know anything about a web hosting business?

Setting up a hosting business using a reseller account is all about adding value. The companies who actually own the hosting businesses can provide hosting at very cheap rates so to compete you need to create a product that provides various different services etc to make yours look more attractive.

This could be something like a free install of wordpress etc.

Quentin

Hey guys, thanks for the awesome replies.

@quentin - I understand exactly what you are saying, the value that I was hoping to add is a free mailing list account. I would use campaign monitor to provide them the mailing account and give them website design/set up as a package deal. So for example, they pay a $100 set up fee (or whatever fits) and for that they get a month of hosting, website design/set-up, and the mailing list account. Then they would simply pay 10 or 15 per month after that to keep the hosting. All support would be handled by hostgator (i'd be using their reseller).

@dead- I get what you are saying. I will be going to school in manhattan so my goal was to target small businesses in and around the new york city (5 buroughs) area. Because of that my main marketing focus would be offline and it would include scheduling meetings with owners and cold calls and all that fun stuff. I'm not even sure where I would start if I wanted to market online O_o

@Daniel- Awesome, thanks for the feed back. Congrats on you success with it haha hopefully I can see the same (or better :p). Do you have any specific challenges that you faced that you could tell me about? Any advice on getting it all set up?


Keep the feedback coming guys, this is amazing info and it's really helping me make my decision. I will be doing something else as well to make money during college through this coaching i'm receiving, but everything is spread out enough that I would be able to do both.

@Brian- Thanks alot for the info man. Definitely very valuable. However, since I will be a college student and unable to achieve those necessities without outsourcing and having investment money I am gonna start off with reseller hosting and get a feel for it.

i will suggest, you should concentrate on your study more than the business because it is very tough to handle both simultaneously.

it's a good idea of business.
I think "give and take" is the best trick for this.
just learn a simple way to create website (u can use wp if u want)
and offer web building/creation for free with 1 requirement: they use ur hosting.
Or...you can include hosting price in your web creation package.
good luck with ur study

@influx
well, I will be a marketing/business major so in a way..I will be learning as I handle my business. And regardless of what I choose to do..I am either going to have to get a job (much more time demanding) or profit from my own business (takes more time but can be done during my free ours and between classes)

So whether or not I start my business I am not going to be able to give 100% to my studies because there is no way I can go through college without making some sort of money. My parents aren't going to be able to support me.

To me, starting my business is a much better option because it allows me to outsource, work on my free time, and expand. Having these freedoms over being stuck at a PT job for the designated hours will make it MUCH easier for me to focus on my work.

@ivana what I was going to do was package the hosting along with the web creation. That way I charge them a set-up fee and they get everything. Then after the first month they only pay for hosting.

BTW..anyone have any ideas of a good price to charge for hosting per month? If a reseller account costs 25 a month..I would need to get 3 clients in order to profit 5 dollars at 10/month..would it be okay to charge 15 if I offer the free email marketing stuff that I said earlier?

Gclunis,

I think you have a wonderful plan . . . creating your own business is such a smart move. Marketing to offline businesses should bring in some decent income and allow you the flexibility you need to complete your college studies.

Offering hosting through HostGator is the best option, in my opinion. I'm setting up a reseller account with HostGator, too, to offer that service to my clients. I think $15/month is a good rate to charge your clients for hosting. As you get more clients under your belt, that recurring income can add up to be a tidy sum of money.

In terms of offering your clients website design and development, have you considered building mobile websites? Mobile marketing is "HOT" right now! It could be a great money-maker for you. That's the route I am taking -- I have changed my business model from offline consulting/marketing to mobile marketing consulting. I plan to get my foot in the door with the creation of a mobile site, then up-sell clients on other services.

In regards to the free email marketing stuff you mentioned, what will be the frequency of the emails? Depending on what your price point will be for the website, you may be doing yourself a disservice by not charging them a monthly fee to send out a series of emails to their list. Its a valuable service that deserves to have a price attached to it. At the very least, attach a value to the email marketing service ($97/mo. value), for example, and let the client know that you are throwing that in free for the first month. Or, you could discount it to $47/month for the first 6 months or whatever time-frame works for you.

What niche or target market are you pursuing? Some markets/industry require a lot more work than others. You can use PLR to create a lot of your email series but if you are serving a niche that is not popular, PLR may be hard to find. You may be stuck with creating your own or paying someone a hefty fee to create it for you.

I find it very refreshing to see you thinking on this level at your age. I wish you the best with your business ventures and completion of your college studies. Keep us updated on your progress.

~ Iris

@Iris- Awesome reply, thank you so much.

No I have not considered mobile sites. I assume these are sites that are optimized for cell phone viewing? I'd have to research this as I have zero knowledge of it but it sounds like an awesome idea. Most local businesses in manhattan may have a website already but I doubt anyone has a mobile site unless they really stay up to date (most dont)

The free email marketing would basically be giving them a free account that they manage themselves. I would not send anything out to their list or build their list or anything for them. They would just get an account for free. But that is a good idea, include it in the start up fee and give it to them free for a month and then attach a price to it. That may be a great idea as I just found out that the program I wanted to use isn't a flat rate, it's based on how many emails are sent out so if I don't charge anything at all then I may end up losing money on this.

The only reason I wanted to do the email thing was to give myself some leverage over hostgator since I am charging more.

I am not sure what niche yet. I haven't done any of that research. I wanna see what types of local businesses I can target in the NYC area that would be in need of a website and all of that. I just needed to be sure about this idea before i started my research (i'm pretty sure now thanks to all of you guys)

anymore information on this subject would be greatly appreciated

Have you considered doing affiliate + mailing/setup, etc. instead of actual hosting? Do the website setups just by themselves. Add the mailing services. Then let the host do the billing and support and all the "fun" stuff, and pay you a commission for sending the clients to them.

I've done web hosting, and it can get a bit time-hungry at times. And if there's a server glitch - or an internet routing problem you can't do anything about - and you happen to be sleeping or whatever, they get mad because you didn't respond RIGHT NOW. (And as someone who is also a customer, I understand that perfectly.)

Web hosting, done right, is 24/7 - resellers really can't do that effectively. I know that - I used to be one.

I'm also seconding Iris on charging for the email service. Because, with some clients, that's also going to eat time.

Or - I'll just second CDarklock - I was being a bit less emphatic, but he's right.

It's a nightmare. Don't do it. Join an affiliate program and sign people up under your ID for a commission, but let someone else handle the details and the ongoing support.

Hmm...so what you guys are saying is, rather than getting the reseller account..just use the affiliate program and collect the commission instead? I suppose that is possible, however I was really looking forward to the re-occurring payments per month (hosting fee)

If I did that it would make it alot easier to focus on up-sells...idk I need to do some research..this is starting to confuse me :[

I will tell you this though, you WILL get nasty customers all the time.

About 20% will literally cuss you out and call you incompetent when their websites are down.

Funny thing is, half the time its usually the customers fault lol.

I had one guy create a mycompanysucks.com website simply because his front page extentions kept getting uninstalled.

reason why? he was using an old version of FP which was overwriting his permissions

yeh thats what i was thinking daniel, the problem is like i said..time is gonna be rough in college so i'm trying to decide what would be best. Id much rather run a hosting company and have it grow exponentially. However, I dont want to start that and then find out that its messing with my studies you knopw?

You said you were able to do it in school...im hoping that is the same for me. I just need to do some research on the two and see how everything goes.

Well yeh work wise im not worried. Its the time needed. But I know what you mean. I think i'm going to go with the hosting rather than the affiliate. Mainly because as an affiliate..i HAVE to keep finding new clients to make money. As a business I get the reoccurring..plus I get on new clients..plus upsells..and its something I can do for a very long time.

Thanks Daniel