What do you look for in a web hosting company?

[bkeep]

I am curious to what you or your clients look for when you choose a hosting provider? Or if you are a provider, How did you grow your business? I am not asking for any trade secrets just some ideas.

I have a very small Hosting business and recently ran a special for one year of free hosting and I have not got a single sign up for this special.

What gives? Are people that jaded when it comes to hosting?
Is it the offer itself? If you where looking for hosting what would make you pull the trigger? From my experience it isn't price related. So what are the defining factors?

Thanks for any insights.
Regards

[tangor]

Sticky me, I might be interested. :)

Seriously, these days "free" comes saddled with hidden costs. I think the old days have passed and the present possibles have been bitten too many times to jump.

[bkeep]

Seriously, these days "free" comes saddled with hidden costs. I think the old days have passed and the present possibles have been bitten too many times to jump.

That may be the issue with fine print. If that is the case then it does come down to consumers being jaded and not motivated by "FREE".
But in this case, Free really means Free, no strings attached no fine print.

So how can this be overcome? I know I am not a crook or liar but how do I make others see that?

Thanks for the reply.

[Leosghost]

"Free" is now a "stop word" in most peoples minds ..especially those looking for hosting ..

One of my domain registrars has many "free" things in their hosting packs offer ..but ..

All of their "free" stuff is junk and their upselling gives you what is already included elsewhere in basic packages ..

"Includes" or "your package includes at no extra cost" is better ..and make sure that what you offer as "inclusive" is better than "basic" ..

IE..good stats package ( more than one and access to raw stats as well ) and easy admin panel ..cpanel is easiest for beginners ..latest php etc ..

OH and most important ...no "support tickets" ..but real live phone numbers that actually have English language native speakers on the end 24/7/365..

I pay premium rates for the last item ..so will many many others ..OH yeah ..and those phone lines are usually freephone from the USA ( if you wish ..you can do that )..but I think folks should be prepared to pay the basic call charge for a support line ) ..But if you want foreign English language businesses to use your hosting then give a normal non "800" number to be contacted ..( outside of your country..be it the USA or UK or Germany or wherever ..your free phone numbers cannot be dialed and so cannot be used to reach you ..and so we wont host with you ..even if you are half the price of the guy who gives us a real international phone number) ..

Lastly offer multi domain hosting ..starting at 5 domains ( non reseller) packs ..to every one ( if they "mention" that they are hosted by you on their home and about pages..

Cost you no extra ..looks good ..

I used to translate for a hosting company ..I know what works to attract customers ..

Offering to migrate their sites works wonders too ..:)

[edited by: Leosghost at 11:43 pm (utc) on July 5, 2009]

[bkeep]

Valid points, I like the one about site migration I do that now at no charge and setup any emails for them whatever they need.

All of their "free" stuff is junk and their upselling gives you what is already included elsewhere in basic packages ..

Ya that's what I wondered, so even though what I offer as a free package is exactly the same as what you get when signing up for the starter package. maybe changing the offer to an upper tier package would be worth testing.

OH and most important ...no "support tickets" ..but real live phone numbers that actually have English language native speakers on the end 24/7/365..

That's the hard one. I am a one man band so 24/7 is tough.
If in the US, which is where I am based, would you think a 9am to 6pm support schedule sufficient? then have an emergency call service after hours ie forwards to a cell phone or something.

I know for me phone support was never an issue as I always preferred email support but I am glad to hear another opinion on the matter.

Thanks for your information.

[piatkow]

my experience of looking at the forums run by a hosting company is that a lot of people are now expecting 24*7 support. Not just for basic tech support but for complex managerial questions such as billing queries. Generally unrealistic but still expected. A lot of people give no regard to time zones either, even Americans, who, I would have imagined, were used to living in a multi time zone country.