I want to start web hosting but before I get to deep into it I would like it learn more about the whole area. Can anyone give me a good website or book to read...

Do you know how to make web pages? :stickout:

its a lot of work and a lot of headaches. Bring some asprin along for the ride (booze helps too :D )

Hi :)

I think that crawling through the WHT, Sitepoint and other like forums is an excellent start.
Not only can you pick up some excellent tips but you can also get a very definate feel for what you are in for, what clients expect etc etc.
Other than that... i guess the old adage of practice practice practice comes to mind. Start hosting some friends sites on a small reseller account (assuming you havent yet!) etc and maintain their service, email questions and stuff like that. Its all good practice :D

Yes, WHT has lots of info :) Get your booze and strap in for A LONG ride

Starting a web hosting company is not a sound idea for a business these days.....

Web hosting is a highly competitive business presently, with companies failing every day. MCIWorldCom, Exodus (The 2 biggest names in networking/hosting), just to name a few went out of business last year!

Competition is based on pricing...new customers will come to you if you are CHEAP

Since you are going in business to make money, and your competitive advantage is only cheap pricing... you will have to offer such low prices that you will barely be able to cover your own costs, let alone make any profit... so in essence you will lose money, and waste your own time....

If running a hosting business is still your hearts' desire after investigating all the facts, and doing a little bit of competitive research... my best recommendation is to consider becomming a reseller/referral to one of the big guys who have the network architecture, data centre, and staff at hand to provide the end customer with quality hosting solution.

This way, you win, you get customers, generate a profit, and the big hosting company worries about supporting the customer and their needs.

my 2 cents on the matter...

-silicuda

Starting a web hosting business is much like starting any other business. Learn the technical aspects; learn how to run a business; and whatever you do, don't believe anyone who says that it's the path to quick easy money. Those days are a few years gone. Consumers now have lots and lots of choice, and they don't trust any more. People are no longer blindly rushing to get their business' site up on the web because "everybody has to do it".

Welcome to reality on the web.

You don't have to be the cheapest host to get customers in this business, lot's of consumers that have been burnt by previous hosts soon learn that if you want a quality service you have to pay for it. Cheaper is not better.

(just my 2p ;) )

Paul, agreed.. so these burned people learned their lesson not to be cheap, and do a research, find one of the big hosting companies that has profitable historical data for its finances, own data centre, support, etc etc... and go with them

I'd be agreeing with that, Paul.
Business in particular would be more concerned and weary of the fact that mostly (not all the time, just mostly) you get what you pay for. I believe that this thinking fully carries through to their business endeavours on the web also.

Cannot disagree with you, Paul. But the trouble is that there are some which got burnt from cheap hosts and still looking for new cheap hosts to be with. Sometimes cheap is the only value they placed on web host.

Apart from reviews, pricing seems to be the only factor they can experience before they sign up.

w0w, thank you all for so many answers. I figered I would just buy a dedicated server from a company and go from there learn how things are done. I've noticed cpanel/whm takes care of alot of updating which helps.

But now I'm looking for a credit card handler, like pay pal and sort. Just I need one that will allow me to program my code around it and such. Like php. any ideas?

Originally posted by YUPAPA
Do you know how to make web pages? :stickout:

and yes I do

Originally posted by ThermoDust

But now I'm looking for a credit card handler, like pay pal and sort. Just I need one that will allow me to program my code around it and such. Like php. any ideas?

I personally would skip Paypal since it is targetted primarily to auction sales where there are physical products being transferred. It does not provide any recourse in terms of fraud or chargebacks when you cannot provide physical deliver of a product.

You might be better off going to one which specifically geared towards the Web Hosting or Online business such as paysystems or 2checkout.com .

Well again, as others said, search around here, and you will find good reference. I am not saying you are a teen, and im not trying to start an flame fest or anything... but while searching, search for the teens running a hosting business thread, it has a lot of good points and views, that will give you ideas on what its like.

if your search doesnt scare you:

i would recommend getting a reseller plan and make sure you can handle it, and if you cant, im sure your parent host will take over your customers if you fall thru.

PLAN, you need to plan very well to be successful and be organized.

as for pricing, cheap may not always be good. you want to offer SUPPORT - that is what people want. so if it involves an extra 3 bucks on a plan that everyone else is selling.. do it! just back up your price, after all, you get what you pay for. and face it.. there will still be higher prices than what you have, as long as you arent way over pricing. i have seen some people pay 15-20 bucks for 100 megs and 2 gigs of bw with 5 emails, some outrageuous stuff. and most design, or domain services charge high too.

so just research, a lot. dont jump right in to this, because i can tell you, i did a lot of research, and it ended up discouraging me from hosting right away, i am now gradually working my way around, still learning and i may eventually start reselling.

anyhow, i wish you the best of luck

Once again thanks for all the answers...

Originally posted by silicuda
Competition is based on pricing...new customers will come to you if you are CHEAP



Sorry don't agree their. Theirs a ton of hosting companies cheaper than us and we still average 5-6 signups a day.

MyAcen already has a well established reputation for quality. When starting out (without such a good repuation), you're back to price per features/space/bandwidth. A free trial (or money back guarantee) might help entice people to try. Any thoughts on how to gain new customers without charging cheap prices?

--Dan