Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Running a Web Hosting Business : Whats the best way to promote my hosting services?

[MichaelD]

Hi, My name is Michael (duh).

A little about myself...

I never really had a huge urge to become a web host (reseller), but it was time for my two sites hosting terms to be renewed and I knew I wanted to move at least one of them. The other (which I didn't feel needed moved) was being hosted by a reseller. I didn't know they were a reseller at first, but after some research and perseverance I figured out that they were and who they were reselling for. I then learned that I could pay just about the same amount I was already paying for regular hosting and maybe add an income stream too. SO that's why I am a reseller.

Anyway...

I'm finally getting some time, so I want to start promoting my hosting site again. Well, I listed it at http://www.webhostdir.com (very easy to list and update! Kudos James Cross!), but there are countless other directories and they seem to be harder to get into or have a poor interface. So, I guess my question is... (finally)

What is the best place (or best way) to promote your hosting services?

I want cold hard facts! If it brings you customers I want to know about it. If it doesn't bring you customers I want to know about it! That way I'll know where to list and where not to waste my time!

Thanks a lot for any input. I am sure everyone will be interested in reading your responses!

Regards,
Michael
http://www.zaptacular.com/

[MSW]

The best way for you to promote your business is to go door to door around your community and introduce yourself and your services. You will get quite a few accounts this way as people tend to do business with people they can talk to, not just emailing. It is a good way to start to know your community.

Join your local Chamber of Commerce. You will get some great leads there as well.

[X-treme]

I would have to agree with the statements WeinBar said. I do not advertise our webhosting services on any public board, forum or search engine. We draw all of our customers from local leads or referrals. I am not saying this is the smartest move, but we make out quite fine with the 92 clients we have and are not ready to jump into the shark pool just yet.. No offense to any other hosts just a figure of speech.

PS. As a side note we have only lost 4 customers since 1997 using this strategy, and the reason was those clients folded their business's. As you can see the turn-over rate using this method is much less than internet advertising, which is why we have not made the move YET.. Plus our clients enjoy the personal contact instead of just e-mail or phone..


X-treme

[kunal]

hmmm... i dunno.. i would find it a lil odd to go from door to door telling ppl abt something, they woundnt wont, or have never heard of....

i know i abuse most of the door to door salesmen when they make me walk all the way to the door to see some new tooth paste.. aarrrrg!!

i think it would be better to email them or something, and tell them, you are willing to stop buy anytime, to give them a more detailed demo of what you offer

[Jaiem]

In this day and age most business know about the web. They may not know all about it or anything technical but most would agree it is something they should be part of for their business.

What "part" is another matter as well as time and price.

Expect to get some doors slammed in your face. That's part of the job. And pick your targets well. Don't go to a major store and hope to host them. Odds are they have a corporate headquarters doing it for them.

[X-treme]

I would not recommend that, but we have stopped by some local business's to see if they already had a web presence or would be interested in having one.. I wouldnt consider that door to door sales but maybe some do.. Most of the local business's in our area know who we are and it is more of a friendly "How's business, ready to start a website" type of conversation instead of a sales pitch..

X-treme

[akashik]

Actually we're starting to think of our local area as well. To be perfectly frank, it's a shambles. A lot of time is spent trying to even locate local business just from net searching. We actually find more of them by seeing their URL painted on the side of cars and buildings... So, we're thinking of building a site devoted to local business, collecting them all under one central listing. Most of these sites locally are 'home jobs' with little metatagging or search engine submission. We figure if our site is tagged correctly it's a set up the engines for the sites one click away.

It's all been done before I know - it's not a new concept by any means. But it is in our local area... The hook for us is we're obviously going to tag the site as being made and hosted by us. People may not be looking for hosting when they go to the site, but they'll see us there "Helping our local Community" Put some staff in t-shirts walking around town doing the shopping or going to the post office and there you go... A start. We'll probably make some donations to local computer clubs and what not as well.

In all it's a pretty affordable solution, and most importantly pretty well self sustaining.

Besides just being a business listing it'll also be a resource center to local government offices (business registration etc)

We don't really have too much of a vested interest in our local area as offshore, and interstate business is more profitable, so it'll be an extra string on the bow more than anything.

Greg Moore

[ckizer]

I would beg to differ somewhat. While starting in the community is really great for when you are low budget. (I know) I find that well placed ads are working quite well. The host I work for started two months ago. We don't have anything special but because of ads, we are filling up a new server every month, about 10 new accounts everyday! Which is pretty good for a new host.

[nisus]

I decided to start locally, i'm in a small but reasonably sized town where everyone sort of knows each other. There's a lot of small businesses where people are just getting into the whole web scene. I figure this way I can get comfortable with it and see how it goes before trying a larger approach. Might work out good through word of mouth and such.

[JohnCrowley]

ckizer - I'd be interested in knowing how/where your company is advertising to get this rate.

- John C.

[Jaiem]

Just walk down the street or visit the local mall. You'd be surprised how many small businesses want a big site and how many bigger business either don't have one or don't like what they have.

[MichaelD]

Thanks for all your input! I started this thread, so here's my update:

Current Status: I have successfully listed my company/plans at 24 hosting directories.

Here they are with my notes: (if they don't have any notes, they probably went off without a hitch and are top quality)

BTW if you are one of these companies and it says (interface sucks) next to your name. I'm sorry but it does! And if you want to know why, I'll post the basis of my opinion here.

http://www.webhostdir.com/
http://www.hostsearch.com/
http://www.hostingrepository.com/
http://www.webhostingsearch.com/
http://www.tophosts.com/
http://www.hostseek.com/ (interface sucks)(1 page profile)
http://www.alanward.net/hostfinder/ (interface sucks)
http://www.webhostarea.com/ (interface kind of sucks)(plan rendering sucks)
http://www.hostfinder.com/ (profile listed, but no plans (costs money!))
http://www.all-hosts.com/
http://www.addahost.com/ (simple listing, no plans)
http://www.hostswatch.com/
http://www.host-seek.com/
http://www.hostfinder.net/ (3 plans allowed)
http://www.**************.com/ (sorted by recently updated. update often! interface could be better)
http://www.Adovis.com/
http://www.superiorhosts.com/
http://www.host-dir.com/
http://www.findsp.com/Hosting/
http://www.hostcrawler.com/
http://www.hostindex.com/
http://www.HostChart.com/ (reviewed and approved)(search acts silly)
http://www.hostfinders.com/ (interface sucks)
http://www.webhosters.com/ (company profile is listed, but I can't get the plans listed, odd)

There are many more than this, but these are the easy ones! The other ones had quirks like not working or charging a listing fee.

See ODP by google for more:

shortened link

See Yahoo! for more:

shortened yahoo link

I have received a few inquires from this effort and believe it was worth the time.

I also added some bids on hosting keywords to my accounts at http://www.bay9.com and http://www.brainfox.com yesterday.

2 click thrus, no clients... so far

As far as going around to local businesses goes, I'll keep it in mind, but that sounds like work!?! (Just kidding, it's in my future plans)

Regards,
Michael

[Edited by Chicken on 03-30-2001 at 08:19 PM]

[akashik]

I remember going through most of them one night adding plans... I was a babbling mess by the end of it. Also took about 8 hours to do. Of all of them (and a few more if I remember correctly), our logs show about 5 that have any traffic coming from them, and only 2-3 with any regular level.

It's a thankless task but if any of them lead to sign-ups then it was worthwhile.

Greg Moore

[MichaelD]

Greg,

I believe you on the eight hours. If you added up all the time I spent it would probably be at least 12 hrs (and I suspect more)! That's why I posted the easy/good ones here. I figure I can save other people some time.

The ones I posted above were under half of the list I put together. The others just didn't seem worth it or were very involved or had tech issues.

And your right, if it brought you even 1 client it was worth it!

</greg>

To all others,

Within 24 hours of my first wave of submissions I had a client (who unfortunately had to cancel due to his client cancelling the project) whom I think came from http://www.webhostdir.com (one of the best).

I have looked in my logs and these are the ones that have sent me visitors since last Friday (3-23-01, when I started listing):

http://www.webhostdir.com (3)
http://www.tophosts.com (3)
http://www.hostsearch.com (1)
http://www.findsp.com (1)
http://www.all-hosts.com (1)
http://www.hostchart.com(1)
http://www.host-dir.com (1)

Sure thats not a flood of visitors (about 2 a day), but keep in mind how targeted these vistors are. I am one of thousands of hosts listed at these directories and they probably really inspected my plans before clicking through.

Anyway, If you're reading this post because you want to promote your company, start with the 7 directories listed in this post and then try the rest a few posts up.

I suggest you keep a file (I used notebook) telling who you submitted to, status, notes, etc. If you don't you'll probably forget and waste your time resubmitting. And I don't think they like that!

In conclusion...

Alright guys, keep the ideas coming!

Regards,
Michael

[James Cross]

Hi Michael,

I'm glad to see us at the top of your list :-) Thanks for the complements earlier in this thread.

We're in the process of assigning account managers to every host listed in our directory. They should be able to ensure your listed to maximise the level of traffic to your site. If you haven't been contacted already let me know.

PS: This isn't a sales plug. The account managers wont hassle you into buying ad space etc. (if they do, let me know about it)