Top 10, mostly free ways I got thousands of clients for the last 9 years for JixHost.

These are the top 10 ways I got web hosting clients without spending a dime.

1. Posting on forums like this one
2. Participating a blogs that are related to hosting.
3. Helping people online that have problems that are looking for resolutions, ie: scripting
4. Offering promos on Facebook
5. Offering promos on Twitter
6. Offering promos on this and other forums.
7. Sending news letters to past clients (opt in).
8. Built an informative website.
9. Adwords
10. Creating a need for hosting, such as selling websites.

Sounds like you spent time and a few dimes on Adwords but I get what you mean. Great list there! :drinks:

Great list JixHost, but I really like number 3.
If you can offer solutions instead of just products customers love this. :salute:

I'm curious about your 2. Participating a blogs that are related to hosting. What blogs are out there that offer outside participation?

I read that Facebook wasn't a good place to source leads, but i was doubtful about that. I may try that. Thanks

JixHost said:

These are the top 10 ways I got web hosting clients without spending a dime.

1. Posting on forums like this one
2. Participating a blogs that are related to hosting.
3. Helping people online that have problems that are looking for resolutions, ie: scripting
4. Offering promos on Facebook
5. Offering promos on Twitter
6. Offering promos on this and other forums.
7. Sending news letters to past clients (opt in).
8. Built an informative website.
9. Adwords
10. Creating a need for hosting, such as selling websites.

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All your ways are right except Adwords, it will cost you more or you need a big budget if you choose this advertising channel for your hosting sites.
I have some friends are spending around $3000 monthly with Adwords but it didn't help in increasing revenue for their products.

kayse said:

I read that Facebook wasn't a good place to source leads, but i was doubtful about that. I may try that. Thanks

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Facebook ad is just good platform to increase likes for your fan pages or websites but if you are expecting to increase sales with it, you should rethink this.

bknights said:

I have some friends are spending around $3000 monthly with Adwords but it didn't help in increasing revenue for their products.

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Just to add my 2 cents to this, when using adwords, what you must make sure first is that your website is well-designed. Most people who click on ads in google will probably have never got in touch with you or heard of your company and the only impression they will get is from your website, so you must really take into considerations your landing page, your purchasing flow, and your trust signals. This require a/b testing and good designers, without it you're just throwing money into Google's pocket since i'd imagine people who clicks in your ads will just leave after a few seconds.

ferngullygraphics said:

Social media advertising is a bit different in a sense that the majority of those people are not visiting social media for the sole purpose of purchasing good or services. However this does not mean you cant reach viewers who are currently in the market for the services you are selling. Social media can be very effective, however they should not be compared to CPC campaigns via search engines.

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Yeah, i always have a problem with people advising company to promote their products in social media or hiring "social media guru" etc. People are using social media for personal reasons and not shopping, so the only way to approach them is if you have personality in your brand. The big companies have realised this just recently and started heavily using memes and jokes to add some personality to their company's social media accounts. Basically role-play your social media accounts to signal to your customers what your brand personality is. Tweeting a bunch of promo code will just look like spam to many people.

HyperFilter said:

It isn't, it's full of bots there.

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Exactly and Facebook ads is just for increasing likes for your fan page, it didn't covert well or help your site better sales.

gagah said:

Just to add my 2 cents to this, when using adwords, what you must make sure first is that your website is well-designed. Most people who click on ads in google will probably have never got in touch with you or heard of your company and the only impression they will get is from your website, so you must really take into considerations your landing page, your purchasing flow, and your trust signals. This require a/b testing and good designers, without it you're just throwing money into Google's pocket since i'd imagine people who clicks in your ads will just leave after a few seconds.

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Thanks for sharing your advice!
I got some points from your reply.

your trust signals

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What do you exactly mean for this?

Thank you JixHost.

Thanks for the information

I wouldn't completely rubbish the impact of social media advertising...

Aside from the obvious, Facebook is suitable for consumer products, product and brand discovery. You have to take into account of attribution. The role each channel plays int he conversion process.

If you use any of the channels in isolation of each other, and assess their value based on their independent performance aka "FB didn't convert anything thus it isn't worth doing", then all networks/channels would fail to prove its worth.

You have to take account of the conversion funnel. The whole, discover, research, compare and convert cycle.

In most cases you will never get direct conversion as a result of the first click. The user may discover your website from a Facebook post, visit the website later using organic means, do a bit of research, look for competitors and then find your PPC ad showing there is a discount going on, click on that to check out the offer, come back later, enter directly and convert.

In short, the strength of each channel depends on each other...

Good information , have you noticed any changes on the source of incoming customers over the past few years? Was there any particular increas or decrease in any of the methods you use to advertise with or forums and social media you are active on?

I could of sworn I said great post. but yeah great post great information will try these out myself.

JixHost said:

4. Offering promos on Facebook
5. Offering promos on Twitter

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These ways could work since 9 years ago but now I am sure more people don't want see advertisement on social networks more as before.
Or you must go with paid ad option to advertise your services.

With over-saturation and loads of resellers / Webhosting providers coming out each week, getting clients isn't easy these days. Plus, customers really want the cheapest and the quickest, which isn't what a host can do something about when you aren't earning much...

The hosting business has changed a lot over the past 10 years, used to be as simple as having a stable server and you would get an easy steady flow of customers.
I have to agree with @skylarkhosting the resellers are to blame for how hard the business is these days it's so easy to be a hosting provider a 13 year old could do it.

If it was only possible to provide hosting with a leased/owned dedicated or VPS we would not have so many resellers. It's a double edge sword sure they are another shark in the water but also potential customers of providers offering reseller plans. The way I look at it is the clients my resellers have a very slim chance of hosting with my company anyway if zero chance. But the person they are hosting with we make money from.

The only thing established providers are around for the long term can do is weather the storm, most of these resellers don't even make it past year one when the easy profits they thought they would make do not happen. I would say the best strategy in 2017 is quality service and looking after people. When an industry is saturated customer service and personal relationships with your customers is everything.

JixHost said:

These are the top 10 ways I got web hosting clients without spending a dime.

1. Posting on forums like this one
2. Participating a blogs that are related to hosting.
3. Helping people online that have problems that are looking for resolutions, ie: scripting
4. Offering promos on Facebook
5. Offering promos on Twitter
6. Offering promos on this and other forums.
7. Sending news letters to past clients (opt in).
8. Built an informative website.
9. Adwords
10. Creating a need for hosting, such as selling websites.

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That's a great list. I have not find good result using facebook & adward. Though my budget was not too high.

Thanks for the great information. Very valuable points and I will have this in mind. I have heard using AdWords is a costly method but Facebook ads seves the purpose. The third point is what I like the most. I will have this in mind.

Traffic is the life blood of any online business. Without it, there won't be any sales. There are two major ways of getting traffic which is "Free traffic" and "Paid traffic", the formal is absolutely free but you need to invest a considerable great amount of time to see success while the latter gives instant result but you need to invest your money to get. So if you don't have money then you must have time to invest.If someone is just starting out and on a tight budget, free traffic is good to start with or the combination of the both.
Final words: Paid traffic is the best any day any time.

It's a great post you wrote here about how to get free traffic @JixHost but note that "Adword" you included is not a free traffic method.

Great post here and great list. Mixing methods is essential, I think. I am a noobie to all of this, but experimenting with multiple methods, in order to see what works best for you and your preferred results, is essential. I am doing about five things on this list, so far, and you have given me some more ideas to work with here.

Such a true list. You must establish yourself as an expert in your field some way and the best way is posting, writing, emailing, etc. You must be an authority on your subject in order to gain followers and then you can turn them into affiliates down the road. You have got to get them in the door somehow and they won't just follow any old person.