Hey everybody,

Everyone knows that word of mouth generates the most traffic for Web hosting companies. Besides referral programs, are there any tricks or methods that you use that you'd recommend for those resellers who are just starting out ?


Thanks

Eric Leonard
Bizland Reseller Manager

I am not a reseller or a webhost for that matter, but I feel WOM is generated by great tech support, fast friendly service, good uptime, stuff that is hard to do well, or easy to do poorly(if that makes sense). Keep people happy and WOM will work on its own.

Derrick

keep up good support and you'll see buzz marketing (wom) spread like fire.

Well, if you want to catch a fish, go where the fish are!

In other words, go to places that help generate word of mouth. Join a local chamber of commerce. Join a buisness networking group like LeTip. Run seminars for the local business people. Write a series of articles for online and offline publications (like Workz.com and your local newspaper)

Like Bonnie Rait says, "Give 'em something to talk about"

Regards,

Pete Stoermer
Total Hosting
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Pete@TotalHosting.com
http://www.TotalHosting.com
Web Hosting | Web Design | Domain Names | Merchant Accounts

Make little business cards the promote your services - eye catching ones, and leave them at local businesses and around your town. (works!)

Remember - dont make them like business cards- make them like little advertisements.

Originally posted by dherman76
Make little business cards the promote your services - eye catching ones, and leave them at local businesses and around your town. (works!)

Remember - dont make them like business cards- make them like little advertisements.

That's a good point! I have always frowned upon those "ad type or graphic intensive cards" - you know the glossy portfolio types, BUT I must agree here.

We keep our business cards very well let's say BUSINESS LIKE which is a bit boring:o

We get most of our business over the net (85%) and the rest through referrals locally and nationally which equates to word of mouth.

So that is a VERY GOOD POINT indeed!

thank you :p

You can put the button :D try www.referralxp.com

;)

Ad's in news paper or flyers will help

The real way to get word of mouth is to give clients something to brag about...

Occasionally send some clients a small gift like a lottery ticket. Make a deal with someone that will benefit one of your clients. Send them emails on things pertaining to their business that will help them. Send them referrals without asking for reimbursement. give them some extra bandwidth or options that they might be able to use.

You gotta get them busting to tell people about you. That is what going out of your way is all about. Think of things you would appreciate if you were they.

Occasionally send some clients a small gift like a lottery ticket

I can see it now "Lottohost.com" :D

But seriously, that would certainly get my attention.

Help out in newsgroups, not specifically related to the web but frequented by people who might be looking for hosting and use a discrete sig.
I've generated a lot of traffic from my sig in groups about laptops, Illustrator, digital cameras, etc. talking about things that have nothing to do with the web. You have to be careful about getting into flame wars so it doesn't reflect poorly on you, but helping people looking for good CD players or printers can lead them to you.

Originally posted by theprimehost


I can see it now "Lottohost.com" :D

But seriously, that would certainly get my attention.

That particular one is a trick I learned when I used to sell cars many moons ago. Sales managers give their salespeople 'spiffs' as incentives for things like selling two cars by Saturday morning, etc. It only costs a dollar, but could potentially be big.

If you have 300 clients, sending out lottery tickets would only cost a little over $300. Almost everyone would appreciate the gesture, even if they didn't win. Out of 300 tickets, a few people would probably win something, and probably one or two would win something worthwhile. It would only take one that would bring it up on a forum somewhere that they'd won, and a few more chime in on how they appreciated it, to really get things going. Check into the laws (your local and your clients' local) before doing anything like this though.

These are the things that truly cause 'word of mouth' advertising. You have to go above and beyond, and do things that they'da never thought of and have never seen.

Of course, if you're a $1/mo host, you can't afford to give service like this.



:cool:

Excellent Customer service is the key :D

Kind regards
Phillip

.. and never forget that it takes a long time to generate a positive reputation but bad news travels a whole lot faster so don't just build a reputation... maintain it.