching for small businesses in your area that may not have a website, since not many do. I wanted to do that a while back. But, then I said to myself. Why would small businesses owners want a website? It would be the last thing on there mind :). They would be more worried with, employees, products, and there upfront customers. BUT IDK if anyone has had any success with this? Might post up a thread on it.

Thanks.

It works. They do want web sites, but don't know how to start.

I actually started doing this Friday. I would drive around town noting down all the businesses that I might be interested in. I then went back with my list and tried to look them up.

If no website, I would mark it and on my next trip out I would stop by, (this time more appropriately dressed, company polo) and just inform them that I would beable to help them if they would be interested in us helping them with a website.

Seems to be working nicely.

Treat every customer how he or she is meant to be treated. Word of mouth is very powerful and can work greatly in your favor.

Tie up with a good local web designer and ask them if you can offer web hosting for their clients. This works for us.

:)

Offer a free web hosting to not-for-profit organizations in your area and then ask them to provide you with a referral. you would be surprized how much business you can get from them.

Create coupons. search for hosting coupon websites and email them asking them to include your web hosting coupons. It's not free because it will be costing you money on sales..BUT, you'll be getting traffic, links, and publicity from it.

Looking into it more, I find, in these days, considered the "IT Days" as my marketer said, would provide to be helpful when doing something like dominating your area.

This is something I will be seriously looking into. In all honesty, advertising on the web, everywhere you can, works out well in the end, however, offering hosting services in your home town/city sounds just as appealing and satisfying.