I’m often amazed how some will complain about not being taken seriously or referred to as a “kiddie host”, those hosts stated typically by teenagers that get into hosting thinking they’ll make millions sitting at their desk while doing homework. There are some great hosts started by young people, HotGator was started while Brent Oxley was in college. He dropped out and went to work full time for his company. So, yes, even ”kiddie hosts” can be taken seriously and make a success of it.

I suspect that part of the problem is they manner in which younger folks will communicate in their day to day business dealings.  If I was looking for a provider and started a chat session, and got something along the lines of “How r u?”, I would say that it would be hard for the company to regain the trust that they were a serious host that they just lost.  You may be thinking that it’s “not fair”, or “shouldn’t matter”, but the fact is that it does. There’s no face, no intonation in the voice, no firm handshake so to speak with purely internet based dealings. So any little reason is brought to the forefront.  In this case, if they’re too lazy to type 4 extra keys, one begins to wonder what else are they too lazy to do?

You may not agree with this thinking, and that’s fine. However, others are going to judge you and your company based on your writings in chat, forums, company website, and emails. So you need to adjust your thinking and take the time, and care, to represent yourself and company in a professional manner if you are wanting your new hosting business seriously. I’m not saying you have to be a “grammar nazi”, there’s no need for that. Minor mispellings, slightly off grammar, and some incorrect capitalization isn’t going to have the same effect as using “u” instead of you, “r” for are, or a sentence in an ad like “hi come try our services we r the bestest in world we beat all pricez wit unlimited space and traffic we hav l33t h0st1n t00″. That would be fine on some forums, perhaps some frequented by the apparently intended market, but on the more respected forums such a WebHostingTalk, that ad just isn’t going to fly.

1. Signup with a simple basic info form – name, email, create a password, etc. and click the link in the email to confirm the account
2. Request an ad credit… It’s 1 click! And they email you a coupon link.
3. Redeem the credit by clicking the link in the email and creating your ad and facebook account (if you don’t have one already).

A credit card will be required to sign up for the ad program, but does not have to be Visa (I tried a MasterCard just to check). The credit is instantly applied to… Just remember to shutdown the ad after the credit runs out to not get charged. And set a daily limit in case you forget. But don’t forget – go set a google calendar reminder or something. BTW, ads can be per click or per impression.

Get started here:  http://www.visabusinessnetwork.com/    You should see the ad on the first page there… if not use this link:  http://apps.facebook.com/visabusiness/adcredit/step1