If I'm not going to play the price game, I have to be different. There has to be a reason people would be willing to pay extra to have their site hosted with me. What's that difference?

Why would they do it?

Well.. one of the big reasons, and perhaps the most obvious.. will be the values that you add as a webhost.

You might be adding so much that it completely justifies the price, and then some.

What else?

What if your customers WANTED to pay that extra? What if there was something so powerful about your service that the money was only a small factor?

Anyway, its a huge challenge.. I'm still working very hard on it . I believe, though, that if I'm going to make this happen, I'm going to have to be very different and one of the ways I'm going to do that.. is to be much more expensive than my competitors.

Sounds crazy.. and have you seen my hair? I sorta am . We'll see what happens

What do you guys think?

-Jonathan

One of the biggest things that justifies a higher price is the level of support that is provided. 24/7 - phone - reliable. If you have excellent support, most (not all...many are very cheap) customers will have no problem dishing out the extra few dollars.

As a new host its definitely a challenge to justify the pricing 'cuz quite frankly, I can't be availible 24/7 right now. So I have to make sure I don't go making promises I can't keep.

A ton of hosts say 24/7 support and uhh.. its not quite true.

Hmmm.. gonna have to think about that .

In the long run I'll be able to deliver 24/7 support so that if they're up working on their site at 3 AM and have some trouble, we'll be able to help them out.

In the short run, I'll just have to make sure people know that we do our absolute best.

That'll be a fun challenge!

-Jonathan

Fully understandable. I don't provide 24/7 support either, because just like you, I need sleep and am not in the position right now to be able to pay a full time staff to man a phone.

remember ... it takes the same amount of time and money to advertise a $1000 product as it does a $1 product..

Any price usually is worth paying if it is worth your money paying it. If you preach a good game, then play a good game. If you always back up what you say, then you will always have business. It maybe hard at the start, but if you stay with your goal and keep your word on everything you say then you will be fine. If you are friendly and have quick response to tickets and have good uptime. Then you will be fine. Just getting someone to take the first step and satisfing them is the hardest. Because if you preach a good game, they will want the best game. Hope this help.

As others have mentioned, the level of support and performance that you provide will make some high paying customers choose you over the next company.

The hard part is showing the customer that you are legit, and can provide a better service then the next "fly by"

- Eddy

Illustration of idea:
You move to a new town, two weeks later you have a terrible toothache so you start "shopping" for dentists. You see one who is running a lot of advertising
Root Canals Only $24.99 everyday!
Would YOU go to that dentist?
I teach marketing sometimes (and not Internet. So I haven't answered all these questions myself for the hosting biz) but to "service" related industries.
Main saying to remember: "Perception is Reality" Hosting is a service and there is no service you can compare tactilely (unlike products where you can hold a can of Coke and know it tastes the same in Maine as it does in Arizona).
So a customer's "perception" of value is the reality of what the service is worth.
Your assignment (and mine) is to find how to increase the perception of value so the price can be raised (and remember, like the dentist, a certain % of the people subconsciously think if it costs more it's better, if it's too cheap something's wrong with it, proven fact).
Then once the perception is created be sure to maintain whatever it was that created the perception whether better service, better performance, better support, or whatever.
It's all about perception. Hosting exists only is concept. You can't hold 2 next to each other like apples & decide which is best, you can't touch it, or even see it...you only experience it. So the first job is to find the value the customer perceives to be worth more. Then deliver it so the experience proves the perception was correct. Now how I do that is ...

Funny, where I live, that price is not that far from the normal rates.

Standing out from the crowd. Easier said than done. Butquite possible with some effort.

IMHO, it's all about niche marketing. Pick a specific market and go after it.

Want to go after the real estate market? Look for some value add items you can offer your clients. Discounts on pano tours for homes. Tutorials on how to create your own. Build/buy some site templates geared to the R.E. market. Set up resource links for partnership opportunities.

Want to go after the newbie market? Fill your site with how-to's. Tutorials, samples, freebies. Make it known as the "go-to" place for newbies to learn everything. Offer various one-on-one A-Z training packages for a fee. Either by phone, IM, or heck, even webcam!

If your site gets to be known for specializing in a certain market or niche, you're way ahead of the game.

Vito

You could start off with free hosting and offer upgrades, It's a good way to get traffic to your website and if your clients like your free hosting, they are likely to pay for upgrades

I don't want to get this thread too off topic, but that's not always true. People looking for free hosting probably don't have enough of an interest in the well-being of their site to actually pay for it. It's mostly a get whatever you can get type of deal from what I have seen.

Xcel_Hosting, I believe you are partially right. Most free customers will have little interest in ever going paid. However, most such users use little resources, and if you limit support, the cost of having them is not that high. HostNexus for example has a free hosting service and a serious peer support community. Such a community creates a serious buzz, which can be mighty beneficial, especially if the free service (uptime and server performance basically) are good.

When it comes to support I don't think anyone could be able to offer 27/7 support all year round, because we all need sleep and have to get on with our own lives, and being online 24/7 is not good for you(Im no doctor) just a comment. I guss you could hire people to do support for you, good idea?

I've done hosting for a while now, and normally work from 6am to 6pm then someone else takes over.

Yes, and mantain them on shift basis with regular rotation. If it is affordable