I've posted a couple of topics inquiring about the different aspects of webhosting. Its now time for the final thing, investment. :)

I have 200$ to start with, & I can put in around 30-40$ into this per month starting from the next month of signup. I'd like your, the experienced masters of WHT's, advice as to where & how should I invest this. I don't want to loose money, I wanna make sure that I do get something out of this. :)

What I Am Willing To Do/What I Have

I can give an 8-12 hours support on weekdays. I have 3 of my friends along with me who are all very good. They don't wanna be paid for no. :) One of them is a superb Graphics
Designer, one a server manager, one a scripting + some graphics maker. So I have a good staff & support.

Our packages are great & they touch great varieties. :)

We plan to do hosting, Graphics (great ones), Site Management, Dedicated Servers, Script Installations & lots more!

Where I Have Planned To Invest

I'm thinking of getting hosting from TurnkeyResellers for 10$ p/m for 6 months, I decided to buy a template for 62$ from TemplateMonster (its a great one! :) ) & a domain for 10$.

Erm... I somehow am not comfortable with this plan of investment. So I wish to seek advice from you. :) If you have a better suggetion for a host, you are most welcome to do so.

Please tell me how I can make the most out of this money. :) Thanks for any help! :)

~ Intelle

hi,

i am a newbie like you. i have learnt some stratagies on internet about starting a web hosting biz.

your plan is not bad. but your investment will be worthless till you dont have any advertisement budget.

$200 is too low to start a sucessfull hosting business. if you will go forward with your current plan, you will be same as other 1000 web hosting saying "hi, i am too a web host company".

no matter how cool your website is and how attracting your packages are, you must need traffic to convert into signups.

i strongly advise you to add a marketing & advetising budget to your plan. if you will advertise wisely, surely you will get business, otherwise No Chance.

hope it will help.

Hi NewbieHost, Thanks for your reply. My hosting is a reseller, I think 200$ + 30$ (max 40$) a month should be good enough for a reseller. Umm...

As for advertising, where will I need to advertise & how much will I need for it?

Seeing that I have around 68$ + 30$ each month still left I think that'll be enough for advertising & perhaps I can also get a WHM AP.

What r the essential things that I should get from this money.

Thanks for your replies. :)

~ Intelle

In the fist few months you will really need to spend a lot on advertising. A good starting point will be to plan for every $50 you spend on advertising to convert on average 1 customer.

Hope this helps.

Have you written a Business Plan? This will show you where and how you are going to invest now and in the future. After that I could recommend using some money after you are set and ready to go on advertising. I feel a bit braindead at the moment, but I will post once I remember what I feel like I am forgetting.

Start Small and expect to lose everyhing you invest. There are no guarantee's in business.

You're starting off right getting a small reseller account. It's inexpensive and can be dumped if you need out quick. Make sure you have a plan for expansion as well as an exit plan.

One question you need to address, and if you do I can come as close to anyone as guaranteeing your success. Who are your customers?

Knowing your customers, I believe, is the key to business success. Who are the people who will buy your products? What do they need? Can you service them?

Someone above said advertise. Marketing without direction is a waste. If this is your plan then send me the money and I'll take my wife out to a nice dinner. :)

Aaron

You shouldnt be offering dedicated servers when you cant even afford to run your own dedicated server for a month ($40/mo investment).

Also why did you buy a template monster template which 1000 other people will be using when you say your "staff" do amazing graphics and coding?

Sounds like a few thingd are fundamentally wrong with your ideas and maybe you are jumping into this too early.

You will need a little more than just $200 to start a web hosting business. I actually did calculate this through for a client the other day. The bare minimum we came up with would be around $900 - which included some local advertising and the fees for a $35.00 reseller account for about 3 to 4 months. $900 is still a low amount and requires a lot of footwork on your side but it can be very well done. $200 - save your money and use time until you have more cash to learn about the industry and to gain some business knowledge. Start creating a business plan and also work out a marketing strategy.

Intelle, sorry that there is so much egotistical clutter in response to your seeking advice. Where you are - you can absolutely begin a web hosting business on $30-$40 per month on reseller account. . most of all you are approaching this methodically and with a dream - two of the most important elements.

From my experience, let me be clear with you. . .

Do you need a Business Plan? No ! Unless you are going to seek external financing or Venture Capital. For your own clarity, sets some development, growth and marketing goals - drop the MBA chatter for now.

Is it professionally OK to use a Template? You bet. . just make sure that you modify it enough to reflect the uniqueness of YOUR business and the market you are seeking to serve. I personally would recommend getting a membership with either "boxedart(dot)com" or "designload(dot)net" for quality Adope PSD templates.

Get focused on the market you want to pursue. You are not marketing to other "web hosting" customers at this point so it really doesn't make any difference if you try to create a business model that appeals to some of the misguided WHT members. But, make sure your web site conveys the marketing message of the "customers" you plan to pursue.

I don't recommend the WHM AP. . just because of the hassles of "monitoring and tracking down fraud". You will increase your time in "chargebacks and refunds". Plus, you run a risk of your IP range being "blacklisted" as a SPAM source. There are scumbags that just prey on WHM AP - make the purchase process easy with an on-line payment processor (PayPal is good). If you are trying ot serve a market that has to have a web site up in 5 minutes or less. . that is probably a clientele you need to avoid. Its OK not to go after everyone. . .just go after someone.

Brush up on configuring your web site for "search engine optimization" using key words, titles, and content that would enhance your positioning on major search engines.

Are you thinking about getting into DESIGN as well?

If you would like to discuss further, off-line, you can PM or Email me. Lets talk more. . .: > )

Yeah you will need to spend a whole lot more on advertising.

Oh yeah. . about spending money on advertsing. Yes, it takes money to make money. . but in our first year we only made $9K with ZERO advertising. We did something really stupid. . we approached prospective customers. . instead of waiting for them to wade through the 3,641 ( dmoz.org) web hosting firms in the US. We were getting about a 20% response rate. . . its amazing what "real selling" will do for a web hosting business.

After a couple of years, we are getting to the point of where we wanted the hosting and design business and have yet to spend any money on Google or banners. The business grew as we grew technically.

Spend about 6 months of getting your "feet wet, technically and commercially". Get to understand the business more. . . check out these forums and mine it for knowledge. . but by all means just understand that "we are all offering advise based on our own business goals, experiences and expectations". If I was going to open a "hamburger and fries" joint. . I wouldn't swallow awhole lot of advice from someone who owns a "gourmet Cajun" restuarant.

Your budget is fine for starting a web hosting company as long as your work hard and are patient.

Do not advertise at first, spend at least $130 on a good design. Design is very important (I know some people totally disagree with me). Before buying a design ask what people think about it here. If you think once you get some customers, you'll have the money to buy a new design, think again, that will not be the way it will happen.

Next, spend some money on a good SMALL reseller plan. Always start small, remember you can always upgrade your plans. I understand you have chosen a good plan from TurnkeyResellers (heard a lot of good things about them) so this advice may not apply to you.

Do NOT advertise for at least 2 to 3 months. It is not the amount of visitors you get that really matters, it's the amount of visitors you get that sign up (I know many people think the more visitors you get the more chance of people signing up, well if you get 1000 visitors and none sign up, something is wrong). Try to keep your prices as low as possible. If you got a small plan, the problem maybe that because all hosts need money, they rarely give you so much "stuff" that you can sell it at very low prices, plan your prices based on the fact that you have at least a VPS if not a dedicated server. Price them only enough to give you the money to pay for the next month while you are on your small plan.

Final words of advice, do not hire any staff/think of hiring any staff (at first), just be online and aware and don't expect anyone to take any interest in your website the first month. The design starts off everything, I highly recommend you do not start with a template monster design, instead delay the time you start and find a good design. As for your budget, while you are doing this, you must earn money from another source. It does not have to be much, but you will keep losing money from your hosting for at least the first two months and will need money to spend. Good luck.

Intelle. . .for your piece of mind. . .I would find a resller provider that doesn't have as many layers between YOU and the actual owner of the server. You can get some great RESELLER deals from the actual owners of the servers who are in physical proximity of your server and can do level1-2-3 management for you, if needed. If I recall, TurnKeyResellers.Com goes through ThePlanet.Com . . so if you may want to avoid the layers.

Whats wrong with going through somebody like the planet.

I can list so many reasons why that is better....

Besides... With the DRAC cards they have in there servers you can work on it just as you were at a console.

The only thing you have to worry about is a loose cable or mechanical error...

I would trust my server in any large datacenter!

The Planet is great, but setting up a shared hosted account through a reseller, through a reseller, through another reseller. . adds additional delays in support response time on direct server issues. . . Customer A would fill / submit a tech support ticket and Reseller A would relay that to Reseller B who would pass that on to Reseller C . . . the thought is. . .limit the number of layers between "end user" and "provider". There are some low costs direct-point resellers out there. . . .

Just a lesson from experience. . .

With highly competitive pricing of hosting these days I don't think you can make it with reseller accounts. You might start with one but you need to learn Linux and you control panel of choice like the back of your hand and eventually move to dedicated solutions. And even then it's hard to compete.

Just my opinion

Thanks a lot everyone for your precious advice! UVBC, thanks for your advice. Where should I get a good layout/template from... umm...

My graphics designer makes great templates, but some of them at TemplateMonster are better. :)

Can you contact me UVBC, my AoL & YIM are in my profile. :)

Thanks,

~ Intelle