Hi there,
I shall answer your question in two parts - how to get people to
purchase your hosting service, and how to get people to visit your
website.
HOW TO SELL YOUR HOSTING SERVICE
================================
With web hosting being such a virtual thing, the quality of your web
site is what will convince people to buy your service (as well as word
of mouth). Here are some ways to make your site more appealing:
SPELLING
Get someone to check the spelling on every page. Poor spelling equals
poor quality in some people's minds. I found these easily:
Unix comands (should be commands)
http://www.rackfive.com/support.html
Web hosting packaget (should be packages)
http://www.rackfive.com/servicesdetail.html
LOGIN
Adding a login link to the menu at the top of each page will make it
clearer that your site is a living, breathing active service - as well
as being more convenient for current customers.
FORUMS
http://www.rackfive.com/forum/ didn't work for me. Many new hosting
services set up a forum, and when a potential customer sees it, there
are only one or two messages there. Restrict the forum to paying
customers until there are a healthy number of messages, or even just
don't have it.
SUPPORT
Offer a time frame in which you will respond to emails. Speedy
responses are an attractive feature.
Your contact page mentions a form, but there isn't one. Forms are much
nicer to use than clicking on an email link, especially if your
customer uses web-based email. The one within the Spanish version of
your site looks fine.
http://www.rackfive.com/contact.html
http://www.rackfive.com/es/service.htm
HAVE A SPECIAL OFFER
Something along these lines:
Special for September only - no set-up fees!
Free Trial
First month free with annual accounts
Money Back Guarantee
OFFER TESTIMONIALS
Either written testimony from satisfied customers, or links to sites
that use your service, so that potential customers can be impressed by
your speed and reliability.
MORE INFO ON THE HOME PAGE
It needs more plain text, and more information. Not only will this
improve search engine hits, but you'll get more customers. Every click
a visitor has to make to find the info they are after, the more likely
they'll go somewhere else.
GENERAL DESIGN
It sometimes feels half-finished, with the nice logo and images at the
top of pages, and nothing on the sides of bottom of pages. This page,
which all potential customers will look at, needs to look better:
http://www.rackfive.com/services.html
ADD MORE CONTENT
Your list of services could lead to pages explaining them more.
Especially "phpBB2, phpNuke and postnuke installation and
customization" - explain what they are, and the procedure for getting
them installed.
More detail on some of your features would be good. Compare your page
with a similar one at Kangaweb (follow the "more info" links):
http://www.rackfive.com/servicesdetail.html
http://www.kangaweb.com/plan1.html
(more content also equals more search engine hits)
HOW TO GET PEOPLE TO VISIT YOUR SITE
====================================
Being indexed by Google is the obvious first step. At present they
only have three of your pages indexed, so I suggest creating a site
map with simple text links to every page in your site, and submit it
to Google. Site maps are also a good thing for visitors (it's often
the first thing I click on when visiting a new site).
YAHOO
It costs $US299 a year, but can significantly increase the number of
visitors to your site. The correct category would be either this one,
or a regional one that covers where you are based:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Communications_and_Networking/Internet_and_World_Wide_Web/Network_Service_Providers/Hosting/Web_Site_Hosting/WhitePages/wp_18.html
OPEN DIRECTORY
You are already listed in the Mexican section, so I presume you have
already submitted to:
http://dmoz.org/Computers/Internet/Web_Design_and_Development/Hosting/R/
DIRECTORIES
There are a lot of them. Try and get your site listed on as many web
host directories as possible:
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Communications_and_Networking/Internet_and_World_Wide_Web/Network_Service_Providers/Hosting/Web_Site_Hosting/Directories/
AFFILLIATE PROGRAMS
This is a huge topic, but basically there are two things to consider -
cost to set up, and cost in commissions. Commission Junction is the
best way to get customers, but also the most expensive. Of the cheaper
services I like http://clickbank.com/ and http://clickxchange.com/
PAY PER CLICK
Search engines where you can pay to be listed higher up than others.
Web hosting is a very competitive category, and it might be hard to
compete with top bidders at Overture ($8 for "web hosting"). Findwhat
is much cheaper, and even cheaper still if you work out some less
popular keywords to use:
http://www.findwhat.com/results.asp?DC=25&MT=web+hosting
LOCAL ADVERTISING
It is appealing to have a web host who operates in the local area,
giving the service an extra level of reality. Is there a local
computer users club or retail store that you can give a stack of
flyers to?
YOUR CURRENT CUSTOMERS
Offer a discount to any of your customers who place a little "powered
by Rackfive" logo on their homepage.
Search strategy:
Personal experience
Good luck with your business. If any portion of my answer is unclear,
please ask for clarification.
Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga |
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