Is hosting a highly profitable business or just a little profitable...cuz it seems like there is a lotta work invovled even if u make a lotta money...sounds kinda stressful...

How profitable it is depends on how good your business is, properly priced packages/good tech support/good advertising will get you the most profit.
It is stressful but running any business is stressful, its not a game

But running a successful business is not only stressfull but also fun!

Originally posted by techar
...cuz it seems like there is a lotta work invovled even if u make a lotta money...sounds kinda stressful...

As previously stated in the thread, running any business can be stressful. But as also mentioned, at the same time it can be very enjoyable. I personally love working in the hosting industry.

But then again I am not just in it to make a fast buck either. If you are interested in making easy money and not doing much work then your business isn't going to be that great and your customers will clue in pretty fast.

Unfortunately there are alot of 'hosting companies' (I use the term loosley) out there that are run by teenagers who want to make easy money on the side. These people have no idea how to conduct themsleves professionally or how to offer good customer support.


All they accomplish is to create further customer mistrust within the industry and eventually they go out of business (hopefully - but some just change their names)

You do have to remember that their are a lot of teenagers who can run good businesses, I believe (correct me if i'm wrong) splashost is run by a teenager and I believe he is well known and honest, unlike other reseller hosts.

I say good luck to teen hosts. Though if they cannot conduct business properly stay out!

Oh yeah i forgot to say that its fun also LOL its just been one of those stressful days :cool:

The markup is low. If that's what you mean.

yes bitserve, that is wat i wanted to know...hosting business is a service sector and especially at a time when e-commerce is a little slow and doubted widely...service sector will not see a hike in profits as in $...

i mean getting customers to pay regular fees is much harder than getting a customer to simply buy something online and have it delivered...

i like hosting sector because i wanted to experience it myself..but its not a sector where u are going to be well off, as in no worries kinda business, because u might always need another real job to support urself...???

please prove me wrong if i am...

It really depends on ALL factors that relate to the business which in turn, define what kind of profits you will make over time. Some hosts may make more than others and this is not just based on the cost of services to them, but on many factors including how they offer, promote, markets they target, beside any other consideration.

If you do a bit of reading on here, and look backwards in time on this forum, you'll see changes in trends and how opinions differenciate towards aspects of this industry. Bottom line is that if you have too many of one type of offering, the market becomes saturated and the basic principals of business would dictate that you dont go head to head based on the same product or service type.
The answer to your question rests in the above statement as to not if but how.....

Originally posted by The Laughing Cow
You do have to remember that their are a lot of teenagers who can run good businesses, I believe (correct me if i'm wrong) splashost is run by a teenager and I believe he is well known and honest, unlike other reseller hosts.

You are right, and I shouldn't make such sweeping generalizations. I am not familiar with the host you used as an example, and I am sure they run a good business - so no offense intended. But others don't, a certain reseller 'company' comes to mind.

My impression, perhaps wrongfully so, was that the person who started this thread was trying to determine if starting up as a web host would be an easy ride for making money (as many inexplicabily seem to think it is). My point was that working in web hosting is great, but not a free ride.
:)

right now i make about $50 a month but im not in it for the money

i do it because i got sick of other hosting companys charging me up the ying yang for nothing

so now i provide host at an afforadable price and i have some very talented people i can call if i need tech help with my server

i do it to help people not to make money

Yes ofcourse, the harder u work and better strategy u have and the better product and service u have will determine ur profits. but generally speaking, this isnt the industry where ur gonna increase ur profits by huge percents.

like in the software industry, there is a lot of money if u can write software for particular companies and they will pay u huge amounts in one go to create and update the software regularly. the software industry in worth billions and billions of dollars, so what i initially meant was that i dont think selling services online provides u with a chunk of those billions of dollars.

but roughly i just wanted to know how much returns are in this business, obviously depending on how u conduct ur business, but say if u are spending about 500 a month then making 510-550 doesnt seem profitable even for a short term business process.

but i would sure like to know how much profits companies like HomeStead and Geocities are making now that they are selling their services also.

This is simply a part of my research that i am conducting this year, i do not want to get into it without knowing the period of profitability and period of non-profitability...cuz i am not like bill gates to leave college and concentrate solely on business...but he was in the software industry where there is lots of money...and this is the hosting industry...

I guess one of the reasons software is still such a big money industry is that it's not something everybody can jump into. You really have to pay to get the talent. Web hosting has (both fortunately and unfortunately) evolved into an industry your neighbour could be a part of in his bedroom.

It's a pretty crowded market place out there, but if you can make youself stand out *and* provide great service & support, you do stand to make a reasonable living out of it.

I for one am far from getting to that point, but these things take time, which is something I've been very lucky to have had on my side!

I also concur... when it's not stressful, it's a hell of a lot of fun!!!

It’s difficult to add to the points given already as most cover your question well.
Speaking from my own experience, I have found it to be the most time consuming job I have ever undertaken. Last year (was there one) I hardly moved from my office, the summer just came and went. So be prepared for long…… hours and little else.

Having said that, if I didn’t enjoy it, I wouldn’t be doing it, on the plus side, I’ve made many new friends (both fellow hosts and customers) all of who have brought their own little ray of sunshine into my office for me with their wit and humour. Looking back would I change it? Yes, but only with that wonderful thing hindsight and experience.