You DONT have to be cheap!

M

Mrdredd

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You dont have to be cheap or priced similarly to your competition.

Chances are its a kiddie host your competing against, why do you want to be cheap?

All you get from that are cheap CUSTOMERS! The worst kind in my opinion.

Charge more, make more, provide better service, get the customers the cheap customers lose.

I see people calling others ludacris because theyre prices are a couple dollars higher than another host... big deal, plenty of people will pay those prices, so why go cheap?
 
Going cheap can be a smart business decision. Going insanely cheap is not.

There is a market for cheap hosting, there is a market for more expensive hosting and there is a market for outright expensive hosting. I can see a company having 3 brands and catering to all those markets.

Fact is there will always be providers for all kinds of customers. Where there's a demand, there's a provider.

Some hosts will aim to get $4000 out of a server. Others will aim for volume and thus be content with $1000 per server or less.

To answer your question "Why go cheap?": because cheap hosting is a huge market, whether we like it or not, and some hosts will cater for that market. Why shouldn't you be one of them? ;)
 
Mrdredd said:
why do you want to be cheap?

All you get from that are cheap CUSTOMERS! The worst kind in my opinion.
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I may be classified as one of those 'cheap hosting companies'. The clients that start off cheap, don't necessarily(?) stay 'cheap'. I say that I may be classified as cheap, but then I don't offer huge, un-necessary amounts of bandwidth. All packages are based proportionately.

Sometimes, cheap is what the novice needs to get his feet of the ground. Maybe you should try planting your back on.
 
Going cheap can be a smart business decision. Going insanely cheap is not.
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Well when you make a smart decision to go with a lower cost package, you're no longer called "cheap" you're called frugal lol

In addition, those that make an educated decision to go with a lower cost plan, are also smart enough to know...they're not going to get a dedicated server for $10/mo.
 
Actually you will, if you buy cheap too lol

But that's kind of the point. If a company is selling cheap and still making a profit...then that's certainly not a host I would want, as it means their network, equipment, etc is cheap as well.
 
If a company is selling cheap and still making a profit...then that's certainly not a host I would want, as it means their network, equipment, etc is cheap as well.
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Not necessarily Mark... Not necessarily. A cheap host can go for volume, knowingly making less per server and not overcrowding them, but recouping that loss by sheer weight of numbers.

A host can get a better deal for equipment than others, thus having lower prices. The cheap host would have volume and thus a more serious bargaining leverage.

Also, if I would start a hosting company from where I live, I could pay average staff $400-$500 per month and they would be quite happy with that wage. For $1000 per month I would get excellent staff, speaking perfect English, because that's the wage of a bigshot manager around here.

Cheap does not equal lousy services, just like expensive does not equal outstanding quality. That said, usually, from the 20,000 or more hosts on the US market, the ones to be most wary are the cheap, the very cheap and especially the "too good to be true" ones.

However, they're not bad because they're cheap, but because of poor planning and unrealistic prices that force them to cut too many corners.
 
Well I think that planning has a lot to do with..

You did hit on something that ANM understands, which is volume discounts. We haggled with Dell, and got some very nice prices.

The problem is, as you stated, is that the majority of the cheap hosts fall into the warning level, because rarely do any of them follow the scenerio you have outlined.

Those companies plan to bust competition out of the water by killing them with low prices, but don't have the money or weight to buy in the volume needed to make a profit.

They end up either not being able to pay for the servers, the staff, etc....or if they can afford the server, and the staff, then generally neither is very good, because since they couldn't afford to buy in volume, they settled for cheap.
 
I'm glad to see that we agree. (In fact I suspected this was the case.)

Probably for the sake of brevity your post, which I quoted above, was making too much of a general statement. That's why I decided to chime in and add to it because we cannot say that all cheap hosts buy cheap equipment etc.
 
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Certainly. Not all low cost hosts are bad.

I also in the middle of this discussion, don't want to shoot ANM in the foot lol. The thing is, we had a client (who became frustrated with a few minor DNS issues, while we are migrating.) He posted on WHT (never mentioned our company), but made the statement..."I made the mistake of using a cheap host, now I'm looking for quality."

It surprised me personally as this client was extremely happy the entire time, but when we began doing something to make the service even better, he became angry. Of course I could understand that sporadic DNS issues would be aggravating. It's just that one of the things that shocked me was, in all honesty (and no I'm not trying boast our service), but quality was never a problem. We work hard to make our clients happy, and one problem caused by bettering ourselves and our client, caused him to label us "a cheap host"

To go further with that, I never saw our prices as "cheap" but more so in the fair, almost budget level. However, with that price, you don't get as much as you might get, when you find a $1.99 host. Even with our good pricing from manufactures and the datacenter (both NAC and Peer1), we still can't afford to be "cheap" and also "profitable."

Basically, I was just shocked that we were labelled a "cheap host" by this client. Others may think that as well. So, I try to be honest, without shooting all cheap hosts down lol.

You are indeed correct though. My statement was very general, and I'm glad you gave me the opportunity to clear it up. :)
 
Low cost is not bad, but you won't get the highest qualilty either. In hosting and just like alot of other stuff "you get what you pay for"

Its hard to offer, live online support, phone support, help desk, etc....when you only charge $1 a month.
 
ldcdc said:
Not necessarily Mark... Not necessarily. A cheap host can go for volume, knowingly making less per server and not overcrowding them, but recouping that loss by sheer weight of numbers.

A host can get a better deal for equipment than others, thus having lower prices. The cheap host would have volume and thus a more serious bargaining leverage.

Also, if I would start a hosting company from where I live, I could pay average staff $400-$500 per month and they would be quite happy with that wage. For $1000 per month I would get excellent staff, speaking perfect English, because that's the wage of a bigshot manager around here.

Cheap does not equal lousy services, just like expensive does not equal outstanding quality. That said, usually, from the 20,000 or more hosts on the US market, the ones to be most wary are the cheap, the very cheap and especially the "too good to be true" ones.

However, they're not bad because they're cheap, but because of poor planning and unrealistic prices that force them to cut too many corners.
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ldcdc can we put your comment to the test. Rent some space from and see how you do. And sell sell some rock bottom hosting prices. Then post your results on this site then I will be a third party to verify. Then let post some of the trouble tickets and testimonials. I think it would be a good project to show everybody how well low price hosting does. Then you can put the reviews on your site for the public. Lets just see...
 
ldcdc can we put your comment to the test. Rent some space from and see how you do. And sell sell some rock bottom hosting prices.
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If that's my whole business plan I have no chance to succeed. ;)

Besides, I can't just start a venture simply to prove a statement I made. It wouldn't proove anything anyway. If I succeed it would mean that I managed to succeed. Nothing more. If I fail, it would mean that I didn't have what it takes to make it work.
 
just do it
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This is not be like buying a pair of Nike. It's a serious thing. It's not just "come up with a business plan". That's why so many are failing at this hosting business. They don't take it seriously enough.

Besides, I really don't understand your motivation. Why would I have to start a business to prove a point? Why "just do it"? Did it occur to you that I might not want to have a hosting business? And even if I would, I can't. I don't have the budget nor the time for such a venture.

Does this make my statements untrue? I don't think so.

I'm sorry I can't convince you I was right, but I will refuse to change my whole life in an attempt to prove a simple statement. I'd much rather say mea culpa than let myself be manipulated. ;)
 
wfwh said:
Low cost is not bad, but you won't get the highest qualilty either. In hosting and just like alot of other stuff "you get what you pay for"

Its hard to offer, live online support, phone support, help desk, etc....when you only charge $1 a month.
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Maybe more than %90 customers dont need these Luxury services .
 
I think

when it comes to hosting, it is more important that people trust you than that you are cheap. People treat their sites like their babies. You don't wanna give your kid to a daycare that you worry about, right? Rather pay extra and feel relaxed.
 
I feel the price you charge should coincide with the level of service you provide. If your support team is capable of 15 minute response time around the clock and your uptime history is exceptional, I feel you could and should charge more than most hosting companies.
 
Cheap hosting isnt always the worst, nor is it the best. But like some other people said, theres cheap clients, and theres expensive clients. Hosting options for different people is always the best.
 
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