I have read that the web hosting market is glutted, and that it would be impractical to try and break into the market today.

Is that true? Or is just sour grapes?

About how much money would it cost to get started with a web-hosting business today?

I have read that the web hosting market is glutted, and that it would be impractical to try and break into the market today.

Is that true? Or is just sour grapes?

About how much money would it cost to get started with a web-hosting business today?
There are TONS of webhosts these days, but with that being said, there's easily 100 times (probably more) more customers looking for hosting than there are hosts.

Getting started could cost a lot different from host to host. Some hosts will "start" with a $15 reseller, and a cheap template (or their own design if you design). I personally started this venture with $10k even, and paid to get a proper design, stationary, advertising, etc. There is no set in stone pricing for getting started though.

If you do start though, this business is by no means a "get rich quick" type thing. Every customer you get, you'll have fought a number of other hosts that would give their first born for that customer. Be prepared to run 3-6 months in the red, actually losing money. Be prepared to be broke and tired for a good while before it starts paying off. Nothing beats waking up at 3 A.M. to a new ticket notification alarm on your phone, knowing that you work so hard to not even be breaking even yet. :laugh:

I personally started this venture with $10k even, and paid to get a proper design, stationary, advertising, etc. There is no set in stone pricing for getting started though.

I hope you put that money to good use. ;)

We started many years ago from a humble reseller account, but even in 2003 I feel we were late to the party as such with regards to web hosting. These days it's very difficult to make an impact without significant financial backing behind you.

I hope you put that money to good use. ;)
I hope so too! :laugh: Time will tell. :)

^^

your site seems broken. getting Database Connectivity Error on billing page

^^

your site seems broken. getting Database Connectivity Error on billing page


Looks like it is a WHMCS issue not connecting to the database.

To answer the OP: the web hosting industry is over saturated and has been for a while... so what? :)

As long as you can add value to your clients you should have sign-ups fairly quickly and then the question is to maintain them which shouldn't be hard, you can either outsource or get a reseller account with end user support. To start off with I would recommend the latter, get a reseller account with end user support from providers like innohosting.com, resellerzoom.com etc and work your way up. This way you can focus on developing your business while the support operations are taken care of - this is critical to a healthy business.

Good luck!

It's hard to compete with people who have been around in this business for years as they are much more established, but if can do something to set yourself apart from the rest of the crowd (not sharing our secrets :)), then it will be well worth it.

Reseller account + Template Monster theme is the cheapest, and in my opinion, best way to start up and keep your costs low. If you're providing a good service, people won't care really how your websites look.

Looking at the potential , the surface has not been scratched fully till now.

^^

your site seems broken. getting Database Connectivity Error on billing page

Yep, was working with the whmcs database (only that database should have been affected, no client accounts), making some changes. It should be back up now. :)

It's more than a little crowded but there is room for the little guys as in any market. Just stick out from the crowd and distinguish yourself as someone that knows what they're doing and you'll go far.

I have read that the web hosting market is glutted, and that it would be impractical to try and break into the market today.

Is that true? Or is just sour grapes?

About how much money would it cost to get started with a web-hosting business today? There's certainly room in this industry for new entrepreneurs, even if the competition is fierce. You won't be able to just put a site up and expect orders to roll in though. Impractical for you? Only you can answer that. Do you have a niche that lends itself to success in this market?

Although the market is over saturated with web hosts, there are still areas to be had. Few hosts specialize in game servers we have noticed along with clustering and real custom configurations. Of course, the last two cost a lot of $$$ but can also bring in a lot of $$$. You need to know what you are doing for sure. Sit down and calculate all the costs you can think of and then some. If you open up a data center (a decent sized one) expect to be in the red for up to two years.

There is always room for a new guy as long as you offer something that no one else does/few do. Just because someone is offering cheap hosting, doesn't mean you can't beat them ;-)

Oh and of course if you don't have the money to start big, start small with a dedicated server or even resell dedicated servers. Provide excellent customer support (always goes a long way) and soon enough, you could grow into owning your own equipment or facility. Just don't half a** it, it will take a lot of time and commitment.

Do you have a niche that lends itself to success in this market?

I was think of specializing in: django and turbogears, or maybe VPS. There are already hosts that do that, but it is a bit more of a niche.

My background is in unix/linux sysadmin.

There is never enough room for quality hosts. That's the difference.

I find that there is a severe lack finding good people to deal with that actually know what they're talking about.