Advertising Locally?

[sjaguar13]

I have some hosting space to sell and was thinking about advertising locally. My thought was that people who know nothing about hosting would prefer to have someone in their area handle it, instead of someone they will never meet. The people I am looking to host are those that don't know much about computers. Any thoughts on my plan?

[Chicken]

It gives you an edge (an "in" so to speak) over the majority of hosts out there. When you try to go world-wide, you can become lost in the price and resource wars. The one thing that other hosts simply can not provide is... you.

You do have to have more patience with the local, "don't know much about computers" crowd though. Makes for some good emails though, but you have to keep from being sarcastic heh.

[ldcdc]

You do have to have more patience with the local, "don't know much about computers" crowd though.And the pricing should reflect that. Time is money after all. :)

[Chicken]

I have found that although they don't know a darn thing about the Internet or computers in general, they are somehow able to find Godaddy (or similar) 500 Jijillion MB of space and transfer for $1.99 hosts and it's tough to compete with that. It's not that the registrars are offering hosting (that was inevitable IMHO), it's just that they are doing it for ridiculous prices. So be it.

[ldcdc]

I have found that although they don't know a darn thing about the Internet or computers in general, they are somehow able to find Godaddy (or similar) 500 Jijillion MB of space and transfer for $1.99 hosts and it's tough to compete with that.Still, it's not only the cheap hosts that still manage to sell hosting. :) If they're after the Godaddys of the web, then they're (not yet) part of the OP's target market.

[Plymhost]

You will probably find that "local" customer will be your bread and butter ones!

Yes they do like the fact that a local company can handle everything.

I do web design for customers too, and when I vist them in person and explain that I will do the site, hosting, email etc they love it!!!

IMO you cant beat it!!!!!

[valmg]

What did you find to be the most effective way to advertise locally?

[kistler]

1. Yourself... "be lazy - get nothing"
2. Word of mouth... Get your clients to bring people in
3. Sponsorships with local companies, I can host your site at no cost to your company if you can... ect.


Most anything else has a high overhead - TV Ads, radio ads, (could always get the news interested your business)

[Greg]

Why not host a local school's website for free? At the bottom put a line saying "Kindly hosted for free by blah". As Chicken said though, they not be too tech savvy.