Here we go my 2nd tutorial here.


Selling hosting is really really hard if you are new in the business, people automatically assume that you are bogus and have no idea what you are doing, well then you have to prove them wrong.

First step is to make a trust relation with your customers on your main site, make a Team Blog and use only a professional accent while writing it, update it with daily activities include at least 3-4 tweaks or upgrades or server additions.

Now im not try to tell you to lie but you have to ensure your customer's security in SOME way other wise you are just trying to make a quick buck.

Here is the BEST way to start a webhost:


Get at least 4 sales reps
Spread them on Forums such as TEEN FORUMS
Sell hosting at variable prices, dont keep a steady rate at that moment jsut try to charge the most to the high paying and least to unsure.
These specials will stick with you forever.
Try to give out free hosting for 1-6 months after that period tell them that there site has ran out and they should upgrade their account to a paid one.Now that should get you rolling the right way!


As for your main site always have a LIVE CHAT option because people do not like to email or submit support tickets i know that for a fact.

Support is always a major PLUS on a webhost more support techs = more business.

IF you wish to go solo thats fine too but you should have alot of free time for it.


And here is something you should stick to NEVER FORGET THE NEXT POINT!!

Ok money is always a problem so NEVER depend on your customers to pay for your servers, hope to b reak even and keep a backup plan and here is what YOU should do as a webhost.

To ensure your monthly payments you shoud develop and sell sites as well as domains its the only way you can have a backup plan incase your customers deicde to quite.

It is indeed a full proof plan.




Hope that helped someone
Comments are appreciated
Regards

As I said in Part 1, this was a good read as well. Is there Part 3? :)

Well im quite busy but ill try to make one more

thank you!

Dluzion, your the man!!! :D This is brilliant. Thanks so much. *By the way, i reccomend Dluzion as one of the best web hosts ever, clashx are superb*

nice post! very simple and straight forward

Another excellent article, am enjoying what you're sharing.

i gone through part 1 & 2, now going to part 3, not bad i must say, keep ot up and keep 'em postng, looking to read more from you.

Thanks trendy

Thanks, a good read.

Wow you make it sound like its all about the money running a hosting company for me is about good prices and top customer support. when hosts just start thinking about money and not there customers and they will ose people i take care of my customers and i work hard to get new ones and yes live online support is far by the best option for customers all my clients really like it

And here is something you should stick to NEVER FORGET THE NEXT POINT!!

Ok money is always a problem so NEVER depend on your customers to pay for your servers, hope to b reak even and keep a backup plan and here is what YOU should do as a webhost.

To ensure your monthly payments you shoud develop and sell sites as well as domains its the only way you can have a backup plan incase your customers deicde to quite.

It is indeed a full proof plan.

While I don't mean to hate on your tutorial, but that there makes absolutely no sense. Running a web hosting company is a business; businesses exist to make money -- as the majority of web hosts do. If you're struggling to make money, you should fix the problem, rather than offsetting it by creating a new source of income.

I gues giving 1-6 months free sounds like a good idea but it's probably hard to make money

hmm nice things that are really good for newbies well before 2 years when i entered in this market i found that this work is really so hard but then i stared free hosting serveice for 8 months when i started paid hosting i got more then 300 coustmers in one week,

CX.Eric

how do I get ahold of PART1? dont see it on the site

i guess it was deleted by a mod or something

I also would like to read part #1.
Is it available somewhere in an archive, there is a lot of information available here on the forums, that the tutorials seemed the most logical place to start, somehow reading part#2 first, makes it seem that i really missed out somewhere.

Bucster

Yea you kinda did, i guess only a mod can answer this question...

What was it called?

I think it was:

Part 1: Domain & Reseller

Great tutorial. Without looking at it, i think i did quite well on my own, i now have a billing system to automate orders which to me you have to put money in proper software to show what customers monies going on. As if i used an open source billing system customers would say wheres the money going?

In the start expect to start with a loss and then develop into breaking even and into profit but you need a strong sales team to do so.

I think it was:

Part 1: Domain & Reseller
Did you try search? ;)

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=546420

Part 5: How to use search functions :P

Actually i did search and still couldnt found, anyway thanks for that

I clicked on the link and found it::

Well this is my first tutorial so please bare with me here...


If you are new at this then you would definetly need a reseller from a reputable company, i have used and been satisfied with Cpanel/WHM so ill be explaining that.

First go to your domain and go to the NAMESERVERS REGISTRATION form/panel and get ready to begin == Now tell your Reseller provider to setup your nameserver ips for your reseller ** Remember UNIQUE nameservers are very very profitable ** Get the IPs for the two nameservers and register them.
( If you have your own server then you would know how to do this )

For example:

I have a domain: domain.com

setup:

ns1.domain.com
ns2.domain.com

Then i go to my WHM Root Panel and add those ns and assigned them IPs, THEN i ADD an 'A' Entry for the assigned ip, now the ns is available for registration and it can be added via the DOMAIN PANEL at your Domain Registrar.


Now do remember you will need a dedicated ip to put all the shared customers on, its better because by doing this no one can look up sites on your server (on main server ip).

Now setup a subdomain for your billing software, as subdomains are much easier to access and give a little bit of that pro look.

And now for the billing software, DO NOT BUY any software at your first try, go for a TRIAL for 30 days and if not satisfied just get anything else , i learned that the hard way...buying a billing system on your first run si not a good choice no matter how much research you do working with the software is totally different.

Ive used ModernBill 30 day FREE Trial and have been learning it alot, and after you have the billing software ready you can work on the template.

Now the reason i save the template for the main site for last is because im not sure what the billing page will be like and now that i know i have a clear vision of what i want..


** Some pointers if you are getting a reseller from a company**



Always get a reseller WITH FANTASTICO + RVSKins
Always get unique nameservers
Only on Dual or Quad processor servers
Check for server load
Look them up for any bad records
Look for blacklisted servers
ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK
Check their TOS for restrictions on content
Also check TOS for server RESOURCE USAGE
Go with established companies only
BUT new comers have empty servers so keep an open mind .
Hope that helped.

Regards

Did you try search? ;)

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?t=546420

Part 5: How to use search functions :P

LOL... that was actually funny.... :D

What worries me about giving away 1-6 month free is you'll attract all sorts of scammers and fraud sites.

What worries me about giving away 1-6 month free is you'll attract all sorts of scammers and fraud sites.Just require 1 cent with those promotions or something low a month so you get their credit card and can use that to verity they are not kids, they are real, and that they are serious. Works just as well.

Actually to find part one on this forum at the bottom change "show posts from beginning" will bring up loadsa wonderful tuts :p

Wow , Good -> Next up part 3

i dont know about fool proof, but i've read part 1 and 2 and so far they are pretty informative. thanks.

thank you for this great article!

I don't see that this is a great article for running a hosting company. Livechat, 24x7 support, sales & marketing is all essentials for any new company.

Part 1 is here www[dot]webhostingtalk[dot]com/showthread[dot]php?t=546420

:)

I've read Part 1 and Part 2, what about the next tutorial?

Get at least 4 sales reps

That's not really an option for a lot of starter hosting companies, most of them are started with 1 person doing everything and they cannot afford to hire 4 staff right away.

Sell hosting at variable prices, dont keep a steady rate at that moment jsut try to charge the most to the high paying and least to unsure.

I disagree with this line of thinking. Yes it might bag you a few customers, but once the people who are paying more for it find out you are offering the exact same service cheaper to other clients, they will not be happy.


Try to give out free hosting for 1-6 months after that period tell them that there site has ran out and they should upgrade their account to a paid one.

OK...I'm really hoping I'm reading this one the wrong way. You're saying to give people free hosting for a while, and then once they are settled and happy with your service you want to start billing them?

Are you talking about running a promotion on your website that says "Get 90 Days Free", or are you talking about "Free Hosting!" and then changing your terms on them once they are established on your servers?

That's not really an option for a lot of starter hosting companies, most of them are started with 1 person doing everything and they cannot afford to hire 4 staff right away.



I disagree with this line of thinking. Yes it might bag you a few customers, but once the people who are paying more for it find out you are offering the exact same service cheaper to other clients, they will not be happy.



OK...I'm really hoping I'm reading this one the wrong way. You're saying to give people free hosting for a while, and then once they are settled and happy with your service you want to start billing them?

Are you talking about running a promotion on your website that says "Get 90 Days Free", or are you talking about "Free Hosting!" and then changing your terms on them once they are established on your servers?

The way to do is this is to offer the 1st month free using a coupon code you set up in whmcs. During the order process they enter the payment information as normal, but they are not charged for the 1st 30 days. After the initial 30 day period, the billing will start unless they cancel.

That's kinda what I figure, but the way he worded it sounds like he's suggesting to just give free hosting and then perform a bait-and-switch on them:

Try to give out free hosting for 1-6 months after that period tell them that there site has ran out and they should upgrade their account to a paid one.

The underlined part is what I'm questioning. From the way he worded it, it sounds like he's suggesting to start as a free hosting company, and then 6 months down the road tell everybody that signed up to pay without warning.