I am quite new in webhosting area, but experienced in computer use(I am student at a Technical University, programming profile).
I want to buy a reseller account, from a company which has servers in Netherlands, to allow almost everything on my hosting. Then if I get customers, I will expand to dedicated servers. But the problem is: how to expand?

I tried to read on wht, but no one says exactly what you have to do. How do I get customers? this is the main problem.

thanks in advance

Start from your families and friends then neighbors, etc... engage in the internet always, etc...

It is all about style...

My families, doesn't really need webhosting, and friends...no too

LOCAL, Start by selling to local companies, new businesses

THen work from there

Word of mouth is the number one way to grow your hosting company. Being Recommended by customers that have had a good experiance from your company.

Running a webhosting business isnt a overnight thing, It takes time , alot of hard work and sleepless nights .

And another thing. I don't want to work with paypal. I simply don't trust them, don't know why. I want to use AlertPay,LibertyReserve and some other. This is why I am looking for a reseller where I can pay with one of these, but I can't find. I found something, but is not a host which I can trust.

If you are a programmer then I would seek out those types of jobs... offer to provide hosting services for those projects. And as freedomhost said.... word of mouth is #1

Thank you for idea @thisisaustin . I am currently working on a script for a targeted industry, and I can say that our hosting is optimized for that script.

and another thing, maybe a good idea, maybe a bad one. I have found about 4-5 webhosting companies from where I can buy reseller accounts. I want to buy from each of them the cheapest shared account, and for 1 month to monitor each of them and compare final results. what do you say?

edit 1: can I list here those companies and ask you for an opinion?

and another thing, maybe a good idea, maybe a bad one. I have found about 4-5 webhosting companies from where I can buy reseller accounts. I want to buy from each of them the cheapest shared account, and for 1 month to monitor each of them and compare final results. what do you say?

edit 1: can I list here those companies and ask you for an opinion?

I think that would be a good idea to test how reliable they are, however some hosting company don't put shared & reseller accounts on the same server. But at least you can find out about the quality of the sales & support team.

I am sure you can list them here and WHTers would be able to give opinions based on their experiences.

Good luck with your search.

If I can list here they are:
- santrex . net -> they allow everything, but prices are too low, weird
- warez-host . com -> very fast support but same cheap prices for reseller(10$/month 400GB band and 15GB webspace)
- ******* . com -> don't know what to say
- webthosting . com -> I like them most, 20$ 60GB and 600GB band

If if you check them all, they all have servers in netherlands.

Your not going to "get rich quick" in this business. There are so many hosts, you have to get your name out. I would recommend hiring someone to revise/edit your website and then advertising on WHT. You spend money to get money.

Your not going to "get rich quick" in this business...You spend money to get money.

I know these rules.

I am quite new in webhosting area, but experienced in computer use(I am student at a Technical University, programming profile).
I want to buy a reseller account, from a company which has servers in Netherlands, to allow almost everything on my hosting. Then if I get customers, I will expand to dedicated servers. But the problem is: how to expand?

I tried to read on wht, but no one says exactly what you have to do. How do I get customers? this is the main problem.

thanks in advance

Like everything else - trial and error and providing good quality service at reasonable prices. :)

I would start local and figure out what you want to do exactly.

likely you aren't going to find a "step-by-step guide to make millions in reselling" primer on this website. haha.


Lawrence

I don't want to make millions from reselling. I am trying only to earn a monthly income for me and my family. If I wanted to make millions, I wouldn't start with reselling.

Can you plese not refer to my list of hosts?

Can you plese not refer to my list of hosts?

I'm not sure if this was directed to me, or what you are asking for exactly.


Lawrence

You may want to consider a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a Budget Dedicated Server. You claim you want to offer everything under the sun and it may be difficult to find a one size fits all reseller account.

You shouldn't expect anyone on Webhostingtalk to tell you how to run your business, at least not for free. Many of the members here are your direct competition, their secrets to success are proprietary information.

You shouldn't expect anyone on Webhostingtalk to tell you how to run your business, at least not for free. Many of the members here are your direct competition, their secrets to success are proprietary information.

I tend to agree, which is what i was trying to say.

Not that the odd helpful tip here and there doesn't hurt and can help the community, but i'm not sure why anyone would really be sharing their hard-earned secrets that they learned through trial and error and a lot of $ in trying.

Or why some people feel they are entitled to them.


Lawrence

@maknet, wasn't for you directly. Was for all readers, possible posters here. read 10th post here.

yes @cywkevin, I want to host almost everything under the sun(except some things, that not even most darkest hosting providers would accept them).

If not getting help on WHT then where?

for a bidget dedicated server, I found one at serverpronto . com
- AMD 2000+
• 512 MB DDR RAM
• 40 GB Hard Drive
• 1400 GB Traffic
• 100Mbps Connection

but how many websites can I host with this one? if I have 2-3 sites which have more than 1k visitors daily each, server will fail, for sure.

@maknet, wasn't for you directly. Was for all readers, possible posters here. read 10th post here.


Alright, i think i understand. You still might want to post everything all together instead of expecting people to read all the different threads and posts to figure out what you're looking for exactly.

I think the confusion might be because you are posting in "running a web hosting business" as opposed to the other forums, regarding getting ratings or suggestions on where to host? Is that what you are looking for?


but how many websites can I host with this one? if I have 2-3 sites which have more than 1k visitors daily each, server will fail, for sure.

What exactly do you plan on hosting? I don't see why 2 or 3 sites would take down the servers.. unless i'm missing something here.


Lawrence

There is plenty of broad information on operating a web hosting business at http://www.webhostingtalk.com/forumdisplay.php?f=94

@maknet : how many sites would that server support? I mean normal sites. Let's say, every sites will have around 500 visitors per day.

@cywkevin : believe me, I read almost everything from there.

@maknet : how many sites would that server support? I mean normal sites. Let's say, every sites will have around 500 visitors per day.


I don't know.

What i do know, is the typical (good) business advice i follow, is to scale as your customers grow.. and not before.

Well, maybe slightly before, but if you had a restaurant and next door was up for rent for expansion, you should NOT spend all your money on a cool website, twice the retail space, double the cook-staff, some more waiters and stuff, and then worry about your sales last.

You should only grow if you need to, and not build "random capacity" before you get there. Large companies with a lot of $ that can put it into infrastructure (ie telecoms) is a different story.

Conclusion: it sounds like whatever hardware can probably handle whatever issues you're looking for.

Lawrence

So, for a beginner a reseller account is the best. And monitor carefully server activity. To see if is overloaded. This is why I don't want to buy a dedicated server now.

So, for a beginner a reseller account is the best. And monitor carefully server activity. To see if is overloaded. This is why I don't want to buy a dedicated server now.

Most advice is these forums, if you've read them all, says to get reseller until you get more customers, then worry about it later.

Even if you just had reseller accounts, i think that business model is perfectly fine.


Lawrence

ok thanks, I will post my requst for host opinions in another section of wht

For example, if you are looking for user experiences at dedicated or reseller companies, there is a forum for that.

I believe this forum is more about whether to expand in certain areas, or how to expand etc..

But i'm still unsure as to what you are asking exactly, so sorry i couldn't be of much more help.

Lawrence

I am quite new in webhosting area, but experienced in computer use(I am student at a Technical University, programming profile).
I tried to read on wht, but no one says exactly what you have to do. How do I get customers? this is the main problem.


Not to rain on your parade, but before starting your own business, you may want to get a few years of experience in the industry first. With your technical background, perhaps you can find a position with an existing company as a systems admin or a developer of some sort. There's much more to running a hosting business than just technical knowledge. On top of that, it often takes not just what you know, but who you know to succeed in business.

Until you can answer that question for yourself, it's probably too soon to be starting your own business.

focus your local market at first then advertise advertise more advertisements will work.. spend some money to adversie

focus your local market at first then advertise advertise more advertisements will work.. spend some money to adversie

So what are you saying, you should advertise? :)


Lawrence

Id agree with the word of mouth through friends and familys but whats wrong with good business nature? Target Audiences?!, I started hosting in 2003 and ended in 2008 (starting again soon!) I selected target audiences, chat room fansites, clan gamers (in which to sell TS and Ventrilo) etc once you have one or two just offer them discount in exchange for a little advertisement on there website or referals.

u can better do it by by logging to forums like one ur in. and further u hav to struggle. just keep advertising its a hard job but never give up u will get ur work within six months i hope

But the problem is: how to expand?

The answer is simple all that you need to do is to promote your services properly.

Per my experience.. The cheapest way to start a hosting business.


Reseller package is the way to go. (no more than 30-40 USD monthly to start)
Advertisement in local forums (everyday of necessary)
Treat your first customers like kings, they will bring more and more.
When your cash flow increase do online advertisement (google is my motto..but only use search and only Local (country))

You have to have a plan, what to do next, what I want, I've been in hosting industry almost 2 years and I have thousands of customers, I have done mistakes, but every step that I take is worth it, if you don't have the time don't even think about this business, sleepless hours are part of my first year, now others work for me :)

Cheers.