How to become a Web Hosting Provider?

[freelancerguy]

I am curious. How does someone go about becoming a Web Hosting Provider?

What knowledge skills do I need to successfully sell, support, consult and manage hosting and its customers?

Any tips and suggestions will be great and thank you for taking the time to do so.

 

[RDO Servers]

The easiest way to start in web hosting is with a Reseller account. This gives you the ability to resell another hosts services. Reseller plans usually range $15-$40/month.

You want to make sure you choose a provider with quality hosting, and quality support, that takes pride in their services more then just making money! If there is a problem with a server, it can affect your business. If it takes then 2 days to answer support tickets, that will be very bad for your business!

Once you are making enough money to justify it (or from the start if you want to) you can move to a VPS or dedicated server for more space/bandwidth/power.

Keep in mind that you will also have to provide support to your hosting customer. This support should be available 24/7/365! If you cannot provide this yourself, you will need to hire someone to help you or outsource your support. You can also contact your hosting provider and inquire their support team handling your help desk tickets for you. This should of course be done (White Label) so that support appears to be coming from your company, not their company.

Web hosting is a extremely saturated, extremely competitive market!! Don't expect to put up a website and have a flood of customers the next day. You may have 5 customers your first month, you may wait 5 months for your first customer. Find a niche, market yourself well, provide quality services, and you will grow in the long run.

 

[PluginForage]

The quick and easy way is to get a reseller account with someone like hostgator.

 

[RDO Servers]

Please take the time to look up honest reviews before considering HostGator. That have one of the worst reputations for very poor support.

 

[PluginForage]

I've been with hostgator since 2001 and have a reseller account. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

 

[mysterrio]

I've been with hostgator since 2001 and have a reseller account. I have nothing but good things to say about them.

Yeah HG for small site when your site grows you will have more problem with their shared webhosting while their VPS is very expensive.

 

[RDO Servers]

Back in 2001, HostGator was a good host. However, since they were bought out a couple years ago, things have been going down hill.
https://www.reviewhell.com/reviews/hostgator-review/

 

[Hostlumina]

I am curious. How does someone go about becoming a Web Hosting Provider?

What knowledge skills do I need to successfully sell, support, consult and manage hosting and its customers?

Any tips and suggestions will be great and thank you for taking the time to do so.

Like many stated a reseller account is the smarted way to start. Just remember, don't make your decision on choosing a host based on price but reputation and reliability, specially when you are looking at providing a service yourself.

Other than that it is not as easy as it sounds due to how saturated the market is. I been in this industry since the very early of 2000 and it has changed so much (good and bad). One thing that floors me is the amount of unprofessional business out there that open shop to "make" a quick buck, close shop, and leave customers stranded.




Like any business you need to do the following:

- Research the market. Learn how saturated it is, who will be your targeted niche, and is it something you want?
- Do you know about web hosting that you will be able to answer inquiries? If not, how are going to support your customers and future staff?
- Create a solid bushiness plan like any other business. If you do not know how, you will need to learn. This is going to be your foundation, your bible, and you will always be adjusting it. You need a guide to keep you in path to ensure you meet your goals, stay within budget, and reach been profitable.
- With your business plan and your offerings, make sure you are realistic and don't give in to the BS "marketing" gimmicks, unrealistic prices, and the BS to potential customers.
- The key to anything is about been honest and 100% legitimate. Offer something that you can actually provide and will eventually make you a living.
- Execute and be prepare for up and down hills.

So, in a nutshell like any other business to get started:

Business:
- Understanding of the market
- solid business plan
- Funds to sustain you for at least a year both personal and business (this is minimum and don't expect to be ready to purchase that Lamborghini yet)

Some key skills:
- Business development skills
- Project management
- Sales
- Accounting
- Marketing
- Strong Technical knowledge/understanding
- Dedication
- Passion
- Scratch vacation of your calendar for awhile

 

[cwvps]

I believe that first you need to do the research and try to decide on what kind of hosting you want to provide, check out the competition, set up plans and prices. Don't try to make a quick buck; this is great industry and you will want to stay in it for a long time, so concentrate on the quality of your service - invest in quality and power. Surround yourself with positive and supporting people. Build your online presence and be trustworthy and always ready to help. Keep in mind that you should be responsive 24/7 to the clients requests. You should also choose good client handling panel - I recommend WHMCS.

 

[Labored]

Try to gather as many reviews about its web hosting services (both positive and negative) and serve these as basis in choosing web host providers.

 

[VPServer]

You don't need any special skill, it can be developed while running your company but this is also dangerous for your company image.

Use re-sellers, they can also help you in solving technical problem. I will write a thread with full info. Actually I am working on this project and share with everyone in this forum.

 

[Galaxoid]

Try narrowing your list of options by looking at the cheapest web host package that can meet your needs at the same time.

 

[RDO Servers]

Try narrowing your list of options by looking at the cheapest web host package that can meet your needs at the same time.

Picking a hosting provider, based on which is cheapest is a terrible idea!

Compare hosts, compare the plans, check honest reviews (reviewhell.com webhostinggeeks.com), talk to their support, and make a smart decision.

Baseing your decision on price alone will result in a lot of headaches down the road!

 

[Lucastock]

It is a wrong perception, however, that cheap web hosts entail poor quality of services because there are really, indeed, reputable web host providers that are offering affordable or cheap web hosting packages. I can recommend downtownhost reseller hosting solutions. You can contact them and get all the things cleared. They offer a coupon "refugee" for customer changing of host, they get the first month with a 99% off.

 

[ElixantTechnology]

Sure, there are some pretty reputable cheap web hosting providers, however you need to consider that the vast majority of positivity they receive is primarily in regards to the fact that their plans are so cheap. For *HIGH* quality hosting, at only a few more dollars a month, the customer could have so much more room for growth....

Just about any host you come across is willing to cut a deal, for the last week we have been giving away $1/month VPS (No Longer Availible) as a promotion, and believe it or not we weren't the only ones doing so.

 

[hmb-robert]

Signup for any small hosting plan, once you came to know the complete idea for hosting account management, upgrade your hosting plan to reseller one. You can upgrade your plan any time. You will just need to learn working of control panel and server management skills.