Well, im in the process of starting my own paid web hosting company (we're set to launch within a week) and I was wondering if you have any advice for me? Right now, I think we're set up pretty well in most areas. We have a site built, a billing system, a support team, and funding secured for AT LEAST the next 5 years. Are there certain things we should offer? Anything im missing? We currently offer 4 shared hosting plans that are competitively priced.
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starting my own paid webhost
- Thread starter Deezer
- Start date
That's one that'll catch everyones eye.
Does that include office rental, utilities, staff salaries, advertising, stationary, sundries...
Or is it enough to cover a small reseller that you can oversell for that amount of time?
Not being harsh, but in 5 years with funds you should be able to expand quite a bit and have you calculated for expansion?
There's also the old question - do you intend to be interested in it in 5 years once you find out it's a lot of hard work and not as much fun as it seemed at first?
All those and 1,000's more
But more in answer for advice, don't try and take on the 'big boys' just yet, provide a quality, reliable service with top notch support and spend a lot of time advertising and promoting but don't sell too low (lose a client that won't pay your required price rather than stock up on freeloaders). Don't fall for the 'for $1000 we guarentee a top 10 on google' (you can buy that in adwords) offers from others. Work hard, don't overreach and good luck
Thanks for the replies guys.
Yes, the funding includes everything.
As for overreaching, we don't plan on it. We're not trying to compete with the big boys, seeing as we don't really want to. We offer what we have. We don't oversell (a big shocker, I know). We plan on offering top notch support and features for an affordable price (although i'm somewhat worried we're understaffed at the moment. We'll see how much demand there is before we hire more people) As for expanding, we're interested in doing that, but not to a very large degree. And yes, we intend to be interested in five years. This is a long term commitment to all of us, and we've been preparing for a while for this.
Yes, the funding includes everything.
As for overreaching, we don't plan on it. We're not trying to compete with the big boys, seeing as we don't really want to. We offer what we have. We don't oversell (a big shocker, I know). We plan on offering top notch support and features for an affordable price (although i'm somewhat worried we're understaffed at the moment. We'll see how much demand there is before we hire more people) As for expanding, we're interested in doing that, but not to a very large degree. And yes, we intend to be interested in five years. This is a long term commitment to all of us, and we've been preparing for a while for this.
How do you plan to get your first 10 customers?
Assuming that your system is top-notch, support is great, everything else is unbreakable, even word-of-mouth takes a while to come. First 10 to 20 customers are really your make-or-break point. So I'm interested to know how do you plan to go about it.
Assuming that your system is top-notch, support is great, everything else is unbreakable, even word-of-mouth takes a while to come. First 10 to 20 customers are really your make-or-break point. So I'm interested to know how do you plan to go about it.
Targeting niche markets, basically. I also have some good connections with a lot of gaming/clan communities, so that will help.
We've already posted on several sites/forums and the interest seems good, its just a matter if turning that interest into money once the time to sell comes
We've already posted on several sites/forums and the interest seems good, its just a matter if turning that interest into money once the time to sell comes
Targeting niche markets, basically. I also have some good connections with a lot of gaming/clan communities, so that will help.
We've already posted on several sites/forums and the interest seems good, its just a matter if turning that interest into money once the time to sell comes
That sounds alright.
Hope you will do well.
I think these guys are being too harsh on you. Sounds to me like you're good to go. Don't worry about being under-staffed unless you're alone. We were pretty surprised at how little support requests there are when you take more time to make sure the customers are happy to begin with.
~ServerPoint~
New Member
I think that first of all he need creat small customer base and only then then start worry about support related issues. I believe that creating small customer base is very hard part of job.
I'm just going to throw this out there but if you have enough funding for the next five years then don't you have enough money to hire a consultant and not be asking for advice here? As well, there is really little anyone can tell you without knowing more.
I would be willing to provide some feedback if you want and can provide me with a business plan, including but not limited to projected income statements, balance sheets, target market, HR, operations, marketing, risks. Of course I am willing to sign a NDA if you so require (and if you didn't then you probably shouldn't be doing this to start with).
Also, enough funding for 5 years means what exactly?
~ServerPoint~
New Member
And other question: how honest they are.
Or if it's an issue, offer no-support hosting. Build an extensive FAQ to help your customers are stop at there. I have seen quite a few hosts doing that and personally I feel that it's a good way to cut cost.
Yup that was my point as well. It's not easy to start up but once you get the momentum going, everything will be on track by itself.
And other question: how honest they are.
Often, if you look hard enough in the AUP, they will have something along the lines that... "you must not have more than 10% of files being larger than 500kb", which basically eliminates all the possibilities of anybody ever utilizing their account resources fully.
So yes, I guess it's a good way to counter your competitors if you start quoting a few big names.
What I do <<snipped>> is I host free forums for people, then when they need help I provide excellent support for them, even though it is a free service.
Then I find that most people serious about their forum communities will eventually want to upgrade from a free forum to something with more control. That's where I bump them up from a free forum to a paid CPanel hosting account. They like the way they are treated on the free service and they also want more control over their accounts, like the ability to add mods to their forums or to upload a web site, something not available on the free hosting, so they upgrade to the paid hosting. They go from having a taste to having full control. They also know that if the free support is awesome then so is the paid support.
So far it must be working as I have signed up two new Premium clients this week and I don't advertise at all. :angel:
Give the people a free taste of your superior service somehow, then they will want more. The key is, however, don't give them too much of a taste. Giving them all free CPanel hosting makes it less tempting to purchase a paid plan because there isn't much more they would get by upgrading. I think though I have found the sweet-spot.
Best of luck.
BMR777
Then I find that most people serious about their forum communities will eventually want to upgrade from a free forum to something with more control. That's where I bump them up from a free forum to a paid CPanel hosting account. They like the way they are treated on the free service and they also want more control over their accounts, like the ability to add mods to their forums or to upload a web site, something not available on the free hosting, so they upgrade to the paid hosting. They go from having a taste to having full control. They also know that if the free support is awesome then so is the paid support.
So far it must be working as I have signed up two new Premium clients this week and I don't advertise at all. :angel:
Give the people a free taste of your superior service somehow, then they will want more. The key is, however, don't give them too much of a taste. Giving them all free CPanel hosting makes it less tempting to purchase a paid plan because there isn't much more they would get by upgrading. I think though I have found the sweet-spot.
Best of luck.
BMR777
