In a fast growing internet community, How many hosts are too many?

Unlimited :) (Yes I said the bad word)

Their can be many hosts. Everyone offers different thing at different prices. It's very rare to see two companies with the exact same business model. Some companies target resellers while others target individuals and others may target only businesses. Everything is different and past clientelle is what makes a business grow. In this industry word of mouth has to be the biggest asset.

Originally posted by TrafficMan
In a fast growing internet community, How many hosts are too many?

Depends on who is competing in the pool. If Microsoft was a web host, two hosts would be too many for them.

But most businesses are small businesses, and most hosts are competing in that market, so there's plenty of room for everyone.

And, statistically, overall, numbers not adjusted by industry, 90% of new businesses fail their first year. 50% of the survivors fail their second year.

In order to keep the industry on it's feet, we need a steady influx of new hosts and new businesses.

Remember that there are a ton of private label hosting resellers reselling services for a commission or profit.

I think I saw a figure that said somewhere that 80% of hosting companies are simply resellers with no equipment, and only 20% actually own their own infrastructure.

As a result, with one popular hosting company, you probably have a minimum of 20 or 30 private label resellers, advertising the same services, under their own brand name, with their own website.

This is probably why it appears there is an excessive amount of web hosts on the internet. Only 20% actually are "real".

How many little ma and pa clothing stores can there be?