Hi,

We would like to announce that, our Host Directory Submission script is almost finished. It ill be done, and for sell within 4 days. We would like you to help us decide on a price.

Features:

1.) Allows you to submit your hosting company to 100 web hosting directories automatically.

2.) You can choose which directories to submit to, this will allow you not to submit to directories you have already submitted to, so you do not Spam the directories.

We have several questions for you.

1.) How do you think we should sell it?
(a.) Should we sell the scripts, and allow you to submit to the directories yourself?
(b.) Should we sell the service, and not sell the scripts?

2.) What price are you willing to pay for the service or for the scripts?


Thank you,
HostScripts

Have a nice day! :)

I was planning on writing a script like this, and there is another thread about it. It seems a lot of people are interested in it. I think you should sell the script personally. Unless selling the service would be cheaper. But if they were the same price, script would be better. The consensus is that people will pay anywhere from $25-75 for a script that submits to around 100 directories. Hope that helps,

Thank you,

I am very sorry if we have caused you any inconvenience.

I was hoping some genius would finially come out with a script like this! By the way what is your companies name and domain name ?

Our company name is Host Scripts, and our url will be HostScripts.net. We are designing our site, and it should be up in a few days.

Do you think that $50 would be a good price?

Are you willing to pay that?




Thank you,
Host Scripts

"IF" the software works correctly I think that is a VERY fair price.

We will make sure that it all works, before we even start to sell it. :)

You will also have to make sure that you keep updating the software since many of these companies change the way they process new packages and users very often.

I would be interested :)

Glad to here that!

I love the idea of this script, I think it's fantastic. But unlike others here, I think you'd do much better offering it as a web-based service than offering it as a script.

If it's a script, every person who buys it has to install it, test it, make sure it's working right, etc. They can't just "do it", it takes a lot more time. On the other hand, if you sell it as a service, someone goes ot your site, pays, and then just "does it", because your systems will already be up and running whereas by selling the script the company has to get it running first.

You could do it both ways - sell the script but also offer it as a service.

I would envision it as a subscription service. You'd have to be making constant changes and modifications to keep up with all the changes and new directories out there, so why not make some recurring revenue from it. Sell the script by itself for around $50, or a 3-month subscription to use the script on your server for like $75 or so. After 3 months offer a "renewal" special at $35 or $40 for each additional 3 month block.

I suggest this because it's a *lot* cheaper for me to pay the money to use your service than it is to pay my high-priced SysAdmin to install a script for this purpose.

Just my 2.5 cents.

Jason

$35-$40 every couple months just to update to a few directories is little overpriced, don't ya think? And if you're a webhost and can't figure out how to install a script you have no business running a webhosting company in the first place.

What if we sell the script, and also offer to install it for an extra $10-$15. Would this work for you?

Originally posted by SaluHost
$35-$40 every couple months just to update to a few directories is little overpriced, don't ya think?

No, I don't. There used to be a service available (maybe there still is) that would actively maintain your listings on directory sites. They charged $400 per month, and couldn't keep enough staff to keep up with demand. Hosting directories are a very important promotional tool, and it's vital to keep your listings current. Doing that by hand is extremely time-consuming, and I would happily pay for a service that makes that easier.

And if you're a webhost and can't figure out how to install a script you have no business running a webhosting company in the first place.

I'm a business person. In college I majored in Communications with a minor in Business Administration. Although I am well versed in computers (I used to work for DEC), and am very knowledgable about the Internet, web hosting, and even know HTML, I am not, never have been, and never will be a programmer. That's what I pay people for. I have a full-time Systems Administrator and several part-time technical people who know far more about the technical aspects of this stuff than I do. Which is exactly as it should be.

I certainly have staff that can install a script of this nature, but frankly I'd just rather have someone provide it as an outsourced solution. It's faster, easier, and lets my tech staff do their job.

Jason

In order to install a script (most of them :) ) you do not need to know an ounce of programming. All you usually have to do is upload it to your server and change the permissions and you're usally good to go (with a few minor changes that you can usually do in any text editor.)

I would highly suggest that you automate the updates for this script and make it really easy to do via just a click of a button by the admin who's administering the script. This is really easy to do and we've seen many newer scripts using this great feature.

Thank you

Is your script/service database driven?

Unlike a simple search engine registration, webhosting
directories require entering the details on one or
more hosting plans.

Each directory has different attributes they track;
there is some overlap, but also a lot of differences.

There are also differences in "coding". For example,
on some directories, unlimited transfer is
indicated by entering 0, others use -1, and still
others use a checkbox or just assume you enter
a very large number (99999 or 32767).

Will your script/service handle all this?

I would prefer an online service, especially if
a database is required as that would simplify
the administration of the service/script itself

A small monthly or yearly fee ($50 or $75/year)
would be great.

Also, can your script automatically spider the
directories and retrieve one's existing listing?

This is crucial for using we somebody already
has out there as a starting point for edits/changes,
and building the starting database on the fly
instead of manually.

We have taken that into consideration. The script will be able to handle submitting to the 100 directories, as if you were doing it by hand, nothing will be missed. We expect the script to be done by tomorrow, then we will test it, and make sure it works right. Then it will be for sell as a script or service.


The script is written in PHP, and uses MySQL.


We will work on the spider feature.

Originally posted by HostScripts
The script is written in PHP, and uses MySQL.

Another significant reason for having it a service instead of just a script for sale. No amount of technical knowledge will help you install that script on a server that doesn't support PHP and MySQL.

We do run PHP on some of our servers, but don't run MySQL at all (we're an NT host, we run Microsoft SQL).

Make this a service - I think you'll get better results that way, and you'll have more control and less customer support to do (I can only imagine the number of support issues you'd get the day one of the 100 supported directories actually changes something and your script stops submitting there. If it's a service, you can make the change once on your server and that's the end of it. If it's a script for sale, you've got to handle e-mails out the wazoo from people asking why it doesn't work anymore. Even after you've released the upgrade.)

Make it a service. Those people who think it should be a script will come around.

Jason

I am starting to see it your way... :) :)

We might do it both ways, I don't know yet.

My question is now. How much should we charge, and for what.

You said $50-$75 per year, but what would that include?
How many times would we have to submit you to the directories, and update your listungs?

Maybe once a month? Charge say $60, it keeps the company info on site in a database and then it automatically updates any directories that you have listed with at the beginning/end of every month. Also you can log back in at any time and change your company info, and if you do that it updates the directories ASAP. I think $60/year is reasonably, $10/mo.

When will this be ready? I need to use it ;).

Originally posted by HostScripts
My question is now. How much should we charge, and for what.

You said $50-$75 per year, but what would that include?


I think anything less than about $100 to $150 a year would be an acceptable price. That should include complete access to your system in order to submit to hosting directories.


How many times would we have to submit you to the directories, and update your listungs?

None! You wouldn't be submitting the listings, the web hosts themselves would. You just set the script up on your servers, make sure the servers can handle the demand and make sure that the script and data files are up-to-date. Have a username and password assigned to each separate customer, and then that customer comes to your site, logs in, and does their thing. You don't ever have to do the submission work for them.

What you should do is keep a database active with each customer's data - that way they can just log into their account and everything is there. Anything that needs changing they can change and then re-submit, and your system (knowing what was change) will go out and change the listings at each of the directories they've submitted to.

It should all be automated - once you've set it up, the only manual intervention you will have to do is to make changes when directories change, and to set up new customers.

Jason

Can we get an update? I need to submit my company to more directories ;).

I am interested also. Any updates on when the script will be released and how much?

I am very sorry...I said that it would be out by now. We are adding a few features, and are working out some bugs we found when we tested it. I will let you know of any updates...


Thank you,

HostScripts,

Take your time. Its better to catch everything before release than to try to update everything after the fact.. Just keep us updated.. I will await patiently.:D