Hello I am fairly new to the web hosting arena, I have had reseller accounts for some time now, I just took the leap into my own dedicated server where I sell Alpha, Master and Reseller accounts. I was wondering where you all advertise and what seems to work, I currently list my services on ebay but found that in order to compete I have to set some wild prices ETC, I use craigslist and backpage both free to post, since I am fairly new advertising dollars are limited, Please point me in the right direction

WHT works, as well as other webmaster forums that allow it - we also do cpc ads with google/yahoo from time to time depending on advertising budget.

Hello I am fairly new to the web hosting arena, I have had reseller accounts for some time now, I just took the leap into my own dedicated server where I sell Alpha, Master and Reseller accounts. I was wondering where you all advertise and what seems to work, I currently list my services on ebay but found that in order to compete I have to set some wild prices ETC, I use craigslist and backpage both free to post, since I am fairly new advertising dollars are limited, Please point me in the right direction

You can put adds in WHT and other popular forums.

Blessen

WHT helps, also try some other forums..

The internet..hahaha.

But really, I have found local people to be the best.

Yes, local people are the best. PPC for web hosting is the worst, conversion rates can go as high as $100 per customer.

If you have some $50K/Month to spend on advertising, that would be fine, if not, do it the natural way and the hard way, that's where the loyal clients anyways.

We advertise at WHT and several other web hosting/web master forums. We gave Google AdWords a try and it was a total failure.

On 2 local radio stations :)

We only directly advertise on WHT. Word of mouth advertising does the bulk of the work for us.

WHT here as well. Tried PPC advertising for about a week and yes, the conversion rate for us was around 80$ per signup. Crazy....

Word of mouth with local business and other local in person folks works well here. It's almost all we have ever done.

Target the local market first and move out only when you're convinced that you've captured the most!

If you sell quality then word of mouth is the best advertising solution for you!

Mostly word-of-mouth. Haven't found much success (or good ROI) in advertising.


Lawrence

you should try putting in your sig here too

I've found WHT sig's and ads to be a HUGE source...Strangely Facebook and Ask.com also are cheap ways to get on hugely popular sites.

I did chuck £50 into Google but it's a total waste of time unless your prepared to pay £5+ a click which is just stupid.

Thanks

Andrew @ PDT Hosts

How about ranking in GOOGLE first page for "web hosting" , "cheap web hosting" "cheap hosting" and other keywords?

Doesn't it work better than WHT or others?

please verify

Yes Google can help, but it is hard to get up in that rank.

Word of mouth it the best, but if your a new business you won't have any existing clients so no word of mouth will be generated.

Personally it's have to be WHT ads however advertise in your local area to start off somewhat?

Sounds like a lot of WHT advertisers. Is there actually a decent ROI on that, or are you all shills? :)

(Or most likely, just supporting the community you are involved with?)

Lawrence

GFXGaming/Musehosting has almost always done word of mouth, with some sponsorships with various gaming/leagues to get customers.

Its only been recently have we looked at expanding.

GFXGaming/Musehosting has almost always done word of mouth, with some sponsorships with various gaming/leagues to get customers.

Its only been recently have we looked at expanding.

In the same boat here, so i'm a relatively newb in terms of actual marketing. :)

But i think that is good advice for people starting out.


Lawrence

I have used PPC For my Real Estate office, I found it to be unless and costs are high, thank you all for the valuable feedback, I will look into forum ads,

I have used PPC For my Real Estate office, I found it to be unless and costs are high, thank you all for the valuable feedback, I will look into forum ads,

Google is pricey, but can send you a ton of new customers... check out the SEO/SEM forum for some SEM tips. Just like with SEO you need to have a heavy hand to manage your Google Adwords account otherwise you are just blowing cash...

Try local ads in computer related magazines and search for other forums on google such as WHT.

Google is pricey, but can send you a ton of new customers... check out the SEO/SEM forum for some SEM tips. Just like with SEO you need to have a heavy hand to manage your Google Adwords account otherwise you are just blowing cash...

Do you like the content-advertising as well? Or straight google-search ppc?

Lawrence

Google AdwWords is a very fast way to get visitors/customers to your site. But you really need to be ready for sell and you need t have a good services and prices, if not, you may lost your money :rolleyes:.

Good bye

Google Adword is a complete failure.

There is a wholesale view that sees Google Adwords negative. Has anybody had experience in adjusting campaigns and still saw failure?

There is a wholesale view that sees Google Adwords negative. Has anybody had experience in adjusting campaigns and still saw failure?

I can't say i have had particularly good returns for keywords related to "hosting"...

But it's good for other keywords or niches. Hosting just feels like too much competition i suppose.


Lawrence

A helpful tip is to advertise your service manually on online search engines for free, but also pay money. Google and Yahoo are the top two business suppliers, so if you are going to spend money advertising, use Google and/or Yahoo. PPC is very effective, and the more money you spend per click, the more clicks you get, and the higher up you service will be listed on the search engine.

Here is a list of free promotional websites:

www.Odesk.com
www.Elance.com
www.RentaCoder.com
www.Work.com
www.YellowPages.com
www.MerchantCircle.com

Good luck! :)

A helpful tip is to advertise your service manually on online search engines for free, but also pay money. Google and Yahoo are the top two business suppliers, so if you are going to spend money advertising, use Google and/or Yahoo. PPC is very effective, and the more money you spend per click, the more clicks you get, and the higher up you service will be listed on the search engine.


The point isn't that you can get leads.. it is about ROI.

If it takes me $100 to attract a customer worth $20 to me, it isn't worth it. If the customer is worth $1,000 it is worth it.


Lawrence

But if you provide a service that in the end keeps them for several years a $100 investment to get them is a wise investment.

But if you provide a service that in the end keeps them for several years a $100 investment to get them is a wise investment.

And on the chance that they decide your service is good, but they found someone cheaper... you lose money.

It depends, and you can be lucky in the some. I don't know of any going concern that has a 100% customer retention rate.

I also feel that even if it were profitable for some people, why would they post it here? :) So really the forums are useful for some type of information and not others.


Lawrence

Well regarding hosting a good place to advertise would be www.webhostdir.com or even here at www.webhostingtalk.com :D hope it help's.

I post a lot at forums and use google adsense.

We tried AdWords... I would suggest that you don't, it did not bring anyone.

I suggest you look at WHT OR/AND DigitalPoint

I realize most of you suggest WHT.. Since I'm a newbie here, I just want to ask what is the ROI for WHT advertisement?

there won't be exact number, but as compared with other webhosting site, WHT is the best and most visited site and hence you will gain lots of exposure through your signature.

there won't be exact number, but as compared with other webhosting site, WHT is the best and most visited site and hence you will gain lots of exposure through your signature.

Therefore, is everyone talking about banner-ADVERTISING on WHT? or Sig-advertising?

Lawrence

Therefore, is everyone talking about banner-ADVERTISING on WHT? or Sig-advertising?

Lawrence

Yes, lawrence, banner and signature advertising. The difference between the two is that you need to spend time in WHT for Signature advertising while the Banner advertising, you dont have to spend much time here.

Banner advertising on several of my personal and associates sites, signature advertising on multiple web hosting and web design related forums (even unrelated ones, I usually throw a link in my profile or sig), and word of mouth.

PPC is generally a waste of time unless you know what you're doing. I know tons of people who have blown a couple hundred dollars over the course of a month not knowing what they're doing. They set up a basic campaign, dump some money into the account from their credit card or bank account, and next thing they know, they login and it's empty and they've yet to make a sale.

Yes, lawrence, banner and signature advertising. The difference between the two is that you need to spend time in WHT for Signature advertising while the Banner advertising, you dont have to spend much time here.

Maybe i just filter too much, but i'm not sure i really ever clicked on a banner advertising here (or on most places).

That's why i'm wondering how effective it is.


Lawrence

There are probably more places to advertise than there are customers!
Adwords do work but at what cost, the person who clicks may not sign up, so make the page associated with the click SCREEM sign up now!
I found with google adwords, I write the ad with my phone number, company name and a short blurb that does not make people click easily.
This way I can bid high, my ad shows alot and my name is slowly getting recognized.
I am also looking into some new price per action companies, these allow you to determine a price everytime someone does something you define, like sign up, or buy XX package etc.
The only sure thing is hard work, Place your ads anywhere and everywhere you can, especially if it is free!
Paul

Best results are with Google Adwords

Best results are with Google Adwords

Can you underline this statement with any argument or comparisons? Otherwise I see little value in it.

thanks for all this useful info everyone..

Can you underline this statement with any argument or comparisons? Otherwise I see little value in it.

How so? Adwords is great right now during this recession, at least for me. There need be no comparison, mainly because in small amounts I experience amazing ROI (only recently cuz of the recession). Or you can spend a lot of time here and convince people of your hosting service, perhaps.

How so? Adwords is great right now during this recession, at least for me. There need be no comparison, mainly because in small amounts I experience amazing ROI (only recently cuz of the recession).

For what kind of business if you please?