Setting up a web hosting business

[Lemon Jelly]

I'm at the moment taking 6 months worth of workshops teaching you how to setup and run a business and am very interested in selling electronics like MP3 players/DVD players/games consoles, etc. but I am also thinking about getting in to the web hosting game, could anyone advise me on this move? Is it worth doing?

 

[Barrucadu]

I've never tried it, but from what i've heard of webhosting, it is highly competetive and definatly not for someone relatively new to business.

 

[CrazyTech]

I'm in the process of starting back up. My advice for you is that the web hosting industry can be difficult to both break into and stay around for the long haul. You definitely need to know exactly what you are doing; otherwise, I'd advise you to look elsewhere for a business idea.

 

[Epic]

The hosting market is really saturated. Seems like everyone has a web hosting company. Because there's so many, I think you'll find it quite difficult to compete.

 

[PolurNET]

From experience, it's not as profitable as it appears to be on numbers :gl: . There's always increased expenses as the number of clients grow, and the number of staff you need to hire, time expenditure etc. But the hardest part is viability, most startups don't last till a few months due to various personal or monetary reasons.

That being said, if you're up to the task, the sky's the limit. Just ensure you do a lot of research and business planning before attempting anything.

Good luck!

 

[Lithium]

From my point of view I'd say that if you want to start a web hosting business, start with a web hosting forum. Build a nice active community and then start up one of the web hosting reseller plans. Host Gator has different sized reseller programs with no annual contracts, so if it doesn't turn out like you wanted you can always bail the next month, but I'm sure some of your community would like to use the hosting, and you could tell how to be competitive by reading the posts.

 

[shahab6]

Its very competetive, but when you get one customer you get paid from them everymonth. But it doesn't convert well at all.

 

[dnb8]

From my point of view I'd say that if you want to start a web hosting business, start with a web hosting forum. Build a nice active community and then start up one of the web hosting reseller plans. Host Gator has different sized reseller programs with no annual contracts, so if it doesn't turn out like you wanted you can always bail the next month, but I'm sure some of your community would like to use the hosting, and you could tell how to be competitive by reading the posts.

host gator? they are not cheap ...