Top 10 Web Hosting Customers

“If everybody else is doing it one way, there’s a good chance you can find your niche by going in exactly the opposite direction.” –Sam Walton

When I first started doing research on how to start a web hosting business it seemed like every article, blog and forum I came across had the same message: “Web hosting is a highly competitive and overly saturated market which makes it very tough if not impossible to break into.”

Despite the critics, I started my own web hosting business and discovered the secret to success is to THINK LOCAL. A big mistake a lot of web hosting owners make is that they overlook the people in their own community. Instead, they waste money on pay-per-click advertising trying to attract customers from all over the world while ignoring the guy across the street.

As it turns out, every web hosting customer you will ever need can be found in your cell phone, your email contact list, your workplace, your neighborhood and your own back yard. The people in your community are the key to running a successful web hosting business. The truth is, not one of your so-called “competitors” can reach every person in YOUR community. It’s that simple. Think of it as your own private fishing hole that no one has access to but you.

After running a successful web hosting business in my own community, I organized my customers into different groups to help me identify who were my best clients. Below is my Top 10 list of the best web hosting customers I have found and the steps I took to win their business. Enjoy!

#10 –Family Members – If you are new to the web hosting business then you have to start with family members. My very first customer was my dad who was paying way too much a month for an existing website that he had built for his mini-warehouse business. I switched him over to my service and ended up saving him $20/month in hosting fees. A week later, my sister-in-law and her brother switched over their own websites, saving them both a ton of money in hosting fees. Signing up your family members is a great way to get started because it will allow you to make several mistakes without worrying so much about the consequences.

#9 –Friends –after making a few mistakes with my family and getting comfortable with the idea of running my own web hosting business, I began signing up my friends. Friends are not only great customers but they are also great salespeople. Many of the customers that I still have today signed up for my hosting services because one of my friends told one of their friends about my business. All I had to do was print out some business cards and hand them out to my friends and they spread the word for me.

#8 – Neighbors – neighbors are great because they can be new parents, local business owners, newlyweds, churchgoers and your friends conveniently located next door. In my case I handed out a small box of business card magnets to my neighbors to put on their refrigerators. As it turned out, one of my neighbors wanted a website for his daughter and another one wanted to save money on his home-based business website. Before I knew it, almost everyone on my street was a customer!

#7 – Churchgoers – even if you don’t go to church I have found that churchgoers are the best people around to help you spread the word about your business. They have some of the largest and richest networks in your community and are more than happy to tell their fellow church members about your business. Churchgoers are always looking for volunteers so go volunteer your free time and get to know this great group of people– and who knows, you might make the world a better place at the same time.

#6 – New Professionals – Realtors, Chiropractors, Doctors and Lawyers are all incredible web hosting customers, especially the ones who are just starting out. I have found that new professionals are great because they are loyal customers who will also pay a lot for web hosting!

#5 – Newlyweds –newlyweds spend millions of dollars every year on wedding preparations. With that in mind, I partnered up with a local wedding photographer and offered a “pre-wedding” website package to all of his customers. I used a wedding website template which allowed me to easily add photos and announcements about the upcoming wedding. As it turned out, many couples were more than happy to sign up for my premium package. Surprisingly, most of the couples (usually the bride) wanted to keep the website running and continued to pay the monthly hosting fee even after the wedding was over!

#4 – New Parents – one of my favorite web hosting customers are new parents. New parents are so excited about their newborn that they will jump at the chance to show off pictures of their baby to friends and family with a family or baby website. After the baby is born, many hospitals give new parents a gift basket that includes free diapers, baby formula and flyers for services like photography and parenting classes. I simply printed up a flyer and went to my local hospital and asked if I could place my flyer in all of the “New Baby” Baskets. In less than two weeks I had 6 new customers.

#3 – Co-Workers – one day I used the cash-back option on my American Express card to buy $100 dollars worth of chicken wings from a local restaurant. That afternoon, I took the wings up to where I worked and placed some business cards and coupons all around the chicken wings. I then went back to my desk and sent out an email blast to all of my co-workers with subject line: FREE chicken wings in the break room! The wings were gone in about two hours but a week later, I had 16 new customers!

#2 – Chamber of Commerce – One day, I called the head of my local chamber of commerce and asked her if I could give a speech during one of their monthly chamber meetings. She was more than happy to let me speak but what surprised me was that she wanted to talk to me about saving money on the chamber’s existing website. About a month later, I signed up my local chamber of commerce to my premium package (which was still cheaper then what they had been paying before). After that success, I decided to call all of the local chamber of commerces in my county and discovered that many of them were also looking to upgrade to a better website with cheaper hosting.

#1 – Local Businesses with old websites –without a doubt, the best web hosting customers are local businesses with old websites. Note: An old and unprofessional website is a good sign that the store owners signed up when web hosting was really expensive so these local businesses are more than happy to save money by switching to your service. Just fyi, these old websites are easy to spot because they usually have a background image on their website which makes the text on the website impossible to read. Another great clue to look out for is when the owner has a webmail addresses like johndoe@yahoo.com or janedoe@aol.com (or internet provider email addresses like johndoe@comcast.net or janedoe@sbcglobal.net). Just be sure to find out how much the owners are currently spending on web hosting (which is usually a lot). Then put that number down on a sheet of paper and contrast that number with how much money they will save on a monthly and yearly basis by switching to your service. It’s a great selling technique that worked every time for me.

***Bonus Customer*** - Political Candidates – City and County officials, School Board Members, Sheriffs, DA’s, Judges, County Attorneys, Constables and County Commissioners are all political candidates who make great web hosting customers . Most elections take place either in November and May so you have to time your marketing efforts according to those months. The local newspaper is a great place to find out who is going to be running for office in your hometown. Once you find out who the candidates are, just simply contact them and tell them about your services.

Like I said earlier, if you are getting ready to start a web hosting businesses then your first customers should be your family members (#10). Once you get the hang of it (and make a couple of mistakes) then move on to the other groups in your community. Good luck and remember that web hosting is a subscription-based business which means that once you sign up a customer, you will automatically get paid month after month with no extra work on your part!