I don't know if this is the correct forum for this, in fact I highly doubt this is the right place, so mods, please don't hurt me :(

Anyway, I'm starting a web-hosting directory (its in my signature) and I don't really know how to advertise it.

Anyone have any tips?

I had seen the site and its a very nice design and user friendly

Goto Digital Point Forums - Solicitations & Announcements and announce that you will add the link for free. You will get some additions.

Peace,

I had seen the site and its a very nice design and user friendly

Goto Digital Point Forums - Solicitations & Announcements and announce that you will add the link for free. You will get some additions.

Peace,

Thanks to both of you :)

Goto Digital Point Forums - Solicitations & Announcements and announce that you will add the link for free. You will get some additions.

Peace,

ya i have advertised there and i got a few people hosting with me in a week

ya i have advertised there and i got a few people hosting with me in a week

I advertised their but only got a few people to sign up. A far cry from what it is going to take to upset the evil powers that are HostSearch.com and WebhostingSearch which are both a little heavy on the whole 'bribe' thing.

Anyone have any more tips?

I'm thinking about starting, on a very limited basis, host promoted advertising.

Essentially, hosts bid for page impressions, where they can have a 234x60 banner, preferably a static image like a logo, and have two plans listed.

Meanwhile, the guest knows exactly how much was bid for the impression. This is of course to keep the idea of openness and transparency I want in this project.

So two things:
1.) Would having host promotion ruin the project? I want this to be a no-bribe, no-confusion directory, unlike HostSearch and all of the others.

and 2.) If I gave every, say, $30 in ad money to start bidding would you list your hosting company? (Those who have already signed up, log in, you have a little more.)

Thanks,
Greg

Try Google ad words.

Try Google ad words.

Yes, I'm running a campaign on adWords right now.

Tried banner advertising and linking this up on the Google Network?

The Inet Network is also a great place to advertise web hosting companies.

Tried banner advertising and linking this up on the Google Network?

The Inet Network is also a great place to advertise web hosting companies.

I'm running a webhosting *directory*, I don't know if iNet would like me running ads for a competing website.

Very nice site dude.

First of all, very nice site.
Second, try as offered google ad-words with high cost per click for the first customers. then you can reduce that. Also you can pay for some SEO to bring your website to the first pages in google.

Very nice site dude.

Thanks :)

First of all, very nice site.
Second, try as offered google ad-words with high cost per click for the first customers. then you can reduce that. Also you can pay for some SEO to bring your website to the first pages in google.

Thanks. I am running a google adWords campaign at the moment, but with a fairly low budget :(

When I get more money I'll pay for the SEO and adWords...

:D
Nice site.

*Wants to join*

Looks like this was a good place to advertise :)

:D
Nice site.

*Wants to join*
Thanks :)


Looks like this was a good place to advertise :)

Indeed it does :)

Greg,

I believe that there is no one best place to advertise. The concept of good advertising is to find a way to have potential buyers come to you. The best potential buyers would be the ones that are looking to buy now - of course.

In your case you seem to have the right idea by posting here. :)

Otherwise I would suggest cultivating interest in your website by using non-biased mediums to highlight the benefits of your server and directly how it can change the business of your client (as a host or a person looking for a hosting company).

Monitor your traffic. Businesses want the same thing that you do (people wanting their service NOW) and the great thing that you offer is a means for hosting companies to get what they want. The more traffic you have the more you can say 'you want to bet here - we have X thousands of visitors a day.' Or something like it.

I hope that helps. If you need more suggestions or clarification feel free to ask.

K.

You are on the right place already. You need webhosting companies? They are here.

Greg,

I believe that there is no one best place to advertise. The concept of good advertising is to find a way to have potential buyers come to you. The best potential buyers would be the ones that are looking to buy now - of course.

In your case you seem to have the right idea by posting here. :)

Otherwise I would suggest cultivating interest in your website by using non-biased mediums to highlight the benefits of your server and directly how it can change the business of your client (as a host or a person looking for a hosting company).

Monitor your traffic. Businesses want the same thing that you do (people wanting their service NOW) and the great thing that you offer is a means for hosting companies to get what they want. The more traffic you have the more you can say 'you want to bet here - we have X thousands of visitors a day.' Or something like it.

I hope that helps. If you need more suggestions or clarification feel free to ask.

K.

Well then I guess the thing to ask is, what do hosting companies want in a directory service? That's a fairly open ended question and I expect some open-ended answers, but hey, gotta start somewhere.

You are on the right place already. You need webhosting companies? They are here.

Yes they are! I've had a great response so far, faster than I would have thought. Thanks to all the people who have signed up so far!

GregVernon

I see you've changed your Signature to suit it! :D

GregVernon

I see you've changed your Signature to suit it! :D

Hmm? How so?

just signed up. :)

i'm also looking for a place to advertise my services, and with a very limited (almost zero) marketing budget, your site seemed to be the best place to advertise for my case.

Well then I guess the thing to ask is, what do hosting companies want in a directory service?

Sign ups. They want Sign ups! Preferably long term, high dollar, profitable sign ups. Anyone who tells you any differently is lying. :cool:

Seriously though, there are the standard issue things that apply to any site: Easy to use, reasonably fast, a non-complicated process to add information and update it. (Have you seen some of the captchas out there these days? A forum I visited the other day, I had to refresh 5 times before I got one that wasn't *impossible* to read...) they all apply. Maybe moreso when dealing with hosts, as they've seen it all and can be a tough bunch to please.

just signed up. :)

i'm also looking for a place to advertise my services, and with a very limited (almost zero) marketing budget, your site seemed to be the best place to advertise for my case.

Awesome :)

Sign ups. They want Sign ups! Preferably long term, high dollar, profitable sign ups. Anyone who tells you any differently is lying. :cool:

Seriously though, there are the standard issue things that apply to any site: Easy to use, reasonably fast, a non-complicated process to add information and update it. (Have you seen some of the captchas out there these days? A forum I visited the other day, I had to refresh 5 times before I got one that wasn't *impossible* to read...) they all apply. Maybe moreso when dealing with hosts, as they've seen it all and can be a tough bunch to please.

Ensuring sign ups is rather hard to do, unfortunately.

I've tried to keep things simple, I use reCaptcha which is usually pretty good at making things readable.

Thanks for the tips.

In all honesty, forget about Adsense, forget about Inet. These are like your most expensive ways to advertise and I don't even feel the results will be what you are looking for. Advertising on sites like this are mainly good for branding your product.

Adsense is going to cost you are freaking fortune as well. Your best bet is to not concentrate on one or two areas of advertising, but investing in numerous small places. Work on forum marketing(this is a great free method), SEO, blog commenting, etc.

I know a lot of you are saying 'oh brother, not another forum marketing and blog commenting suggestion.'
I don't think they fully understand the concept. It takes experience to learn how to drive traffic from those methods. You cant just sign up, start posting and commenting and instantly get traffic. No, it takes skill crafting your comments, your titles, etc. You need to figure out how to comment for each site that you participate in. Each has its own thing that works, you just need to experiment.