The word cheap is damaging

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danielpmc

New member
Hello this is just my opinion,

The word cheap is damaging and is resulting in potential loss of people wanting to even read your hosting website. When it comes to a server, why would a person want cheap to be associated with it in any way. To me if the price is cheap, it means they have to recover that profit another way, either through the reduction of services or support.

Lets say this: You just leased this brand new, shiny server. Now you are on top of the world. Hey, why not go and tell Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa and of course you want to brag to your brothers and sisters and all your friends.

In fact shout it out to the world:

Hey everybody i just bought my first server!

How much did you pay for it?

I got a real good deal on my brand new, shiny server, it was real cheap!

No really the server is not cheap, just the price.

The moral of the story is, cheap is not a moral.
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Inexpensive and cost-saving are the words used in marketing. It's what we as a company want to project to the public.

However, the public search for "cheap hosting" or "cheap mobile phone plan". As a result, the word cheap is used on a website as if the words are not there, people can't find you.

Any time you can use the word "cheap" in a way to describe something as a cost savings, it's a good thing. But you're correct, you need to separate that "cheap" is financial related and not necessarily hardware related.

Even saying that you used "inexpensive hardware" is enough for people to read between the lines and think "low grade".

Convaying "cheap" when it comes to money has always been a challenge for marketers.
 
Unfotunately, for at least the past decade the word cheap has been so overused. As a consumer, i trust these words to describe products or prices. Budget priced, Beginner prices, Personal plan, less expensive, quality priced and especially reasonably priced.
 
Here's the thing - while cheap may infer less than quality, there's no denying that the phrase, cheap dedicated server, gets way more queries than inexpensive dedicated server or other related keyword phrases. As Conor said, if you want to increase organic traffic to your site, it's best to use cheap dedicated server on your site in the context that implies the price is cheap, but not the server or services.
 
Most of traffic drive to big company so people want to get business by offering at lower cost.

I think "cheap" word does not affect service, etc but its depend on provider. If you earn profit by selling your product at cheap price then of-course you will need to provide robust customer service to handle them.

Its depend on our mentality, We think that If we sell service at cheap price then we are not liable to provide support on time, etc but we need to change this mentality.
 
Some of the hosting companies that are not cheap also use word cheap to get clients. That's the business now.
 
I am an old punk rocker, still active since the 80s, and i firmly believe that people together can effect change. So why not set an example and not use the word cheap when describing anything on your websites. Some of you say thats the way it is so we have to do it that way. Why not be different and do it your way?
 
I would say despite some believing that the word cheap is damaging, many buyers are actually looking for cheap dedicated servers genuinely and yes some providers genuinely offer cheap from a price perspective not the hardware perspective. But again cheap is relative so our interpretations will define what is believable to give you cheap on price rather than cheap on service.
 
danielpmc said:
I am an old punk rocker, still active since the 80s, and i firmly believe that people together can effect change. So why not set an example and not use the word cheap when describing anything on your websites. Some of you say thats the way it is so we have to do it that way. Why not be different and do it your way?
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I'm all for this strategy too, it's what we used at our hosting company for 17 years and never had an issue. We outranked and out-performed many of the big boys too :)

The only problem with this strategy is that it's definitely a long-term strategy. If you can sustain your business via other methods and not "need" the new clients, then this is definitely the way to do it. You'll also end up with a different class of client - usually one that isn't afraid to spend some extra money on needed services.
 
Why not use the word "affordable" that's what I used for web hosting. "Affordable web hosting" or "affordable prices" as that's not "cheap" but means not expensive.
 
Each of you that has posted have valid points and i thank all of you for taking the time to express your viewpoints. I guess im just on a mission to change the hosting world from using the word cheap. Im 52 years old and in my age group the word cheap is not something we identify with. And as the years go by more and more of us are looking into other parts of the internet other than facebook. And trying to explain cheap is good to us dinosaurs is not going to work out well.
 
danielpmc said:
Im 52 years old and in my age group the word cheap is not something we identify with.
Click to expand...

well i am 51 years old and i understand the concept of using the word cheap.

These days with people having less and less disposable income, they will look for the cheapest deal around whether it be web hosting or grocery shopping, without compromising on standards.

In web hosting you can get

cheap hosting with shocking support
cheap hosting with excellent support
expensive hosting with shocking support
expensive hosting with excellent support

you just have to look around and read external reviews of the host
 
Cheap is what those who don't know what they really need search for.

Those that know the value of the service generally don't search for services that involve the word 'cheap'. It has somewhat of a negative connotation in the hosting industry.
 
MikeDVB said:
Cheap is what those who don't know what they really need search for.

Those that know the value of the service generally don't search for services that involve the word 'cheap'. It has somewhat of a negative connotation in the hosting industry.
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Very well stated!

Thanks to all members for your opinions. I was not sure how this thread was going to go when i posted it. It is really nice to read all your opinions and not be trolled. I certainly look forward to read more viewpoints as time goes by, from current posters and new posters!
 
I look at it this way.

When it comes to hosting there are 3 things to remember.

1. Performant
2. Reliable
3. Cheap

You can have any 2 of the 3.
 
ughosting said:
I look at it this way.

When it comes to hosting there are 3 things to remember.

1. Performant
2. Reliable
3. Cheap

You can have any 2 of the 3.
Click to expand...

I pick Number 1 and 2

As a side note:

My wifes father has a construction company and his business card says:

Pick two out of the three

Good
Fast
Cheap
 
i have a $2.50 per month VPS that i have a couple of personal sites on and it is very reliable, although support is slow, but that's what i expected.
 
From my personal experience when you word cheap in your ads or promotions some people tend to avoid your product, guess some just psychologically think "it's cheap because it's not good".
 
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