How to Get the Ultimate Web Hosting Deal

By Alec Duncan

We all need web hosting whether our sites makes $100,000/day or $0/month, however, we don't always have to pay full price for it. Now I know there are several hosting companies offering such low hosting plans that some people might feel that it doesn't matter if they pay or not but I will assume you are not one of those people since you have continued to read past the title of this article :-).

A common misconception with hosting companies is that they will only offer deals and discounts on their small hosting plans, this is not true. Hosting companies are in business to make money just as most of us are and they weight the Pros and Cons of business arrangements just as we do. If something makes sense to them then there is a high chance that they will do it whether it be a budget hosting plan or a top notch dedicated server.

How does this work? Well, it is very simple really, all you need to do is contact your web hosting provider, try to speak with the person in charge of business development or billing and let them know that you are currently hosted with them and would like to know if they would be interested in a barter arrangement where you add "Your Site Name hosted by Your Host Name" with a link to their website on all pages of your website.

This can be a very attractive offer to a host since a referral from a website that is currently being hosted by the hosting company is far more convincing than many of the alternatives such as searching through web hosting directories or using search engines. If you have loyal followers of your site then the "hosted by" message becomes even more powerful as a means to provide additional business to your host.

Have a few bits of information on hand when calling your host:

• Prepare a brief summary of your website and its audience. Make this as short as possible and keep it in a regular conversational tone.
• Have your traffic stats ready as this is one of the main things your host will be interested in find out to help determine if the deal will make sense for them or not.
• Know your Google PageRank. Your host may be interested in knowing this to help determine the reputation of your site.

If your host seems a bit reluctant to go ahead with your offer you can suggest a trial period during which they can track the results and see if the deal will infact be beneficial to them.

As simple as this strategy seems the beautiful thing is, it works! So give it a shot and let it work for you. Good luck!