Hello, I just recently dove into the paid hosting business. I used to run a couple free hosts, but of course when running a free host it is a lot easier to pick up clients.

Does anyone have any tips or advice on getting initial clients?

Possibly any other sites to promote on other than wht?


- Nolan

Hi there. I would suggest maybe signing up to Google Adwords, however this of course would require a small investment.

It really depends how big your marketing budget is.

That would always help, but I'm trying to keep it on a pretty low budget. I'm sure advertising at webmaster forums such as Namepros and Sitepoint wouldn't hurt.

Be active on communities such as this one. You're allowed to post an ad on each section once a week in the offers section here on WHT.

Be active on communities such as this one. You're allowed to post an ad on each section once a week in the offers section here on WHT.

Extending on this build a reputation on here and have the link in your signature or something, that will help drive people to your site.

Why not try and convert some of those free clients to paid? If you use the right email marketing and give them a really nice deal you might be able to convert 1% of them. All you need is those first few clients and you can go from there.

There are also a bunch of webmaster related forums you can visit. Here are some other ones that will help you:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com
http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/(has both free and paid hosting sections)
http://www.hostingdiscussion.com
http://www.webhostingchat.com
http://www.hosthideout.com
http://freehostforum.com
http://forums.webhostdir.com
http://www.freewebhostingtalk.com
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/webhost

Some other very popular forums great for getting leads:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com
http://www.warriorforum.com
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/
http://www.sitepoint.com
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
http://www.namepros.com
http://www.webtalkforums.com/

These are the most active forums that I have found. All of them are definitely places you can get clients from.

Best of luck,
-Dan

If you could convert some of those free accounts thats what I would be doing right now. I know a lot of people that convirted in the same situation just to get rid of adds...

Justin has the right idea - if you can convert some of those free clients by offering them more, then you could get quite a few paid clients that way.

otherwise it is very difficult to get started, and posting in forums help, using CPC ads such as adwords and YSM gets your name out but it doesn't help as much as forum posting (follow all rules) and word of mouth advertising. I've seen the latter to help us out a LOT over the past months.

Thanks for all the help guys, I hope this all works out well.

I got my first clients by doing websites for the and offering the hosting service on top. It's much easier to get hosting customers when you already provide them with another service.

I got my first clients by doing websites for the and offering the hosting service on top. It's much easier to get hosting customers when you already provide them with another service.

That could also work too. Thanks.

Getting your initial clients can be difficult, though not impossible. Key is to cut your costs right from the beginning, start small and have a decent budget for advertisements. Further to that, the biggest thing would be to give your customers a reason to sign up with you. Competing on price is a no go. Too many hosts offering the world for next to nothing..

Good luck! :agree:

Very important to get listed in all the web hosting directories (the free ones - the pay to list ones are evil ;)

Then, submit your site to all the search engines (just like with any other site - SEO is helpful)

Also, submit your site to some of the wikis for linux os's like http://wiki.debian.org/DebianHosting

That is the bare minimum to get going. Once you've done that, come back on WHT and post a free trial offer in the advertising forums - that will get the word out and those customers will do your advertising for you.

Try and get some reviews and customer feedback - what did they like the best? the worst? fix what they don't like and use what they do like in your next advertising campaign :)

Hi,

It is hard to get your initial clients but hang in there! They will come!

Personally I contacted College courses and asked if I could send some discount vouchers for their web design students. It was a great success!

All web design students need web hosting, and most of them will do freelance projects on the side who they need hosting for.

Hope this helps!

What a great idea Hydro Host!

I think that you need to establish partnership with web development companies. Implement an affiliate program into your website send web design, web development companies business proposal. Than pay them honestly for each sale generated. Hope it will help you from the beginning. Also, continue to develop internet marketing strategy throughout all the time.

Also you can target the peoples you knows like your friends, relatives and you co-workers and as nowadays the market is become more saturated it is hard to get set in this business as there is lot rush of competitors. So initially I thinks starting with offering free service would be good would be good to attract the initial customers and get holds.

I got my first one! I'm pretty excited right now!

I got my first one! I'm pretty excited right now!

Congrats!

A word of caution: Keep an eye on them as often the evil people target the new hosts - you're "fresh meat" to them.

If it turns out to be a good client then more power to you.

And Welcome To The Web Hosting Industry :D - hopefully you'll do good and be around for years to come ;)

Congrats!

A word of caution: Keep an eye on them as often the evil people target the new hosts - you're "fresh meat" to them.

If it turns out to be a good client then more power to you.

And Welcome To The Web Hosting Industry :D - hopefully you'll do good and be around for years to come ;)

Thanks! What exactly do you mean by evil?

Thanks! What exactly do you mean by evil?

You'll find out - trust me :D

In my case it was "hosting a fast-flux dns server for a criminal bot phishing ring."

in your case it may be warez or proxies or something else...you'll find out.

You'll find out - trust me :D

In my case it was "hosting a fast-flux dns server for a criminal bot phishing ring."

in your case it may be warez or proxies or something else...you'll find out.

Well I hope not. Is there any concern I should have about the country the client is from?

Well I hope not. Is there any concern I should have about the country the client is from?

Not really - they come from all over.

Although china has a few more baddies than most - but that's to be expected with over a billion people.

since you're only doing shared / reseller you're at much less risk than someone like me who does vps's - client has much less control on shared / reseller hosting.

there is still a risk though - but it's mostly limited to warez, direct blatent piracy, and other things you can easily see just by browsing the websites of your customers every now and then.

I would suggest posting on various forums such as this one letting people know of your services and what you offer.

That's an easy and free way to get your name out there.

Any orders from AOL ips you need to scrutinize. 90% of the fraud orders we get who immediately start spamming come from 172. (aol ips).

Any orders for hosting for sites that in ANY way sound like escrow, payment, CAR SHIPPING (we get a lot of these), paypal variations, etc you want to call personally on the phone to verify. Better safe than sorry, and for those good orders you call, it gives them the feeling of the personal touch. In reality you're just CYA.

we concentrated with local market, started with web design then moved to full time hosting business..

Thanks for the inputs, guys. I'll keep this in mind.

Why not try and convert some of those free clients to paid? If you use the right email marketing and give them a really nice deal you might be able to convert 1% of them. All you need is those first few clients and you can go from there.

There are also a bunch of webmaster related forums you can visit. Here are some other ones that will help you:

http://www.webhostingtalk.com
http://www.freewebspace.net/forums/(has both free and paid hosting sections)
http://www.hostingdiscussion.com
http://www.webhostingchat.com
http://www.hosthideout.com
http://freehostforum.com
http://forums.webhostdir.com
http://www.freewebhostingtalk.com
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/webhost

Some other very popular forums great for getting leads:
http://forums.digitalpoint.com
http://www.warriorforum.com
http://www.daniweb.com/forums/
http://www.sitepoint.com
http://www.v7n.com/forums/
http://www.namepros.com
http://www.webtalkforums.com/

These are the most active forums that I have found. All of them are definitely places you can get clients from.

Best of luck,
-Dan

yep go to those forums a post an ad twice a week or so. it will get you some.

You can usually pickup a few clients by way of friends and their colleagues and spouses. You can offer them a "friends and family" plan at a discount rate. My rule if you go that route is to always charge something if they expect any kind of professional support - it's not like that server/reseller account/VPS with software isn't costing you anything.

You can usually pickup a few clients by way of friends and their colleagues and spouses. You can offer them a "friends and family" plan at a discount rate. My rule if you go that route is to always charge something if they expect any kind of professional support - it's not like that server/reseller account/VPS with software isn't costing you anything.

It harsh, but I agree. Even if it is at cost.

Keep posting on WHT, I got my first customer that way!

I think that you need to establish partnership with web development companies. Implement an affiliate program into your website send web design, web development companies business proposal. Than pay them honestly for each sale generated. Hope it will help you from the beginning. Also, continue to develop internet marketing strategy throughout all the time.

Is there anywhere we can advertise affiliates on WHT?