Hey All,

I'm launching a new web hosting company (HostVelocity.com) on Dec. 1st and I was wondering if anyone has any tips for a startup like ours?

We will be leasing a very powerful server (512 RAM), we have enough financial resources to support our service for at least a year even if we'll make $0 profit during that period, and even though our staff will only contain 2 people (including me), we both complete each other in almost every possible area.

Any tips for a good start? If you are a host, how long did it take you to start earning profit and covering all necessary costs? Anything else that might be important to know?

Thanks,
Boris

<<Admin notice>> Will be allowed as it asks for tips, not surveys/polls/etc.

How long it takes to achieve a profit will depend on how much the server is costing you per month, and how well you get off yer duff and get out there to market your services. If you aren't active then it could take you years, heh, but if you hit the newspapers, etc., etc., etc., then you could see profit your first month.

How badly do you want it? :)

Well, the server will cost us about $400+ but we'll have plenty of other costs as well.

I'm pretty good with marketing, since my current WebDev Network gets over 250,000 uniques per month (even though I'm selling it soon), so basically with our affiliate program (which will pay $20-30/sale) and promotion on PPC SEs, we should be able to attract at least 1-2 new clients/day and that's what our goal is for the next 3 months (75 clients/month).

Keep in mind that our business model is totally different from other hosts so it might be a little hard comparing it to other "normal" web hosts... just check out http://hostvelocity.com/ and see what our biz plan is.

Thanks,
Boris

[Edited by echoweb on 01-24-2001 at 10:22 PM]

Echo, that's right, I forgot about that. Still (maybe even more so), if you wait for it to come to you, it will be slower going. If you go out and get it, you'll be in better shape sooner. This is obviously true with any service or product, but don't ignore traditional means of advertsing just because you are a web based company.

Your next client could be your next door neighbor wanting to get in on this 'web stuff' :)

Thanks. I've never tried using the traditional means of advertising like radio or newspaper but there is a first time for everything especially since not a lot of hosts advertise in newspapers or radio, so I won't have tons of competition.

Thanks a lot for your time. I really appreciate it :)
Boris

It's certainly a different business model, the only reason I believe that you don't see it for many hosts is because people do not want to pay for a years hosting in one go, they would rather pay monthly or quarterly.

I would never sign-up with you because if you are bad (downtime, bad tech support, etc), I can't get a refund for $179

There are other hosts with that "no monthly" plan, e.g. nomonthly.com, nomonthlyfees.com, etc

Anyway I think you know your stuff

There are different customers with different needs. We plan to be a pretty good host and the word will get around about it. IN addition, we might offer a 7-30 day trial period but we are still not sure about that.

As for support, we will provide live support via HC, email and ticket support and we will even offer discussion boards for our visitors so they can find out who we really are from our customers.

Boris

btw, who thinks it's a good idea to have forums on a hosting site? I'm torn at the moment

It's a good idea to have forums if you are a decent host since it can free up the time you spend on support, etc. but if you are a bad host, then you will be only getting flamed on your own boards...

Boris

It is good and bad. If you think there is going to be a problem, then better off without it. Some hosts lock foums out to the general population, but I'm not sure this is a great idea or not. It all depends.

Makes it so people post support requests and you have to keep a close eye on the forums all day.

If your prices are competitive and you are able to provide world-class support then you will be fine. Just make sure you have the budget to market your company. But those two things -support and pricing - will make or break your business, I think. Good luck!

Yannick Bandy
http://www.hosting24-7.com
Reseller plans Starting at $3.95/mo

[Edited by Ybandy on 11-09-2000 at 03:27 PM]

Hi,

You could spend X amount to advertise to X amount of people, most of them would not be interested in a new host (they will already have hosts).

What you need is to pay per person:
http://www.payperclicksearchengines.com/

Create yourself a banner and only pay per user that clicks it. You will only get people on your site that want hosting services. Very cost effective.
I have not used them so I don’t know if they are good.

Also, make sure you have logs setup, so you can see people coming from one of the click pays (they may rip you off).