What You Need to Start a Web Hosting Business
If you want to start a web hosting business you will first need have the required resources that will be needed for the day to day running of the business. The resources that you need will depend upon the type of web hosting that you wish to offer your customers and how large you want your business to be. It is important for a web hosting provider to appreciate the importance of good customer service to the clients that you provide web hosting to. You will need to ensure that you have the resources to provide a high level of customer service at all times.
Starting a web hosting business is not an overnight task although many people believe that all you need to do is get a reseller account and proceed from there. The reality is that there are many obstacles along the way that need to be overcome in order to setup and honest professional web hosting company. To ensure that you web hosting business has good online organisation you will need to have a clear website along with third party software packages so that you can keep track of customer information. You will also need to invest in support systems to make it easy for customers to contact you.
Reseller Account or a Server?
If you are decided upon starting a web hosting company then you will have to plan how you are going to proceed with setting up your business. There are a few options to choose from whether you pick a reseller account, VPS server or a dedicated server. To start a web hosting company you will need at least one of these to provide your customer with a web hosting account. Your investment budget will affect your choice so you should plan ahead for the future to ensure that you will be able to cover the recurring costs if you rent your hardware. As a beginner or a small web hosting company it will be more beneficial for you to start off with a reseller account. By choosing a reseller account you can lower your start up costs therefore lowering the risk of losing money. There are other advantages to reseller accounts which are listed below:
- Low Running Costs – The cost of a web hosting reseller account is a lot less than that of a VPS or dedicated web server. In the case of most reseller accounts they include third party applications and a control panel already installed so you do not have to pay extra for these. With a VPS or dedicated web server the cost of the control panel is usually billed at an extra monthly charge.
- Server Management – The management of the server that your reseller account is on is usually taken care of by your web hosting provider. This means that you can start up your web hosting business with limited technical knowledge until your skills grow.
- Free Support – Most reseller hosting accounts come with free support so if there is an issue with one of your customers accounts your web hosting will resolve the issue for you. If you have a VPS or dedicated server you will have root access which means you can make changes and solve issues yourself. There are managed VPS and dedicated packages available so your web host can take care of things as well if you are unsure.
Web Hosting Business Costs
As a new business just starting out you should know it is imperative to keep start up costs as low as possible. Reseller web hosting is therefore the ideal solution to achieve this. If you have customers or want to be able to offer customers a wider variety of options with your web hosting plans then a VPS or dedicated web server is the better choice. Although there is a higher cost incurred with VPS or dedicated servers you are provided with the following advantages:
- Root Access – With VPS and a dedicated server solution you should be provided with root access to the server which means that you can manage it yourself and enable you to install applications of your choosing. A customer may require a setting changing on the server and this may not be possible with a reseller account.
- Dedicated Resources- With a VPS or dedicated server you will get RAM and CPU resources dedicated to you. This means that you do not need to share these like you would with a reseller account.
Any of the above discussed types of hosting are suitable to start your own web hosting business. A shared web hosting package would be an unsuitable choice for a hosting business because you are not able to create individual accounts. If you are a web designer / developer then you may choose to host your clients websites under your own shared hosting plan however a reseller plan allows you to split them up for better management.
Web Hosting Support
If you are running a web hosting business then you need to be able to communicate effectively with your customers. If you customer has a problem with their hosting package you should be available to help them get the issue resolved. There are a variety of communication methods that you could use to communicate with your customers. Most web hosting companies will use web based contact methods to communicate with customers, an example of this is e-mail. As the owner it is your choice as to which methods you have available to your customers. As a new business you may not need to provide 24/7 support and this may also be an unnecessary cost. You might not want to provide phone support either and just stick to web based contact methods such as:
- Web Based Support Ticket System – Many web hosting providers will use a third party software to provide support to their customers. These packages allow customers to raise a ticket with the problem that they have and then the web host replies to that ticket with the solution.
- E-mail – Stand e-mail can be used to contact your customers about problems that they may be experiencing with their web hosting packages.
- Online Forums – You may wish to install some forum software onto your hosting website so that your customers can register and communicate with each other. Customers may use to forum to ask questions regarding their web hosting packages. It is important to moderate the content on the forum so that no spamming occurs.
You will find that communication is a very important part of web hosting and if you do not get this right customers may move to another web host. As a start up phone support is not imperative however as your business grows it should be considered so that all customers can contact you with a method that they prefer.
Complete Guide to Starting a Web Host
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