the webhosting business-knownhost is a rolemodel

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ppc

Moderator
Topic:: The Web Hosting Business

Knownhost is such a great role model for web host [resellers] like myself.

A couple of questions I have thought of:

How does a web host aquire its first customers...I understand orders come it alot faster once a company has aquired alot of customers and is well known....but how does a web host aquire its first customers when its new in the business?

How well do promotions work? I see in webhostingtalk.com that knownhosts promotions seem to be doing quite well; where 20 VPSes were sold in a pretty short time frame....just wondering for knownhost is selling 20 VPSes a norm in a short time frame for you now or is it the promotions that really get the orders to flood in?

I'll propably think of many more questions.....anyone with experience it would be great if you could contribute with both questions and anwsers....
 
Hello ppc,

Sorry for the delay as I am traveling and have limited internet access. I have answered your questions below based on KnownHost and my general understanding of the hosting industry as a whole. For us we focus on customer satisfaction and making that your top priority leads to good things in nearly all cases. So as you know we provide fast knowledgable support which leads to happy customers which in turn leads to referrals, etc. Reputation is key in hosting so this needs to be the first thing focused on then how to get people to your website. We run specials which work very well for us so we intend to keep doing them as we find them successful.

Regarding the 20 VPS's in a short time, we sell 20 in 2 days sometimes so this is normal for KnownHost. We may only sell 2 one day too but we have some very busy days. Some of them are when other hosts have major downtime and the customer lost patience for them and other days are normal days when we have no special. It is very sporadic to the say the least. The hosting world always seems to amaze me. :)

I hope this helps.

Jay

KnownHost CEO
 
KnownHost-CEO said:
Hello ppc,

Sorry for the delay as I am traveling and have limited internet access. I have answered your questions below based on KnownHost and my general understanding of the hosting industry as a whole. For us we focus on customer satisfaction and making that your top priority leads to good things in nearly all cases. So as you know we provide fast knowledgable support which leads to happy customers which in turn leads to referrals, etc. Reputation is key in hosting so this needs to be the first thing focused on then how to get people to your website. We run specials which work very well for us so we intend to keep doing them as we find them successful.

Regarding the 20 VPS's in a short time, we sell 20 in 2 days sometimes so this is normal for KnownHost. We may only sell 2 one day too but we have some very busy days. Some of them are when other hosts have major downtime and the customer lost patience for them and other days are normal days when we have no special. It is very sporadic to the say the least. The hosting world always seems to amaze me. :)

I hope this helps.

Jay

KnownHost CEO
Click to expand...

Thanks it helped alot.......Could you tell me how you got your first customers i mean literally your first 10 customers....

how does one get their first 10 customers when they have no reputation yet?
 
By operating in the negative. Make people more familiar with you. Take me for instance:

I operate a little service where I provide hosting, simple web design, php scripting, etc with a friend. Our services are donated to churches, missionaries, etc. While I don't intent to go into full or even part time hosting, I could take my portfolio (about a dozen ministries) and the experience I gained with my volunteer work, and apply it to a web hosting or web design business in the future.

I think the best thing you can do is to network. Friends, family, local businesses that you know. Run specials. Have referral bonuses. Volunteer. As you join their network, you will have a means to reach out to people they know (by word of mouth) and networks they are part of. There's a limit to what networking can do, but it will give you enough happy clients to start off with.

The only way people will spread the word about you is if they are pleased with your support and service. Any company can offer a reliable server, but there are very few that are dedicated to support and customer service. Some companies off the top of my head are NewEgg and KnownHost. I have a problem with a product, and NewEgg will do almost anything to make me happy, even if it inconveniences them, or costs them money- because they know that in the end, putting me #1 will give more return than just considering me just another customer. When we got our VPS set up with KnownHost, they responded within minutes with knowledgable answers and fast assistance. That level of dedication to support and customer service isn't cheap. But it is very valueable. It's a valuable asset to have as a company, and it's a valueable service for its customers. People impressed with customer support are much more likely to refer someone to a company than people just impressed with a reliable service.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see how KnownHost started. They are probably a good model for others to follow.
 
Well we have been around awhile in hosting so know the in's and out's but in general we got our first 10 thru a little google advertising and simply providing a good service. A few people signed up and were impressed which lead to some sales which then they were impressed and we got more, etc. We take pride in providing top notch service so we let that do the talking and then in turn we keep growing. :)

Jay

KnownHost CEO
 
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