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07.06.07
Growing a Web-Based Business
 By
Daniel J. Briere
The whole point of your Website is to make money. You've got your Web hosting plan. You've got your Website. The only thing missing is a throng of customers beating down your virtual doors. This article details just a few creative things you can do with common features of Web hosting plans.
Store it!
Virtually every Unix/Linux Web hosting plan now comes with at least one MySQL database. And free, open-source, PHP scripts abound. If you're looking for a way to attract users to your site over and over again, becoming a free file storage service may work for you. Think about it: everytime someone needs to upload a new file, or access one already stored on your service, they will have to come to your Website and login. What better way to get a large number of eyeballs to see your company's latest news, products, services, and special offers than to embed them in user control panels and login pages?
Of course, this strategy may not work for everyone. If becoming a file storage service does not fit in with your current business offerings, you will still have trouble getting users signed up. For instance, if you are a manufacturer of heavy-duty construction equipment, free file storage probably won't make sense. However, if you are offering, say, online greeting cards, it would fit in perfectly by extending your usefulness to visitors.
Other things to watch for here...make sure you implement a sturdy Terms-of-Service agreement to ensure that users aren't uploading warez or pornography to their accounts at your Website. You'll also want to be sure that you do not give away too much storage space. Remember, you want to offer just enough disk space to make the service useful and keep folks coming back to your Website without giving away the farm.
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What if everyone worked for your company every time they sent an email?
Here's something you might not have thought of: why not give anyone who wants one an email address at your domain name? Most hosting plans now come with many more email addresses than you'll ever use yourself. By handing these out to loyal customers, each time they send an email or give their email address to someone, your URL will be included.
Sounds like a great way to build your brand, right? And it is. But, as with offering a file storage service, there are some things to watch out for. For instance, you will need to ensure that each person you hand out an address to does not use it to send spam - this can get your Website shut down by your host, and it can also put your domain name on email blacklists, something you absolutely do not want to happen. One other thing to be aware of is that your Web host may place a limit on how many email messages your whole Web hosting account can send (or receive) in one day. Check with your host to see if this limit exists and to see exactly what it is; it may be too low for you to consider using this marketing method.
Get People Talking
Another great way to increase your incoming traffic is to introduce a forum, or message board, to your Website. Letting users talk about your company, your products, your services, and anything else, fosters an increased loyalty to your company and its offerings. This is even truer if you are participating in discussions yourself. In fact, if you do not plan to participate in the communitiy's discussions, then you really should not put a forum on your site. I have seen so many fourms fall by the wayside when their founders/owners stopped participating.
So what is the best way to go about setting up a forum? Make sure that the topics are focused on your business and industry, but also ensure that talk can be fun and remember that it doesn't always have to be completely centered around your company. And above all, if someone makes a complaint or suggestion to or for your company on your forum, no matter how rude they may come across, remember that they have taken the time to share this information with you and you can use it to improve your business. Do not jump down their throats!
Potential hazards to watch for with a forum include forum spam from competitors, posts from flamers who absolutely hate you and your company (best to block their IP addresses), stagnation, and other things of this same type. Also, if you cannot ramp up a good amount of regular users in a fairly fast manner, you will find that your forum will die out pretty quickly, as well.
Conclusion
These are just some of the things you can do that don't cost you a penny. And each of these steps could enormously increase traffic to your Website. Look for a Part 2 to this article coming soon.
About the Author:
Daniel J. Briere is the CEO of Netpreneur Host, a Web hosting and domain registration company for Webmasters and Internet entrepreneurs.
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