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Thread: Local Companies

  1. #1
    Join Date
    May 2005
    Location
    Woking, England
    Posts
    1,401

    Local Companies

    I've been thinking about [before coming on here] and even more recently about advertising to my local community, churches, shops, etc.

    I plan on hiring someone to design the flyer and print of the first few copys at home, rather than buying a big bulk, just to test things out. I've also been thinking, probably none of the businesses in my area will be able to make websites [currently] or have the paitents too...and trust me, I've seen some attempts.

    Won't they also want design? Hostings is great, but a website on it is the important bit. Should I practice photoshop even more, should I join up with designers, should I just adverise hosting? Would people buy hosting from me find someone else to design the site?

    Should I offer a discount on prices? Should I offer face to face support, as I don't mind walking to near by shops to help them understand it a bit. What information should I put on the leaflets? Server specs, would that mean anything to people other than sound 'fancy', pricing, all packages, just shared? Just the smaller 50MB packages. What shall i do for the main title text of the flyer.."get a website from £1!" "Afford A host" our slogan?

    Should I market it to certain people, like model railway clubs? Certain types of shops. OR just to any business?
    Web Handyman - Website and Internet Marketing Service

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Mar 2004
    Location
    Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
    Posts
    1,585
    The local market is in my mind the best option for your business. Your best bet is to team up with other designers and offer your clients an "all-in-one" solution instead of having them getting hosting from you and design from another. As for just printing a few at home, that might be a good idea. But also remember that you may not get a big return, if any return on them. You have to keep trying. Face to face support may not be such a great solution because you then might find yourself running all around town each day. Just a Helpdesk and support e-mail and maybe a telephone number would work fine.

    As to what to advertise in your leaflet, most likely the local market won't be that tech savy, so stay away from real technical stuff. Include an about us page, packages for hosting, web design pricing. You might want to just offer shared packages and maybe start offering reseller plans a little while later. Have maybe three packages listed, start off small with about a 50MB-100MB webspace for the first plan and your last plan could be about 500MB. You should also put that custom plans are also available.

    You should really try to advertise your business as a "all-in-one" website solution rather than just web hosting. As for who you should market it to. Do you live in a town or city? If you live in a small town or middle size town try advertising to all small businesses and organizations. If you are in a city then you might want to do websites for just clubs or whatever.

    Hope that helps!
    Golden Globe Hosting | It's Time To Get Online.
    www.goldenglobehosting.com
    info@goldenglobehosting.com

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2003
    Location
    Israel
    Posts
    133
    Yes gghosting gave some good advice.

    You can try to find a design firm online to partner with them, and then offer a whole website package. Include information on how their company [store] would benefit from a website.

    Another feature many non-tech people love to see is their own email account [name@domain.com].

    Regarding support, you can just give them your local number or cell number, as well as an online support desk.

    Make sure you emphasize that you will do everything for them - Setup domain name, hosting account, emails, design...etc

    People love to keep everything simple.

    Good Luck!
    Christmas time is among us, get your loved ones Designer Fragrances

  4. #4
    What about selling a hosting package that includes a website builder? The market (churches, shops, etc) really don't need anything fancy......you would sell them on the idea that their website is just more information for their customers.

    Selling a "website package" like this will also give them control over their information AND provide increased customer retention (if their site is built by a tool you host, its harder for them to just up and leave).

    Then there is "Custom Websites". That is where your partnership comes in. There are many design firms that I'm sure would be ready to jump on board......probably discounted design services or something like that.

    Works for us! Good luck!
    Kenneth R Taylor
    Inet7 Internet Serivces
    Web & Application Hosting Services
    http://www.inet7.com

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