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does your company generate enough income to warrant it ? brick and mortar building are very expensive you have to pay the rent,utility bills, insurance, office furniture,internet, if your making enough to do all that and still maintain your life style then go for it.
Hi,
Renting an office for that not really a problem its around 500-700 per month my question is someone try it did clients come to him?
I think it is a great idea, however only if you can justify it considering it will only ever be local people that would ever make use of it.
It is a great opportunity to get a better foothold on your local market though so by simply opening it and having a local presence it can turn in to a worth while venture.
If you already have enough local clients to justify the cost then go for it, as it can only improve relations and bring in additional customers, if you don't or don't even have close to enough local clients then I would advise against it.
I would advise against it in all forms unless you have a base over a couple thousand clients. Focus your strengths on more aggresive local marketing instead. I wouldn't consider web hosting a sit down worthy service.
It really depends on what your target client is. Are you focusing on a local client base? If so then this can be a great asset. But, if you are like most of us our web hosting clients are around the world and that local office would just be a waste of money. I worked for a small web host that did this. We setup shop in a local shopping blaze and ran our operations out of there with the servers in a remote DC. We were able to gain clients by just walking into the stores around us. We also sold computer parts and did repair work to make that storefront worth it though. It was a big burden on the bottom line though and that webhost no longer operates a storefront. It can work, but only if you are geared for that local market.
The best answer to this would be "Would you go to a hosting companies' office if you were a client?"
This might be a good idea to bring in not so tech savvy clients.
nice idea if you have enough funds and etc.
I would only do it if I offered web design as well, because that's something where a client might want to come in and discuss it.
I don't see how you will make enough off of having a office location to cover the costs unless maybe a major city, but then rent is through the roof.
@setupvps
I do truly think it is a good idea if you can afford it.
And what @Clancoms says is not true for EVERY office space.
I can get a small 150-300 sqft office with electricity, heat included.
The price is like $400 a month and thats all you pay monthly.
BUT dont try and set up servers in that office LOL - if the owner sees that abuses you are gone.
oh and internet is included too free - sometimes even restroom access (yea not all of them have public bathrooms from renters lol)
@setupvps if you can combine your office with say a PC repair shop and selling PC spareparts or a training center, then you can gain more local presence.
Just make use of the existing child care center.
What?
I personally wouldn't open an office space unless I want them in multiple locations in the United States, like a corporation. Maybe you could open a computer repair shop and tell your clients about hosting websites on the side?
Ya, I wouldn't open up an office, I mean, only people locally would be able to purchase hosting from the office anyways, and if that's the only purpose it's serving then it's not worth spending hundreds of dollars for an office.
It will cost you more to pay the bills for the office than the revenue you will be receiving from these local customers. If you are looking for more customers locally, just ask your city if you're allowed to hang up flyers and print out business cards and leave them in public places such as restaurants, etc.. If you're just looking for more customers, then buy ad space online.
Guys ofcorse the office will be for local clients only no one from outside the city going to fly just for buying hosting
Here in Calgary, AB Its technology city 1.5 million ppl the cost of renting office small one not for putting server there thats stupid i think its costs around 700 totally with all internet etc
Well, if you can afford $700 a month then you meight consider investing into advertisement and marketing, so you can grow even bigger, just sayin'!
I know HostKey is trying to expand to NL, as I recently saw a new office of them in The Netherlands, but then again they are one of the bigger guys.
Why not start a Wireless ISP (WISP) together with your web hosting business? With an office space, plus some equipment, you can provide for a lot of demand in your area.
@mywisp maybe internet cafe better? becasue we doing hosting
Read this first: http://techcrunch.com/2014/02/04/how-i-funded-my-company-with-credit-cards-and-almost-failed/ "My biggest mistake when founding 1000designers was renting an office. I knew that it was a stupid idea, and it is a stupid idea according to any book – especially books on how to bootstrap." This is for a design company, for hosting it applies even more. Instead of paying $700 for office I would hire 2 offshore employees to offer 24/7 support and make your customers happy.
For us , it is important to have an office as we have enterprise level clients, who would never host with us unless they can actually see our office. It is an older mentality but it still happens. We have around 3-5 clients visiting our office every week.
I work for hosting company in Cracow, Poland. We've got office space for clients to visit. Only in Cracow we've got over 1000 clients for sure and it's visited maybe couple times every month. Only reason for this office space to even exist is - I do believe - fact, that we own whole building and it's no cost for us to use this one room for this purpose. So if You've got a "spare room" already it's in my opinion not so bad idea. Othervise... no, don't think so.
For comparision: every day we receive ~ 1000 tickets (sales, tech) and even more phone calls.
I got my own office for internet marketing. It's easier to teach people proper internet marketing in real life. Although my goal is not to get all my clients to my office it's a nice thought that I can.
It's also good for work ethics. Keep your business separated from your home.
Virtual Office - You can use it to meet clients when required and has minimal outlay compared to a whole unit/office?