There are a few things you need to know to find the best deal on cloud storage. Conventional wisdom would have you visit a number of provider websites, compare their features and price lists, and then choose a service that you believe will best meet your needs.
That is definitely a good place to start. However, there are situations where to really unlock the free features and deep discounts, you have to become an insider, as it were.
What does becoming an insider mean, exactly? Mainly, it means signing up for a trial account. By trial account, I mean the option where you get to try out the service for free for a limited time and with limited features, in the case of cloud storage, limited features usually means limited storage space.
There are two different purposes for the trial account. For you, the potential customer, the trial account is there for you to try out the features, play around with the service and make sure you like the interface. Once you decide you like the way it works, then you go ahead and upgrade your account.
For the provider, the purpose for the trial account is a bit different. In the process of signing up, you had to provide your email address and access to your computer (necessary for the service to store your files on their cloud). With this information, the provider can now begin the hard work of convincing you to become a customer.
Many cloud storage companies want to win you over as their long term customer so much that they will offer you all kinds of incentives to upgrade. Incentives include extra features thrown in for free. One I especially like is the feature where your data gets stored in more than one place. Incentives also include deep discounts on the monthly cost to use the service. Those deep discounts can be locked in for one or more years if you are willing to pay up front. As a potential customer with a trial account, they will be sure to let you know of all those deep discounts, gradually increasing them throughout the duration of the trial period.
To take full advantage of these extra features and deep discounts, you simply have to understand a little bit about how that kind of marketing works, and then know which special combination of deep discounts and added features will work best for you. Once you settle on your combination, then be willing to lock it in by paying for one or two years in advance. This is quite affordable once the discounts are in place.
You can learn more about the best deal on cloud storage offered by specific providers and which providers are offering them by reading about the experiences of others who have used the services. You can also get the heads up on some of the marketing tactics employed so that you can be in the best possible position to take advantage of what is offered without getting too carried away by the element of surprise or the pressure that "you must act now."
In short, getting the best deal on cloud storage can involve the traditional shopping around strategy, but it doesn't stop there. In this case, it's a bit of an inside job. You will find just how good the deals can get once you sign up for the trial account.
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