Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Running a Web Hosting Business : Sales not coming in :( What can I do?

[JackDavies768]

Hey WHT'rs

Right, so I have recently opened a VPS Host, running 2 nodes, one in the UK one in the US. Had a few adverts on WHT, and my prices are pretty budget, as the budget market is my target. I have yet to get any sales. How can I improve this? What can I do?

Thanks Guys!

[TmzHosting]

Hi Jack!

How long have you been in business?

I don't mean to offend you with this, but first you must get a unique layout that is for your business. This is how users remember you. A lot of users will come to your site and see that the template you are using is used by thousands of other hosts and they will think you are unprofessional and wont buy.

- Daniel

[JackDavies768]

Originally Posted by TmzHosting

Hi Jack!

How long have you been in business?

I don't mean to offend you with this, but first you must get a unique layout that is for your business. This is how users remember you. A lot of users will come to your site and see that the template you are using is used by thousands of other hosts and they will think you are unprofessional and wont buy.

- Daniel

Hi Dan!

Thanks for your input,
We have been up for around a month, and I agree about the template, the issue is im stuck for money, and don't want to splash on a template if im not going to make sales ... Money is hard

[Yujin]

Nice website actually but Daniel said this is a template which I'm not familiar. If that is true then I agree to him that you at least create your own identity.

I have a question, since I check your pricing table and it says US Location - Free! - what do you mean by this? Is it really free?

[TmzHosting]

Originally Posted by JackDavies768

Hi Dan!

Thanks for your input,
We have been up for around a month, and I agree about the template, the issue is im stuck for money, and don't want to splash on a template if im not going to make sales ... Money is hard

Then you need to start posting more on forums and have aggressive pricing .

- Daniel

[JackDavies768]

Originally Posted by Yujin

Nice website actually but Daniel said this is a template which I'm not familiar. If that is true then I agree to him that you at least create your own identity.

I have a question, since I check your pricing table and it says US Location - Free! - what do you mean by this? Is it really free?

Im going to correct this now, its basically supposed to say Included, as we charge a slight fee to put people on our UK infrastructure.


--Edit -- Corrected

[Yujin]

Originally Posted by JackDavies768

Im going to correct this now, its basically supposed to say Included, as we charge a slight fee to put people on our UK infrastructure.


--Edit -- Corrected

Great! Another suggestion. Do you might want to improve your WHT signature. Make it noticeable and include your biz registration number which I notice most of the time to UK providers. It gives additional points and trust.

---------

EDIT: Also your Client Area it seems that this is not a secured page or maybe I'm wrong.

[JackDavies768]

Originally Posted by Yujin

Great! Another suggestion. Do you might want to improve your WHT signature. Make it noticeable and include your biz registration number which I notice most of the time to UK providers. It gives additional points and trust.

---------

EDIT: Also your Client Area it seems that this is not a secured page or maybe I'm wrong.

Sounds like a good idea Yujin, Ill get this done shortly.

[24x7group]

Price isn't everything. You need to build up a good reputation for the next couple of months / years and then things will go better.

It's easy getting a good reputation but even harder to maintain it. Make sure you have the patience also, sales don't come in after day 1
With us it took over a year to get the first 'decent' sales coming in.

[JackDavies768]

Originally Posted by ServerBoost

Price isn't everything. You need to build up a good reputation for the next couple of months / years and then things will go better.

It's easy getting a good reputation but even harder to maintain it. Make sure you have the patience also, sales don't come in after day 1
With us it took over a year to get the first 'decent' sales coming in.

Thanks for that feedback

[NoSupportLinuxHostin]

Originally Posted by JackDavies768

Hey WHT'rs

Right, so I have recently opened a VPS Host, running 2 nodes, one in the UK one in the US. Had a few adverts on WHT, and my prices are pretty budget, as the budget market is my target. I have yet to get any sales. How can I improve this? What can I do?

Thanks Guys!

The first two things to think about are "How are you different?" and "What can you do to make the signup process as easy as possible?" Start by reading the book "Different" which you can buy at Amazon. Right now, you have a "me-too" style website that looks and sounds like a lot of other VPS hosts. Who are you trying to sell to? (be very specific) What makes your business different from those hosts? Why is that difference important to the end users you are trying to sell to?

Then look at signup issues. One thing I noticed is that you are a UK company that charges extra for UK hosting. Regardless of what your costs are, it is silly to pass on a higher cost to UK customers if they are your main target audience. That is probably causing some confusion for people. If nothing else, raise the rate for the US VPS plans so US and UK are the same rate. That will eliminate the confusion.

Next, click on your own signup link and think like an end user. In your case, you are selling VPS plans but the first thing your signup form asks about is a domain name. That is the typical shared hosting signup process first step, but that does not really translate into the typical VPS sale. Streamline the signup process. Only gather the information you need fro mthe user. Don't bog the user down with steps like choosing a domain name when they order a VPS. Some VPS will not need a domain name. Others will host many. In either case, end users will not be sure what to type into that first step.

Beyond that, give the user options to pay monthly and yearly. Right now, you only have an option to pay monthly. That is going to eat away much of your profits and some users won't want to hassle with paying each month for cheap budget hosting.

Under the Configure Server section, give users some helpful information about how to properly fill out that section. End users might not know what to enter into each field. Also give them some user friendly tips about which OS to select and why. Don't expect end users to magically know the answer to each question.

Think of a signup form as a quiz that you want everybody to be able to ace with little or no effort. If it is a quiz that requires some thought and research, most end users will give up and look elsewhere.

[JackDavies768]

Originally Posted by NoSupportLinuxHostin

The first two things to think about are "How are you different?" and "What can you do to make the signup process as easy as possible?" Start by reading the book "Different" which you can buy at Amazon. Right now, you have a "me-too" style website that looks and sounds like a lot of other VPS hosts. Who are you trying to sell to? (be very specific) What makes your business different from those hosts? Why is that difference important to the end users you are trying to sell to?

Then look at signup issues. One thing I noticed is that you are a UK company that charges extra for UK hosting. Regardless of what your costs are, it is silly to pass on a higher cost to UK customers if they are your main target audience. That is probably causing some confusion for people. If nothing else, raise the rate for the US VPS plans so US and UK are the same rate. That will eliminate the confusion.

Next, click on your own signup link and think like an end user. In your case, you are selling VPS plans but the first thing your signup form asks about is a domain name. That is the typical shared hosting signup process first step, but that does not really translate into the typical VPS sale. Streamline the signup process. Only gather the information you need fro mthe user. Don't bog the user down with steps like choosing a domain name when they order a VPS. Some VPS will not need a domain name. Others will host many. In either case, end users will not be sure what to type into that first step.

Beyond that, give the user options to pay monthly and yearly. Right now, you only have an option to pay monthly. That is going to eat away much of your profits and some users won't want to hassle with paying each month for cheap budget hosting.

Under the Configure Server section, give users some helpful information about how to properly fill out that section. End users might not know what to enter into each field. Also give them some user friendly tips about which OS to select and why. Don't expect end users to magically know the answer to each question.

Think of a signup form as a quiz that you want everybody to be able to ace with little or no effort. If it is a quiz that requires some thought and research, most end users will give up and look elsewhere.

Wow... Thank you so much for that input!

I will take this onboard

[SercoNetworks]

I'd suggest getting a proper office address listed on your website in order to comply with the Business Names Act. More worryingly, you need to update your WHOIS records to show a proper business address - at the moment you've got the opt-out enabled for non-trading individuals, which does not inspire confidence.

The registrant is a non-trading individual who has opted to have their address omitted from the WHOIS service.
http://whois.domaintools.com/thehostguys.co.uk

Who does the Business Names Act apply to?
It applies to:

• a company which trades under a name which is not its corporate name, for example, 'XYZ Limited' trading as 'Fish Antiques';
• a partnership which does not trade under the names of all the partners;
• an individual who trades under a name which is not his or her surname. It makes no difference whether the individual's first names or initials are added. So the Act would apply to Mr JQZ Singh if he traded as 'Singh Antiques' but not if he traded as 'Singh' or 'JQZ Singh'.

What details must be disclosed about a business?
You will need to disclose (as appropriate):

• the corporate name; or
• the name of each partner; or
• the individual person's name; and in relation to each person named, an address at which documents can be served.

Where must this information be shown?
You will need to show the information clearly in all the places where you carry on your business and where you deal with customers or suppliers;

• business letters;
• websites;
• written orders for the supply of goods or services;
• invoices and receipts;
• written demands for the payment of business debts.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/7

[David]

Curious, what happened to fusedweb.co.uk -- assuming that was your other entity.

[JackDavies768]

Originally Posted by David

Curious, what happened to fusedweb.co.uk -- assuming that was your other entity.

Hi there, this was sold last year.