I launched my web hosting company's site about two and a half weeks ago, and so far have not received any signups. I have had plenty of visitors, just no signups. Is there something wrong with my pricing/plans/site, or have I just not been patient enough?

Thanks...

2-weeks is nothing......

You have not done anything wrong, but you do limit your-self by offering only one plan. By your domain name I assume that is what you want one plan. This idea can work but you need to advertise your company more. your plan is a little low on data transfer, 5GB might be better.

I see you have not posted in the advertising section yet, other then to a request. While WHT may not be the best for you, you still need to advertise once a week, you have nothing to loose.

Have you done any advertising? Where?

I have signed up at most of the hosting directories, and have paid campaigns at hostapproval.com and webhostdir.com.

Besides having your URL in your signature, you should have it in your Home button here. Who likes to copy/paste, when they can just click a button?

Keep working at it. It'll happen.

If you don't mind me asking, how did you set up you domain name system, errodr?

:D Too bad if you ever add more plans with a name like uniplanhost.com. :eek: :D

Well, he's got the Custom plan thing going on, so he can always have a sale on 'upgrades' here and there.

As a side note, the site is nice and clean - but maybe the color is not the best to provoke a purchase. I read that it's known in marketting circles that yellow advertising is the least effective in making a customer feel like closing a deal.

Worst case scenario, just change the color schema and see if that does anything for you. Or have weekly upgrade specials. One week, an extra 2 gigs of transfer, another week more HD space, another more SQL DBs etc.

And hey, how DID you setup that domain name system check? :D

-WC-

Hi errodr,

Trust me, 2 weeks is nothing. It took quite some time before i even saw a cent come back into my account.

Originally posted by whatever
If you don't mind me asking, how did you set up you domain name system, errodr?
Looks like he is using the mwhois script, which is available to download lots of places, and then sends you to register.com to actually do the registration.

Thanks for all the advice!

As for the domain name check, I just used a free script (mwhois) and integrated it into my site.

Sorry....

Looks like the question got answered while I was posting...

Keep going, 2 weeks is nothing, one plan is ok (iPowerweb offers only one plan, doesn't it?)

Thinking about it from a consumers point of view - the first thing I would do would be to research the company, groups.google.com and various other places... then I would look see if what they are offering matched what I was after and then, check to see if its the best value...

To be honest I only got anywhere in the first couple of weeks because I knew a company was folding and I bought it for about the same as one of their customers would pay for hosting!

Since then most sales have come from refferals, especially the odd bit of free hosting for a charity or two... (just a thought).

HTH's Gerry

I've wanted to use the charity thing for a while. So it's working or you for more referrals?

I was thinking about hitting up the churches and such. You could probably write off the donation too. :D

-WC-

Yeah, you could.

I saw your ad on webhostdir and it says you offer '250MB space, 2000MB Transfer', better change it to whatever you really offer - your web page says 4000MB of data transfer.

I like the idea of one-plan. There is a lot of people who doesn't know what they want...

You might want to try google adwords program, it works well for me.

good luck

Originally posted by VIPsNet
I saw your ad on webhostdir and it says you offer '250MB space, 2000MB Transfer', better change it to whatever you really offer - your web page says 4000MB of data transfer.

I like the idea of one-plan. There is a lot of people who doesn't know what they want...

You might want to try google adwords program, it works well for me.

good luck

Yeah, , I have to wait until tommorrow for them to change that as I made the decision to change late Friday.

I wouldn't expect to many ( if any ) results from advertising in hosting directories. They are good for building your brand name if you can afford to shell out the cash for constant adds over at least 3 to 6 months, however don't expect anything coming in right away. If you can't afford the cost of the add for at least 3 to 6, I wouldn't even bother at all.

A couple of weeks ago I started from scratch, looking for a web host, knowing nothing.

If I had found your site in the first couple of days of my search I would have signed up with you. Your site looks very clean and professional, it gives me confidence in the person behind it. I would have really liked the one plan part since your one plan had everything I wanted.

The one item that would have stopped me is the lack of posts in your forums. They were all at 0 posts when I checked. That feels risky.

Your setup is a good deal -- but it's hard for a customer to find a good deal on the web with all the bad deals out there. The directories seemed useless to me. It was days before I found WHT, and with it, enlightenment. I think the internet is a tough place to market web hosting -- you're competing with every other web host in the world.

Can you try marketing locally? Even small businesses spend big $ on yellow pages ads. Tell them how easy it is to get on the web. Maybe you can find a local graphics artist or designer to funnel business to you.

Best of luck.

:)

Agreed with GPFault x 2.

BTW very nice clean layout maybe take the forum down untill you get a few customers first.

I think it would be better if you do the traditional sales strategy, by literally going to web development offices in your area:D, sending them emails would be a spam, so i think that's the best--- i think...

I agree with the forum comments. Take the forum down until you have enough clients to really use it. Then you can always put it back online.

Also, don't expect many customers, if any, from here at WHT. Everyone that browses here expects to get 10 GB of space and 20 GB of transfer for $1 a month - its ridiculous!

Well, you guys were right, I got my first customer today!

I am very excited.

Well, you guys were right, I got my first customer today!
Well done errodr! Make sure you treat your first customer like a god and hopefully he/she will reffer you to others. I have to say I really like the design of your site, it's quick, clean and professional: good job.
Anyway, good luck in the future.:)

Also, don't expect many customers, if any, from here at WHT. Everyone that browses here expects to get 10 GB of space and 20 GB of transfer for $1 a month - its ridiculous!not true, I'll offer you $1.50 for that, on the condition you provide a free domain name, 24/7 phone support and walk my dog every day (I'll have to get one first though :D).

And congrats on your first sale !!!

Congrats on your first customer, I remember what it felt like for me, and I'm sure it's just as exciting for you too :)