Promoting/Marketing on a Tight Budget?

H

Harv45

New member
Hello, as I recently just did major rework of all my company's things from the website down the server itself I believe what I am needing a boost is people knowing that "I exists".

Does anyone have some success with sources which are at least no more than a couple bucks a month to get results?

I know Social Media is a "thing" but unfortunately I don't see that "right" for my business at the time... Given that I don't have a "consist" amount of content to keep a "page" there "active".

So if anyone have any ideas or recommendations on what I could do to get my brand "out there" without "breaking the bank" that would be great. :)
 
Harv45 said:
Hello, as I recently just did major rework of all my company's things from the website down the server itself I believe what I am needing a boost is people knowing that "I exists".

Does anyone have some success with sources which are at least no more than a couple bucks a month to get results?

I know Social Media is a "thing" but unfortunately I don't see that "right" for my business at the time... Given that I don't have a "consist" amount of content to keep a "page" there "active".

So if anyone have any ideas or recommendations on what I could do to get my brand "out there" without "breaking the bank" that would be great. :)
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I run a special on Ebay about twice a year and that gets me clients
 
easyhostmedia said:
I run a special on Ebay about twice a year and that gets me clients
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Interesting, I may give that a shot as I think you can put things up there for 99 cents for free for your first 100 listings. While I am putting everything else, I don't see why not put something or two up and see where it goes. :)
 
Harv45 said:
I think you can put things up there for 99 cents for free for your first 100 listings.
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only for personal account, you would need a business account to list web hosting or ebay will suspend your account. at 99c or 99p dont forget by the time you pay ebays listing fee, FVF, paypal fees you will be left with about 10c/10p
 
easyhostmedia said:
only for personal account, you would need a business account to list web hosting or ebay will suspend your account. at 99c or 99p dont forget by the time you pay ebays listing fee, FVF, paypal fees you will be left with about 10c/10p
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Gotcha, I will has to look into the "nuts and bolts" to see how/if I can to pull this off. For stuffs like those I would definitive only do it "first time buys" or what not. That way I would only has to give low rates once instead of recurring.
 
Harv45 said:
Gotcha, I will has to look into the "nuts and bolts" to see how/if I can to pull this off. For stuffs like those I would definitive only do it "first time buys" or what not. That way I would only has to give low rates once instead of recurring.
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I do annual plans where they pay through ebay and then i provide a link to my order page with a promo code to cover the money they paid, so they still have to go through anti fraud.
I also do monthly offers so again a link send via ebay message with a code to take off the money they paid.

This is because now ebay wont allow links in the listings
 
easyhostmedia said:
I do annual plans where they pay through ebay and then i provide a link to my order page with a promo code to cover the money they paid, so they still have to go through anti fraud.
I also do monthly offers so again a link send via ebay message with a code to take off the money they paid.

This is because now ebay wont allow links in the listings
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Okay so how does that win you more than the bidded client? If you cannot put your official website to feed off of Ebay's traffic like you used to be able to?
 
Harv45 said:
Okay so how does that win you more than the bidded client? If you cannot put your official website to feed off of Ebay's traffic like you used to be able to?
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nothing wrong in mentions your business name and using broken links, but they wont allow order links in postings.

I even told them that hosting is a recurring payment business, but all they told me to give the winning bidder a link within a message.
I even asked then why cant they bring back hosting allowed in classified ads, but they never gave an answer to that
 
easyhostmedia said:
nothing wrong in mentions your business name and using broken links, but they wont allow order links in postings.

I even told them that hosting is a recurring payment business, but all they told me to give the winning bidder a link within a message.
I even asked then why cant they bring back hosting allowed in classified ads, but they never gave an answer to that
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Indeed, that does make a little better sense. But yea they should allow the linking like they once did.

I sorta get why they don't anymore but at the same time everyone should understand that "you win some and you lose some".

Now of days unless you pay for straight adverts you cannot directly put your links while you do other things like how Ebay is now.
 
Harv45 said:
Indeed, that does make a little better sense. But yea they should allow the linking like they once did.

I sorta get why they don't anymore but at the same time everyone should understand that "you win some and you lose some".

Now of days unless you pay for straight adverts you cannot directly put your links while you do other things like how Ebay is now.
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They seem quite happy to allow all the fly by night kiddie hosts list and scam people, but oppose a genuine host to list properly structured hosting
 
easyhostmedia said:
They seem quite happy to allow all the fly by night kiddie hosts list and scam people, but oppose a genuine host to list properly structured hosting
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It's because of their double dipping. You pay to list AND when the item is brought. Once these are done, they could care less about your business.
 
Participate in as many quality, well moderated communities you can. If you can make a daily appearance in 15-20 forums, post weekly ads, that gives you good exposure. There are only about 2-3 web hosting communities worth participating in, so I suggest focusing on non web hosting forums (development, webmasters, design, SEO, ecommerce, home improvements, SMBs, etc) where you'd get more attention.

Your only cost is your time.
 
Artashes said:
Participate in as many quality, well moderated communities you can. If you can make a daily appearance in 15-20 forums, post weekly ads, that gives you good exposure. There are only about 2-3 web hosting communities worth participating in, so I suggest focusing on non web hosting forums (development, webmasters, design, SEO, ecommerce, home improvements, SMBs, etc) where you'd get more attention.

Your only cost is your time.
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Interesting, thanks for the recommendation to try to get "out of the box" haha. :)
 
Harv45 said:
Interesting, thanks for the recommendation to try to get "out of the box" haha. :)
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It is about dilution.

As a hosting business owner, if you compete for attention in a group of 1,000 other web hosting companies or in a group of 1,000 other entrepreneurs, or home owners, where are you going to get noticed more?

EDIT: Just don't forget to be useful. Pick a subject that is your hobby or an interest that you know a good amount about and participate in those communities. I don't care if that is sports, home improvements, cars or flying. Don't overlook the community part in this equation.
 
The first thing is to define WHO your market is, and then determine where they are, or what they like to do. Social media can be a great resource if you're in the right group and share the right information.

If you can DOMINATE a niche, you'll have no issues with finding clients. For example, if your hobby is model airplanes, you'll be active on those forums and available for when someone has questions about a website etc. If they allow banner ads/newsletter ads, create them with your username in full view so they know you're active on their forum also.

For me, I dominated the "about.com" forums when it came to design, and HTML help. From there, my HELP to people became known and our company expanded quickly. It only took about 2 years, but my company was the default recommended and we hosted nearly 300 of their forum members as a result.

Marketing 101: Big Fish In A Small Pond!

If there's a particular software your users use, optimize it, get involved with those forums and then dominate it. We did that with an e-commerce software and we were the main recommended company with over 1500 of their members using our servers.

So, first, figure out who your target market is, then figure out how you might be able to help them, and THEN figure out the marketing.

@Artashes will attest to the hosting of these forums with our company, and again, a big reason was that we provided support to EVERYONE on the forums, and for our return on investment of time, we had a number of forum members on our network.
 
I've had some success using "word of mouth" and a "newsletter/advertisement" to inform surrounding businesses about my services.
 
I think you can work on SEO for your website. Focus to some keyword and do SEO to generate traffic. The more traffic will bring more leads and conversion. You can do it by your self. Read some articles and watch some videos about SEO for beginners and professional later.
 
Hi,

Forums are a great way to make your presence known. You just have to pick the right forums to reach your niche and post regularly.
 
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