Anyone know how long it takes before clients start rushing in? You got any good advertising techniques that appear to work?

Depends. Could be minutes, weeks, months, years, or never. The best advertising technique is to put your url everywhere. Put it in your signatures, profiles, etc.

Hope that helps ;)

just take care of the customers you do get and it will pay off after time, advertise locally.. this is the best form of advertisment I have found along with the above word of mouth from customers.. It takes a long long time to really get going.. after the first 50 you should get a steady flow.. i dont know anything about them "rushing" in though..

Best suggestion I have heard that makes sense is free non-profit org accounts. I am going to attempt to work into that market and see if that word of mouth from churches helps bring in some newbies in.

-WC-

hosthero,

You started a hosting company and don't know when you'll get any clients?

I'm sure your "business plan" is more solid then it sounds.

Hosthero - I'm assuming your URL is hosthero.com - I took a look at your site. There are 2 things for you to consider regarding your question/problem

1. Firstly are you getting some quality traffic to your site? Advertise on some established directories like WebHostDir, HostIndex or FindSP as a cheaper option (the guy how owns that site looks to be doing all the right things to market his site). It's important to get some quality traffic that you know is quality - otherwise you won't know if it's your site or the traffic that's the problem.

2. Secondly - Your site has to sell. You have a lot of competition and a lot of them have great pro looking sites. First impressions of your site were not so great. The hosthero concept is good, but the moving hosthero guy & the mass of text underneath isn't doing you any favors.

Originally posted by NovaW

1. Firstly are you getting some quality traffic to your site? Advertise on some established directories like WebHostDir, HostIndex or FindSP as a cheaper option (the guy how owns that site looks to be doing all the right things to market his site). It's important to get some quality traffic that you know is quality - otherwise you won't know if it's your site or the traffic that's the problem.


Obviously hosthero will not be able to afford the directories you suggested with prices of 500-2000 per month. I think either local advertising or using PPCSE's would be a good way to go if you want to pay for advertising.

I would consider since you are brand new with no clients that you stick to the forums, this one as well as other webmaster related forums such as webmaster-talk.com, webmasterforums.net, guistuff.com, etc. But remember don’t spam the boards with advertising your services, simply add your url into your sig and that is enough. Gain respect and friends by answering as many posts as possible giving helpful answers. This way will be your best bet.

Have a block party and label all the alcohol with company stickers.

It works :D

-Matt

Hosthero, I hope you started at dmoz.org. It takes a while, but you need to be listed.
There are a ton of hosting directories that you can get listed in for free.
Just keep listing wherever you can.

Obviously hosthero will not be able to afford the directories you suggested with prices of 500-2000 per month. I think either local advertising or using PPCSE's would be a good way to go if you want to pay for advertising.

I don't think FindSP is anywhere near those prices, but anyway - if you are serious about starting a business you need to spend some money. Quality traffic costs money. Too many people think that web hosting is some kind of get rich quick scheme.

Certainly list in anything thats free & look to local opportunities. PPC is excellent - but quite expensive if you want decent amounts of quality traffic. These small PPC are worthless until they have good quality traffic themselves.

Its been 1 month and I have 3 customers. I don't think there will ever be a "swarm" of sign-ups. Althought, after you starting getting a few customers, hopefuly they will spread your company name to their friends and family. Good luck!

-Dan

it will take you exactly 3 years, 5 days, 6 hours, 5 minutes, 30 seconds, and 10 nanoseconds

Let me get this stright, you are in a business with no idea on why you cant get customers and ways to advertise?...

Maybe stack up some cash and get a plan.

Not meaning to be slack but if you cant come up with a way to get customers, maybe you should go find another job and work for a company instead.

Good marketing + good service + good offers + good prices = Good customers.

Isnt this right equation? :smash:

Hello. http://webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76843 -- this might be useful for you. good luck:)

Originally posted by RackNine
Have a block party and label all the alcohol with company stickers.

It works :D

-Matt

hmm
i'm going to one on saturday
need stickers fast!
:)

Hmm, I think you have 2 problems to address before you even begin thinking about advertising.

1. The design of the site is inadequate to generate sales. You can bring 10 million people to your site overnight and no one will buy if the design is lacking. Major items I would fix is the navigation (it's very difficult to read and really doesn't describe the linking process), change the logo (yes the hero idea will work, but animated? no way), and get everything self contained on your url (your order page is offsite, as well as your domain lookup). While these are just basic points, I would suggest investing in a review if not a full redesign. Try mysitestinks.com, they did a great review for our business site and really helped us get ideas on how to fix our design flaws.

2. Your hosting plans are a little skimpy. A single POP account, 2GB bandwidth and 25MB disk for $5/mo? There's no PHP, MySQL, or any other really saleable services there. I'm not quite sure whether you are a reseller at this point or have your own dedi server, but you need to include the basic services that every other host offers to be competitive.

Overall, I think you can improve your site and your product before you invest into traffic. I'm not trying to be a jerk or anything, just giving you some positive advice on how to make things better for your visitors so you can increase your sales ratios.

Eric

Originally posted by braysurdi
Your hosting plans are a little skimpy. A single POP account, 2GB bandwidth and 25MB disk for $5/mo?

I don't agree. Ok, only 1 POP account might be a bit low, but 2 GB bandwidth is enough for most sites (same for 25 MB disk space). And $5 is not expensive.
What count's is customer support and there is a price for it, certainly not $0.50 per hour!

The website just doesn't look professional. Maybe you could invest a bit in a new design.

Walter,

If you are a huge company selling those types of plans where you have established yourself with a reputation, it would be a completely different issue. But, starting out with no clients means you have to actually come to the table with a product first, then prove to the people who sign up you also have a descent service.

Folks looking for hosting are no different than anyone else looking to purchase a service. They look at different companies, and narrow it down to a select few based on their budget, site requirements, etc. Then they compare prices vs what they are getting for it.

You cannot tell me if a person looking for hosting finds a plan of this type and finds another that offers more disk, bandwidth and email for the exact same price, that they would not buy it from company B. Keeping in mind that both company's are comparible in other ways like quality of service, backbones, etc.

So many companies don't offer small packages like this anymore and I think it will be awfully difficult to compete with what's out there. I agree the traffic and hard disk for a $5 plan is ok, but there are so many other features missing that will hinder sales (streaming, php, asp, ssl, mysql, password protect directories, anonymous ftp, webmail, stats, custom error pages, etc.). Granted, you don't have to include all or any of these, but it's just to show a point.

In the end, I've learned over the years people don't care how much resources they actually comsume, they only care about what they get for the price they pay. IE, the bang versus the buck factor.

Eric

It takes time to get established and listed in search engines and hosting directories. I don’t care what type of business plan you have.

I am finally starting to get traffic to my site, and got my first two customers this week, both within two days. But I always wonder if there is something more I could do or change to get more people to sign up… Maybe I need a site redesign or something else as the ratio of people coming to my site and purchasing my product is not that great :rolleyes:

a good design help A LOT!

Since I changed the design at DTH sign ups has been incresed in at least a 100%.

But don't take me wrong, with my prices, I don't get 10 sign ups a day :), In a good week, I get 15 signups now, with the old design, I was getting 5-7 signups per week.

What braysurdi & Jedito said - it's on the money. Follow their advice.

I agree. You have to have a well-designed site. But, when you design a site, your peers or visitors can only determine or judge how well that site is designed. And I am that most people who visit your site are not going to tell you your site stinks.

In my case, I have had other "designers" view my site and they say it is great. If that is the case, there must be something else wrong. My prices are within what others are charging. I guess the only thing left is that I am not holding my mouth in the right position (you have to be old enough - past 40- to understand that one).

Jim
Your link popularity its pretty low (3/10 in google).
Maybe you can try to submit your site to the majors search engines

A compare plans table could be good too.

Your link popularity its pretty low (3/10 in google).

Forget Google unfortuanately - you have a very low chance of getting traffic from Google anytime soon - web hosting is extremely competitive - one of the most competitive searches out there. But submit to DMOZ & build links as much as you can anyway.

Realistically you will have to pay for traffic + have a site that sells - then expand via word of mouth & more marketing as you expand.

Try traditional marketing too in your local area.

Hi Andrew
Sorry for disagree with you, I'm not an OLD host, I have 1 1/2 year online, but I'm listed on the top 10 position on:

Web site hosting: AOL
Web hosting affordable: AOL
Web site hosting affordable: AOL
Affordable web site hosting: AOL
Jsp hosting: AskJeeves/Teoma
Web hosting affordable: AskJeeves/Teoma
Web site hosting: Google
Web hosting affordable: Google
Web site hosting affordable: Google
Affordable web site hosting: Google
Web site hosting: Netscape
Web hosting affordable: Netscape
Web site hosting affordable: Netscape
Affordable web site hosting: Netscape

Althrough are not Excelent keywords, are not bad either :), BTW, before ask me how I get listed in that position; I don't know :D

Originally posted by Jedito
Hi Andrew
Sorry for disagree with you, I'm not an OLD host, I have 1 1/2 year online, but I'm listed on the top 10 position on:

Web site hosting: AOL
Web hosting affordable: AOL
Web site hosting affordable: AOL
Affordable web site hosting: AOL
Jsp hosting: AskJeeves/Teoma
Web hosting affordable: AskJeeves/Teoma
Web site hosting: Google
Web hosting affordable: Google
Web site hosting affordable: Google
Affordable web site hosting: Google
Web site hosting: Netscape
Web hosting affordable: Netscape
Web site hosting affordable: Netscape
Affordable web site hosting: Netscape

Althrough are not Excelent keywords, are not bad either :), BTW, before ask me how I get listed in that position; I don't know :D
Yeah well, they're ok as far as keyword positioning goes, but as you said, not excellent. I used to be right into the SEO scene but nowadays don't have to worry about that area. Word of mouth is the only way [IMO :D] to let your business organically grow. :)

Infact because we have folks who use our services to supply their hosting customers, we keep them search engine spiders away....:D

Sorry for disagree with you, I'm not an OLD host, I have 1 1/2 year online, but I'm listed on the top 10 position...

I'm not saying a listing in Google is impossible - it is very possible - but in reference to a new host struggling to get traffic - it's unrealistic to dream that any traffic is going to arrive from Google to change their situation.

Sure they should build links etc and maybe mid term they will get a few hits here & there from very non-competitive search phrases.

To get any significant traffic from Google - they would need to be immersed in SEO / use a consultant with no guantees & a tough uphill road - just due to the fact that web host sites do not tend to be content rich or resources that attract quality links.

The best approach would be exactly what you've achieved - built links to get a moderate position, but focused marketing efforts not on SEO but on advertising / PPC etc - which provides instant quality prospects - to feed the creation mill of loyal customers that ultimately become unpaid sales people.

Originally posted by NovaW


I'm not saying a listing in Google is impossible - it is very possible - but in reference to a new host struggling to get traffic - it's unrealistic to dream that any traffic is going to arrive from Google to change their situation.

Sure they should build links etc and maybe mid term they will get a few hits here & there from very non-competitive search phrases.

To get any significant traffic from Google - they would need to be immersed in SEO / use a consultant with no guantees & a tough uphill road - just due to the fact that web host sites do not tend to be content rich or resources that attract quality links.

The best approach would be exactly what you've achieved - built links to get a moderate position, but focused marketing efforts not on SEO but on advertising / PPC etc - which provides instant quality prospects - to feed the creation mill of loyal customers that ultimately become unpaid sales people.
Google was good for us when we were starting out. Had the top position for a while with "Multiple Domain Hosting". Got indexed with Google after about a month. The old site was built for Google.

Getting the right keywords with a balance of demand and lack of competition is almost impossible. Google is your friend. :D:agree:

Jim,

I think your site is done nicely, but there are a few things that I would address. After all, no site is perfect and can always be improved to bring in more sales.

1. The text is at 8pt font. I had tested doing 8pt on our site for about a month and found that we lost about 25% of our sales during that time period. I figured out that many folks buying web hosting from us are over the age of 30, and to be honest, made viewing the site more difficult because of the font size. We increased it back to 10pt and our sales went back up to normal. This small font may be hurting your sales if your client base is middle aged adults.

2. The link "hosting solutions" doesn't really do anything for me. If I click on it, it brings to to a page with no info. You should have a link on the left side for each plan so people don't have to click 2 or 3 times to get to the package they want to see (ie standard, super, ultra, etc_. Remember, people hate having to spend effort in searching a site for what they want to view.

3. Along the same lines as #2, your hosting plans should be on top of your nav bar, not on the bottom. People want to see what you offer before they look at your company info, forum, guarantee, etc.

4. The home page does a nice job of showing your plans in the center with brief descriptions. Hyperlink the images as well to each plan's explination. I almost could not find how to get onto the main pages.

5. Underline your links, and forget the DHTML rollovers. We have all been trained to think underlined text equals a link. If I scan a page and do not see any underlines, then I don't go hunting to see if one actually exists. You really need to change this throughout the site as it may be confusing people.

6. Where the heck is the order link in the nav bar? You have taken the most important element of any e-commerce site and hidden it from the visitors. Folks need to be able to order your hosting plans no matter what page they are viewing on your site. Many times people will already have the hosting plan they want in the back of their head while they view other web pages. You really need to put the order link on every single page, at least in one place if not two.

7. Lastly, I tried to order a hosting plan and got a PHP error.

Warning: Variable passed to each() is not an array or object in /home/cyberlan/public_html/phpmanager/config.php(1) : eval()'d code on line 96
Warning: Your are trying to run this script on an unlicensed IP. If you believe this to be in error, please contact support@phpmanager.com
Error Messages:

Fatal error: input in flex scanner failed in /home/cyberlan/public_html/phpmanager/templates/languages on line 1

You will get no orders if your processing system isn't up and running :crap:

Well, just food for thought. I'm not trying to rip your site, rather giving you helpful ideas for bringing in more sales :D

Eric

Eric,
Thank you very much for the suggestions. I will work on it right now to make changes. I appreciate all helpful suggestions...

As far as the ordering error, I use phpmanager and I just received a message from the guy who made the program. Apparently there is a an error in the program. :mad: He is working on it now. The program was working before though... hmmm... I wonder how long it has not been working... Real good way to run a hosting company when you can not accept orders :eek:

Again, thank you for the very helpful suggestions...

Hey Jim,

No problem, I just try to give helpful ideas on how folks can improve their site and sales when I can :cool:

Take care,

Eric

I'm on my way out, but here is a quick advice - spend a few days to create some good host dir interacation which means add ALL your hosting plans to ALL directories - mission impossible? indeed! since you don't have to many customers at the moment you got some free time on your hands, use it wisely...

Add a section on your site of service review - we get a lot of reports that people who see the reviews on our site sign up with the hosts who is getting those great reviews...

Let's see what else...

oh yea... :)

here you go:

http://www.webmasterbase.com/article/828

Let me know what you think :)


Good luck.....

When I see posts like this, I have to ask for an age. Not to sound like an old professor, which I am not - but the 'kid factor' is huge on WHT.

I think everyone hit most of the points here, but it really does take a lot of work. You can't just create a site and expect people to sign up. You need advertising, free or otherwise. You need to get your link out there and as many places as possible (without spamming). It costs money, and your business plan should go over this in detail so you know what you can afford and where you want to advertise.

Again, start local. Start with some friends, give them discounts if you have to. You would be supprised how word of mouth spreads.. if not in person, then with them online. Most of my new signups are from people who heard about it from a friend.

When we started, we did not do any advertising really. Granted the link was posted in mine and a couple other guy's signatures on various message boards, but we had no cash set aside for advertising up front. Strange enough, in the first 3 weeks of officially being open, we had I think 14 signups. In that first month we turned into a profitable company. Now with some added low budget advertising we are doing even better :)

The key is still local people and word of mouth, that will get you farther than spending hundreds of dollars on directory placement or flashy ads on websites. Plus, with local clients and/or word of mouth signups you usually receive "quality" customers, meaning, they aren't looking to screw you over, sign up and cancel in a week, abuse your services.. etc. And to me, having 50 of these kinds of customers versus 500 random people who saw my 300 dollar ad on a hosting dir is worth more than anything. Support time is greatly reduced, chargebacks are reduced, and overall your overhead is greatly reduced.

So stick with it, listen to what everyone here has said as there is a lot of great information. Just remember, it takes work, it isn't a magical source for income :)

Clients :confused:
What are those, :eek:

:D :D :D :D