How to market a web hosting company?

Hi guys,
As im sure some of you know i own a web hosting company, well every single idea i get for trying to market a company in this amazingly over saturated market i use, im wondering if any one else has any suggestions? All i seem to be doing is buying links, submitting to every single directory i come across, buying banners on every single webmaster site i come across. I have 4 servers that are 100% empty and im wondering how can i get interest in the service and sell alot of web space cheap and quick as i want to improve my site with an amazing new affiliate program and have loads of pre-installed scripts in a new script archive (Such as PHPLD with free templated to download ect..)

I have this offer going on - 75% reduced coupon exclusive to DP members

but does any one else have any ideas on promotions and stuff, as im not a marketing guru, just a designer and server tech

Thanks

 

You could sell a hosting package on ebay for 1 year, etc. People go there to look for cheap hosting. If you can design websites a lot of hosting companies create template sites, and sell them on ebay and state in the auction that you must host with them, and pay $x.xx a month to continue hosting.

 

Why not get rid of a server or 2? From my own experience directories are useless, links aren't too bad if you can get one on the right site in the right position.

Have you tried targetting the local market? Advertising only on sites like DP, WHT etc are tough since a lot of people on these sites want the specs of a dedicated server for $3/month not really worth it to sell at those prices.

Are you doing any offline ads?

 

Then I found the following quotes on http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=288244#post2722452

And the first post on this page clearly states:

First rule of marketing, never lie. On one page you say your servers are 100% empty, on the other you say you support over 7,000 websites?

Secondly, your doomed for failure looking at your pricing structure. How well have you thought out your business plan?

Your killing your own reputation by marketing your company as your promoting people to read obvious lies.

I know its harsh but ya gotta do something or else you'll be belly up within the year, like most hosting companies.

 

I own a small web hosting company, too. I decided years ago to not get into the price wars since there is no limit to how low some will go. Why do business if it isn't profitable?

Everyone wants a deal, so I went the other way. Instead of discounting, I created "private specials" I offer individuals I'm trying to close. These "Private specials offer double or triple the space and bandwidth as my public packages, so my customers still feel they're getting a deal but I don't lower my income. So far it's worked well for me.

Focus on optimizing for local search terms. If you are in Pudunk, Iowa, optimize for terms like "Podunk Web Hosting", "Web Hosting Pudunk", etc. Those will be much easier to attain high ranks for than more generic terms like "Web Hosting".

Good luck!

 

We have many servers, just 4 are empty and i want to fill them. We have some servers that are full, some that are empty.

My business partner is the business guru, im just a coder. Our business plan was reviewed by our account and he agreed with the right marketing it could do well. Our pricing isnt the issue, all though do you mean its doomed becouse its too expensive or too cheap? In the next 2months all our shared hosting packages specifications will be multiply'd by 10.

We're not lying at all, we have servers that are full and servers that are empty. I stated that i have 4 servers that are empty and need filling so we can get some more.


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The servers are mine and there all set up with collocation for a year so i wont be getting rid of them in a hurry, there all clustered with my other servers.

I usually if its possible to contact the webmaster, i buy a site wide listings on the directory.

Yeah were climbing the search engine ranks try the following:

Cheap web hosting
4th

Cheap quality web hosting top

ect...

Im working on being top for Web hosting might take a few months but my site isnt fully developed really, i want to improve the service as much as possible and hire way way more technical support staff and full time SEO's.

yeah now and again we show up in a magazine here in the UK called .net mag http://www.netmag.co.uk we plan on more off line advertising when our service is improved (Its all ready brilliant but there is no harm done in improving the service, improving the support and usability of the website ect...)

I'll do this more, peaple who are referred to us over MSN/Yahoo IM ect.. They usually get awesome discounts as i love referrals.

We're not a web design company but Website design in Bradford we come up on the first page, both the top 2 Swishpixel and Kwakk i used to work for before opening Greenlush, youll see by my location im based in Bradford. The company is now based in the next city on to Bradford which is Leeds all though both me and my business partner live in Bradford. I dont think there is enough custom in both citys this is why we target the global market.

Thanks for the advice dudes, green rep added to you all!

 

I'm not passing judgment but if your hosting 7,000 website and you've only been around since mid-2006 (domain was created then) then I would think you are doing something right in your marketing and wouldn't really need the general marketing tips you are receiving here.

 

People will go where the best deal to service ratio is. They will look at price and your reputation. Good ratings from webhost reviewers will help you alot.

 

I agree,
But then if you do need help, buying sig links from other sites might be a good idea as well.
Next CES show hand out fliers or something like that....

 

Well the domain was created in mid 2006 all though we have been around since 2005 as i mentioned before i worked for both the top 2 web design firms in my city and i was manager of the web hosting department there, when i left i took all the hosting customers from both company's all though it was something like 300+ not many as it wasn't as promoted as Greenlush, so as a web hosting business we date back too 2004/2005 but as we re-branded into Greenlush.com we have only been around the last 10/11 months.

Thanks

 

Honestly the best advertising is WORD OF MOUTH... I've spent the last 10 years running a hosting/colo/data center and the best advertising was existing clients telling other people, that or our many design partners that bring their clients to us.

I will tell you what has worked and what has not.

Works:
Phone Book Ads/Listing
Word of Mouth
Local News Paper Advertising (if you are on the front page)
Direct Mail (the old fashioned kind)... HARD WORK!

Does not work:
Google AdWords. All you get are bogus orders and stolen CC nightmares
Banner Adverts (expensive and never seem to pay off)
Newspapers.. (if you are buried inside)
Flyers
Direct Email (it's just wrong, even if it is legit/targeted.. You will be perceived a spammer)

Keep in mind if you are trying to compete with the bargain basement resellers and bottom feeder crowd for the unlimited everything for nothing or next too nothing, you are going to have issues...

Stick with your niche and stress your strong points. I know we are far from the cheapest, but we offer a lot more than a hands off see ya approach.

What did not work for me, may work for you... I found that AdWords was by far the most ridiculous and horrible mistake of my life. All I got were bogus orders, or legit orders from crooks using stolen CC's, mainly hit and run spammers...

Overture is not much better.. Both of these work great for many people, but for our type of business where scammers are all over the place, I found it a horrible fit.

Good luck.

 

Deep pockets .... Agressive marketing will help.

 

Even though you are not a marketing professional, but I see you are an expert..

I like your advertisement tactics like buying avatars, signatures and many more..

To get traffic, you will need to buy banner ads on various big forums like sitepoint, namepros, etc..
Also you can buy banner ads on webmaster related blogs/forums.

 

You are very much right.

The original poster have done link exchange with my 30 directories at namepros. (I am very sure. the website was same for he did link exchange)

Few tips from me....
(1) Do not forget affiliate. do use of cj and other.
(2) Write some good articles and do some social bookmarking
(3) If you can....then buy 3-4 PR7 and PR8 relevant links.

thanks

 

I would say probably the best route is an affiliate program on CJ.com, If you offer a good payout then it will be easier to get onto hosting 'review sites', which may help you pull in customers who are unsure who to get hosting with.

The one thing you need to do is put customer service first, make the customer feel like you are happy to sort out their problems and that it's not a burden and they will stick around. They may even tell their friends to come along

 

Yes, that was a very good trade, 30 pr directories was a great deal.
I have purchased a few pr7 and pr8 links, i used to have 4 pr9 links for a month, we got loads of traffic but i didnt renew as i thought it would harm my listings with us only being pr5.

I will buy only relevant text links now, or dir sitewides. Im going to buy some banner ads on the bottom of Namepros also some advertising on V7N and every week i get a featured listing on sitepoint for our server plans. Also signatures and avatars on DP and Namepros will go though the roof next month ill have atleast $1,000 worth so thats a hell of a lot of links and advertising.

Also ASAP im going to get a sitewide text link on Webmaster-Talk also some banner advertising on Talk-Freelance and stuff.

I dont use Google adwords, i just try SEO to the top of google for my keywords allthough i do use something called Clicksor, i spend approx $500-700 a month there and it brings traffic in.

I certanly will be signing up with commision junction, they seem awesome.