Niche Marketing In Web Hosting
There are literally thousands of web hosting companies on the internet today. The competition is brutal and to become successful a web host has to overcome this competition by finding a way to distinguish his business from all the other web hosting companies. Pretty much every web hosting business offers the same features and hosting packages look like cloned across the board. A newcomer web host host should decide on specific market segment to carve out his niche. Catering a specific niche is called niche marketing and is an important key to gain customers without competing with the big guys.
Why finding a niche to focus on is important?
As a new web hosting business you usually do not have the advertising power or cash to cater the broader market. Niche marketing is often cheaper and more effective when it comes to how much money needs to be spend to acquire a new customer. Some of the bigger web hosting companies spend up to $200 dollars per client in acquisition cost, because they have enough cash and patience to recoup that expense over time. Unless things go really bad, customers often stay for years if they are happy with the service they receive. Patience and an extended investment can pay off for a web host. As a small web host you probably do not have the cash reserve and the cash flow to make this type of investment possible. However – smaller web hosts often have a certain advantage over larger hosting companies. Personalized service to a niche market. You can easily provide better service and attract customers by focusing on a niche market. By associating your services with your personalized service are able to get clients where a larger company cannot. Offering phone support where the customer always talks to the same person, being extremely knowledgeable about the niche market, visiting clients at their business location or home and helping them to get going – that is an advantage a large business will never have.
Niche Market can be Easier to Support.
Niche clients can be easier to support as you might be able to rule certain support situations right from the start. Depending on the niche market your servers might never be that busy. Depending on your niche market you might mainly see static websites on your server. Depending on your niche market …. you name it and it might help your business. Offer specialized tools for the niche market you are catering and life can be good.
Reputation
Because you are focusing on a small market segment or certain type of users your reputation plays a big role in how successful you will be. If you do not show knowledge and understanding of the niche market you are serving, customers will not take you seriously when considering who to trust their business.
Stand Out!
Even niche markets might have several players already that you are competing with. Competition might be less compared to the broader market segments. Make sure your business stands out from the others. Make your website look different. If you are hosting OSCommerce applications, show them that you know your stuff about OSCommerce and that this knowledge will help you to serve the clients even better. Become involved in one (or more) of the OSCommerce related discussion boards on the Internet. Show your skills and let the customers see what you are capable of. It’s your niche.
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