Trouble Getting Clients

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veoloo

New member
We've been having trouble getting our first clients. We've already got about four or five, but that's not paying the bills. We're in a little bit different of a ball game because we run grid/cloud hosting. We've got potential clients who are looking but they still have time with their other host, need cPanel, or just are weary of switching.

I'm looking for some help, and this post is not made in attempt to advertise or market, just ask for some tips and tricks that you all used before your reputations were defined. <URL snipped>

Thanks!
 
Starting a web hosting business is never easy.
The first thing you should do is have a website with interesting information and a smart layout this will help your business gain more exposure and potential customers.
Also make sure your home page has at least 500 words. This is really important for search engine optimization and marketing.

This is what should be done in the first place. Without a professionally developed website you will not be able to sell your product. Noone will trust a host with website which looks more like a blog.

Christina
 
PlexHosted LLC said:
Starting a web hosting business is never easy.
The first thing you should do is have a website with interesting information and a smart layout this will help your business gain more exposure and potential customers.
Also make sure your home page has at least 500 words. This is really important for search engine optimization and marketing.

This is what should be done in the first place. Without a professionally developed website you will not be able to sell your product. Noone will trust a host with website which looks more like a blog.

Christina
Click to expand...

Would you say that the website looks like a blog? It's a WP theme, but I think it looks like a website. How would we make it look more like a host's site than a blog?
 
veoloo said:
Would you say that the website looks like a blog? It's a WP theme, but I think it looks like a website. How would we make it look more like a host's site than a blog?
Click to expand...

You should visit other company's websites to see the examples of other company websites to get an idea. You'll notice that most of them are structured to present their top deals up front, with key features and variety of solutions.
 
One of the most important things about business websites in my opinion is that they should speak to your customer's needs. You should ask yourself " What's on my potential customer's mind?" Off course, in order to do that you should define your target market first. You should know your customer. Who he is, what he does. Knowing that will make it easy for you to answer the question "What the client needs". The only thing you should do than is bring it to the client.

When someone goes to your site he or she has the only question in mind “what's in it for me?”
Your site should tell the customer how you are going to solve their hosting needs with awesome quality web hosting, affordable price and great support.

Don't tell them how great you are! Tell them what they'll get!! How your product will make their business better. This is the only thing one cares about visiting your site.

At the same time the effect of design on marketing and brand identity is huge and you should find a good professional to work on that for you.

Christina
 
Last edited:
Artashes said:
You should visit other company's websites to see the examples of other company websites to get an idea. You'll notice that most of them are structured to present their top deals up front, with key features and variety of solutions.
Click to expand...
I realize you probably put a lot of thought and effort into your website, but I really think your site is not suited to e-commerce. Why try to reinvent the wheel - do as Artashes has suggested and take a look at other successful providers sites, then redesign your site.
Another thing I noticed is that you list your management, but hide WHOIS info - why?
To your success :D
 
Agreed about having a pro website. You need your site to look the part in order for customers to gain trust. The problem is most startups can't afford pro design. I would look for a good Hosting template and try and brand it up...
 
It is a very competitive business and you are really going to have to stand out to attract clients. When you offer something free it is difficult to recover it when you are in the beginning stages of opening a business. If you are having troubles in the beginning perhaps you should step back and evaluate the basics of your plan again. Sometimes you get so immersed in the details of the setup that you forget about he bigger picture and the more important issues. Ask yourself, "what is the weakest part of my business right now and how can I fix it?" Identify three items that might be holding you back and fix them.
 
veoloo said:
We've been having trouble getting our first clients. We've already got about four or five, but that's not paying the bills. We're in a little bit different of a ball game because we run grid/cloud hosting. We've got potential clients who are looking but they still have time with their other host, need cPanel, or just are weary of switching.

I'm looking for some help, and this post is not made in attempt to advertise or market, just ask for some tips and tricks that you all used before your reputations were defined. <URL snipped>

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The best thing I can recommend to you is just to keep at it. The industry does not become easier until you have a mass volume of clients and then your company will begin growing exponentially.
 
looking

Its a tough tough market, keep at it hard. It takes years and a growing budget to compete , look for smaller markets to start growing your cash flow in first.
 
jaguarpc said:
Its a tough tough market, keep at it hard. It takes years and a growing budget to compete , look for smaller markets to start growing your cash flow in first.
Click to expand...

yep, look for a vertical specifically. chase local business that are restaurants etc so you can build a little bit of a client showcase to help dig up new business. Just an example of building your book.
 
Your in a market which is saturated unless you got something no one has, you will be in the dark for a while, It's hard to get large even with a large budget advertising will hardly do anything, Your best bet is to buy a small/medium hosting company, then run off that, that's the least hardest thing to do, but does require a decent budget.
 
Hosting Company Growth

I started my first hosting company in 1998. Here recently I decided to start another one. In 1998 it seemed a lot easier to get new customers, get top 10 listings, etc.

In this startup it has been hard to get new customers over the Internet. I tried a few things. Offering a 20% off sale. Giving away 6 months FREE hosting when people buy three years hosting, but this has not gotten me new customers so far. The majority of my customers are either from word of mouth or just people who have been doing business with me for the last 10 years.

I remember that I used to register a lot of domain names. Then I would upsell hosting. Pretty soon I started getting a good amount of hosting orders. I decided here recently to start selling domain names. Before long I will be implementing this. I will be using plesk billing and registering domains through one of the companies that I can use plesk billing to register with.


MOD NOTE: If you want a review of your site, please post it in the appropriate forum.
 
If clients are not coming to you then you should go the clients. Reach them. Think creatively. Think who is in need of hosting. Where can you find such people. Don't think always in terms of online methods. Think of off line methods too. Identify potential clients, contact them, convince them and then deal!!
 
One of the easiest way to attract customers is to give them a good reason to signup with you. You can offer extremely competitive prices, maybe even cut into your profits to build up a client base.
 
i agree. it is indeed a tough job. but what i did before getting client is to have my portfolio and make sure that i will be paid after.
 
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