How to become a web host. A question that is asked quite frequently. First and foremost we must point out that web hosting is not a get rich quick scheme or an easy business to run. It takes alot of patience, computer and technical knowledge and a solid background in Computer Science to run a successful and solid web hosting company. Some may disagree with this, especially with the innovation of "Control Panels" that makes it easier for anyone to get a pre-built server and start hosting sites. In reality, it's not really that simple. Yes you can lease a dedicated server from a provider and start hosting sites once you are familiar with the control panel BUT a very important point to remember is those control panels still have their limitations. If you do decide to start your own hosting company, here are some basic questions to ask yourself *before* starting a hosting firm.

1. How much time do I have to invest into this company?

In this day and age, most clients are expecting 24 hour support. Are you able to be on call 24 hours a day to handle all the technical and sales requests that will be coming in once you start your company? Prompt support is a very key aspect of having a successful hosting business, so this is one of the first questions you should ask yourself before starting your company. Am I able to offer the support my clients will need?

2. Familiarity with the latest software and platforms

Have you done your homework in terms of researching what are the latest software, how they work and the pricing. It is very important to be familiar with the software that needs to be installed on the server(s) that you will be using to host your client's websites. For instance IIS when using Windows 2000 server is something you will need to be very familiar with, if you are going to be hosting sites on a Windows Server. On a good note, Microsoft offers a huge library of information on all their software, but it will take a serious time investment to be familiar with all the options available, security leaks, and you have to be always on the look out for the latest patches. In terms of Linux, this is a bit more complicated. A strong command and knowledge of SSH (Secure Shell Security) is needed. Even if you have a control panel such as Cpanel which offers a program called Web Host Manager, a strong background in Telnet Commands will be needed or you will be lost.

3. Financial Investment

Are you willing to spend the money necessary to start making some money? In many cases you will need to make some serious finanacial investment when starting your own hosting firm. Be very weary of the fact that many of the software on the market are not cheap, and the type of servers most of your clients will be expecting their sites to be hosted on, will not be cheap either. Many expect their site to be hosted on Dual Pentium servers that are sturdy and reliable, so some investment will be needed. On the other hand, there is the cheaper way, which is to simply lease a dedicated server that offers a high amount of bandwidth from another hosting firm, and then host your clients sites on that server. It's an easy way to start your own company with little investment, BUT be forewarned that with network outages, server crashes, you will have little or no control unless you can contact your dedicated server provider for a prompt reboot or resolution of the network problem.

4. Hiring of Employees?

Will you be hiring any employees to start, or will you be a one man show until the business picks up? If you choose to not hire any employees then obviously your financial investment is less, BUT your time investment into the business has now skyrocketed. No employees will mean you will have to handle all the technical and sales requests along with any other problem that may occur. It is important to weigh this aspect carefully as it could make or break you.

5. Resources/Steps To Start A Hosting Company.


a. Registration of Company Name

Do a search on the internet for trade name registration in your particular state. This will allow you to register a DBA known as Doing Business As name within your particular state. This option is the easiest way to have an actual business name instead of using your actual real name. If you would like to go straight ahead and become a Corporation instead of just using a DBA then you can use a site such as MyCorporation.com to get started with your own Corporate business.

b. Purchasing of Servers/Leasing of Servers

If you decided to purchase your own servers, you have a few options. You can get a server custom built by manufacturers or you can even go the option of leasing your server from a company such as Dell or Gateway. They offer a monthly leasing to own plan. If you decide to lease a Dedicated Server , then you can review offerings from companies such as Rackshack.net, Eservers.biz, Rackspace.com, Cyberworldservers.com just to name a few. Each of those companies will allow you to lease a server on their connection, set a specified amount of bandwidth, and allow you to host your client's websites on the server you lease from them.

c. Office/Data Center Space

With the purchase of servers, you'll need office space or as some say a Data Center to house these servers. You will have to look around for space in your local city for the best location with enough space for growth to house your servers and your connection.

d. Bandwidth Providers

If purchasing your own servers direct, you'll need a provider that can run a line to the server through a router to feed the bandwidth. Some companies that offer bandwidth are : Level3.com , Twtelecom.com, Verio.com, and for cheaper bandwidth you can use Cogentco.com. Each of these companies will allow you to have bandwidth in your data center facility.

These are just some of the *basic* steps necessary to get started with your own hosting firm. The task may seem daunting, but it can be achieved with hard work and dedication. The web hosting market may seem saturated with new hosting companies forming literally each day, but there is still room techncially for another good company. Once you can offer the support and reliability your customers need then you will grow as a firm mainly through word of mouth. If you treat your customers good, they will refer others to your service. In a nutshell, hosting is not an easy business to start, but it can be a profitable and rewarding one when the necessary steps are taken.
(From serverseek)

From Dedicated Servers Seek Hosting Company (http://www.dedicated-servers-seek.com/?articles/hosting_company)

HL

Thanks for the help. It put me back on track. It also reminded me about how much money I have to spend....

yeh i agree with your whole article to be honest, especially the part where you mention most customers now do expect 24hour support, and i think that is especially true for the web hosting sector. thanks for sharing. ive left reps for you

Thank you for the information.

Great article and information for people that think they want to start a web hosting company. Financial and time commitment is key to starting any type of business, especially web hosting.

Good stuff here. I like the tutorial and have gotten a few things out of it. I have just recently started my first web hosting company and seam to have most of those questions marked off..we'll see how it goes

Helpful information. Should be helpful to those thinking to start their own hosting business.

Good info here.. I will watch this thread for more tips :)


How to become a web host. A question that is asked quite frequently. First and foremost we must point out that web hosting is not a get rich quick scheme or an easy business to run. It takes alot of patience, computer and technical knowledge and a solid background in Computer Science to run a successful and solid web hosting company. Some may disagree with this, especially with the innovation of "Control Panels" that makes it easier for anyone to get a pre-built server and start hosting sites. In reality, it's not really that simple. Yes you can lease a dedicated server from a provider and start hosting sites once you are familiar with the control panel BUT a very important point to remember is those control panels still have their limitations. If you do decide to start your own hosting company, here are some basic questions to ask yourself *before* starting a hosting firm.

1. How much time do I have to invest into this company?

In this day and age, most clients are expecting 24 hour support. Are you able to be on call 24 hours a day to handle all the technical and sales requests that will be coming in once you start your company? Prompt support is a very key aspect of having a successful hosting business, so this is one of the first questions you should ask yourself before starting your company. Am I able to offer the support my clients will need?

2. Familiarity with the latest software and platforms

Have you done your homework in terms of researching what are the latest software, how they work and the pricing. It is very important to be familiar with the software that needs to be installed on the server(s) that you will be using to host your client's websites. For instance IIS when using Windows 2000 server is something you will need to be very familiar with, if you are going to be hosting sites on a Windows Server. On a good note, Microsoft offers a huge library of information on all their software, but it will take a serious time investment to be familiar with all the options available, security leaks, and you have to be always on the look out for the latest patches. In terms of Linux, this is a bit more complicated. A strong command and knowledge of SSH (Secure Shell Security) is needed. Even if you have a control panel such as Cpanel which offers a program called Web Host Manager, a strong background in Telnet Commands will be needed or you will be lost.

3. Financial Investment

Are you willing to spend the money necessary to start making some money? In many cases you will need to make some serious finanacial investment when starting your own hosting firm. Be very weary of the fact that many of the software on the market are not cheap, and the type of servers most of your clients will be expecting their sites to be hosted on, will not be cheap either. Many expect their site to be hosted on Dual Pentium servers that are sturdy and reliable, so some investment will be needed. On the other hand, there is the cheaper way, which is to simply lease a dedicated server that offers a high amount of bandwidth from another hosting firm, and then host your clients sites on that server. It's an easy way to start your own company with little investment, BUT be forewarned that with network outages, server crashes, you will have little or no control unless you can contact your dedicated server provider for a prompt reboot or resolution of the network problem.

4. Hiring of Employees?

Will you be hiring any employees to start, or will you be a one man show until the business picks up? If you choose to not hire any employees then obviously your financial investment is less, BUT your time investment into the business has now skyrocketed. No employees will mean you will have to handle all the technical and sales requests along with any other problem that may occur. It is important to weigh this aspect carefully as it could make or break you.

5. Resources/Steps To Start A Hosting Company.


a. Registration of Company Name

Do a search on the internet for trade name registration in your particular state. This will allow you to register a DBA known as Doing Business As name within your particular state. This option is the easiest way to have an actual business name instead of using your actual real name. If you would like to go straight ahead and become a Corporation instead of just using a DBA then you can use a site such as MyCorporation.com to get started with your own Corporate business.

b. Purchasing of Servers/Leasing of Servers

If you decided to purchase your own servers, you have a few options. You can get a server custom built by manufacturers or you can even go the option of leasing your server from a company such as Dell or Gateway. They offer a monthly leasing to own plan. If you decide to lease a Dedicated Server , then you can review offerings from companies such as Rackshack.net, Eservers.biz, Rackspace.com, Cyberworldservers.com just to name a few. Each of those companies will allow you to lease a server on their connection, set a specified amount of bandwidth, and allow you to host your client's websites on the server you lease from them.

c. Office/Data Center Space

With the purchase of servers, you'll need office space or as some say a Data Center to house these servers. You will have to look around for space in your local city for the best location with enough space for growth to house your servers and your connection.

d. Bandwidth Providers

If purchasing your own servers direct, you'll need a provider that can run a line to the server through a router to feed the bandwidth. Some companies that offer bandwidth are : Level3.com , Twtelecom.com, Verio.com, and for cheaper bandwidth you can use Cogentco.com. Each of these companies will allow you to have bandwidth in your data center facility.

These are just some of the *basic* steps necessary to get started with your own hosting firm. The task may seem daunting, but it can be achieved with hard work and dedication. The web hosting market may seem saturated with new hosting companies forming literally each day, but there is still room techncially for another good company. Once you can offer the support and reliability your customers need then you will grow as a firm mainly through word of mouth. If you treat your customers good, they will refer others to your service. In a nutshell, hosting is not an easy business to start, but it can be a profitable and rewarding one when the necessary steps are taken.
(From serverseek)

Great tutorial/article. Will help out many people.

- Prilep :D

Is it possible that I resell my normal (not reseller) account? Can this be a problem for my hosting provider?

For example:
normal account at x hosting company costs 6$/month and you get 600GB disk space and 6000GB bandwidth.

reseller account at the same hosting company costs 50$ and you get 60GB disk space and 500GB bandwidth.

Can I just take the normal hosting plan and than resell by creating new accounts?

Is it possible that I resell my normal (not reseller) account? Can this be a problem for my hosting provider?



yes, read their TOS

When I create a new account and login in its new Cpanel there are my others accounts visible (main account and others created accounts in main Cpanel) in "Manage another account:" window.

For example:
my main account is "a1"
than i make two new accounts "b1" and "b2"
than i login in "b1" and make new account "c1"

How can I arrange that in "b1" cpanel in "Manage another account:" I can only choose "c1" and not "a1" and "b2"?

One thing i'm doing with regards to signups is automating the process via the WHM AutoPilot software. The time saved processing orders can be better invested into providing client support and marketing.

Awesome! I love this tutorial!

Thanks for the info. Most of it's kinda a duh... but still very good information for the person starting out.

Very good tutorial..

Thanks im going throuigh this step by step

Nice tutorial.


Hosting Business done in a professional manner require a lot of financial expenses and time,but that's what make difference in the actual market.

you can start off with not much over head.. just be willing to spend when you get bigger. Also... depending on what u off and how much it costs... you could be in for some trouble if u run out of hardware to keep everyone happy.

Yes.. Time is something you have to have a lot of... even just for a few clients. Do not kid yourself in thinking that "i have 3 people on my server... i can take a weekend off" for that is when something is broken. The sad thing is... there are so many web hosts out there.. and if u piss off your new clients or have to much downtime... they can move and be up on another host in a matter of hours.

It takes alot of patience, computer and technical knowledge and a solid background in Computer Science to run a successful and solid web hosting company.

Sorry your wrong. You dont need a "solid background in Computer Science " What you do need is good business accumen and the ability to employ the right people at the right time for the right task. Webhosting is the same as any other business and business principles apply.

Sorry your wrong. You dont need a "solid background in Computer Science " What you do need is good business accumen and the ability to employ the right people at the right time for the right task. Webhosting is the same as any other business and business principles apply.

:agree: :)

Nice tutorial there , it will help for the new commers like me in this business.

great tutorial, thanks.

Also Affiliates that refereeing the hosting is most important.

Very good for first-time business owners.

Very good tutorial, unfortunately this tutorial doesn't address the hardest part (technical part is easy)of hosting business... how to survive! now ok everything is properly setup and fully automated, you got your nice and shinny box sitting in an air-conditioned and manned data center... but now what?

Surviving your first few months w/out enough customers.... for me this is the hell part of this business, if you're not prepared for it psychologically you will just think of throwing the towel off and quit! This business requires patience and most importantly sound BUSINESS PLAN up to the next 3-5 years of your operation.

Marketing is the key in this business, however... think about this, there are a lot more better and established hosting companies out there who are as cheap and probably have more featured rich web host offerings that you do.

Now guys... think how do you out-shine them and get your target sign-ups for the month? Trick is....think about niche-market... start offering your service to someone you know...in your local community... friend of your friends, in short focus on word of mouth advertising before thinking of spending large amount of money in advertising.

Hope this input helps, all the best to all of us who are in this business!

cheers.
Roel

Taught me how to financially run my hosting.

Great Tutorial

thanks alot

Sorry your wrong. You dont need a "solid background in Computer Science " What you do need is good business accumen and the ability to employ the right people at the right time for the right task. Webhosting is the same as any other business and business principles apply.

Agreed, although I am currently majoring in computer science. :)

Great tutorial - thankyou r00ts

Like any other business, the beginning is the hardest part. Like in any other enterprise you shouldn't give up!

Thanks for the tutorial. I started up as a one many show and I'm slowly hiring people right now.

It's always been my dream of having my own webhosting company. This article reminded me on how much money do I need to put up. And I told myself it's still a long way to go.