What's the point of it all? I mean the market is all over saturated. I have just about given up trying to start one as everything I wanna market it in is all full. Everything I know anything about is already done. So, why do you start one?

So, why do you start one?
You start one, cause you are high eating too many cheeseburgers maybe ?

I dunno every man for himself.

PS: wrong section/zone. Hence reported i think it is in wrong zone.

It's about general web hosting, so why wouldn't it go here o.o?

You just have to find your niche/market. There's always new ones out there, you just don't know about them...yet ;)

People do it because they look at others who make money and say they can do it to. Some can but most it ends up where they realize it's not as easy as they had thought. So either one of two things happens they go under or they sell.

As vivi said you just have to find your niche. Once you have done that, your good to go.

If you offer any type of service that deals in website development, you can always offer web hosting to your customers. It saves them the trouble of finding a good host on their own, and they'll appreciate you going the extra mile to do more for them.

IMHO, if you have the expertise, the patience, the right attitude and the $, you can do well. Hosts like MDDHosting who are well rated on WHT (I have one domain with MDD) are new , have survived, and will thrive.

Just provide good customer support and you will have customers

People do because they believe they can be more innovative in the hosting industry rather than being the conventional provider :)

I've seen quite a few of hosts doing fine without being innovators, but always being there for the customer, keeping servers up and running fast. It can take a while for things to start to snowball in the wanted direction though. The more competitive the business gets, the more persistence it requires.

I've been saying for years web hosting is not a good business to get into. You're right, it's a very crowded market. Ther are 10580128410 companies out there that can host a website. If you are NOT in any type of niche, it's even harder to compete with the big and already established hosts. Margins are far too low to make any real money right out of the gate.

Surfrgal had a good point, make web hosting an add-on to something like web development/design. The majority of my customers pay for applicaton/dedicated servers that don't host e-mail or websites. The hosting customers I have are hosting customers because they have other services with me.

In volume, you can make some good money with shared hosting. However, your profit margin quickly goes down when you have to spend 981205810 hours maintaining, migrating, and setting up domains. There are many automated tools out there to make it easier, but at the end of the day, I find it hard to spend a few hours migrating accounts from 1 web server to another (DNS being the sucky part of it) so I can make a few hundred dollars in proft per month for that portion of my business.

The flip side, I can make the same profit with 1 or 2 dedicated hosting customers so why focus on shared hosting?

My 2 cents...

What's the point of it all? I mean the market is all over saturated. I have just about given up trying to start one as everything I wanna market it in is all full. Everything I know anything about is already done. So, why do you start one?

For the thrills, chills, and spills. What can I say, I'm a thrill seeker :D

Well, the market conditions might not look as bad as you think actually since even if your website is newly registered, by contacting the leading SEO experts and companies, after a while you could have tens of signups a day, from the folks and web surfers who find the address of your site while using the search engines.

If you offer any type of service that deals in website development, you can always offer web hosting to your customers. It saves them the trouble of finding a good host on their own, and they'll appreciate you going the extra mile to do more for them.

I would agree this is probably the least risky way to start a hosting service. It's not going to sell itself, you need to be a good salesman and explain the benefit of using your less crowded server vs the overcrowded cheapo server they are currently using.

I'm with Matt on this one. :)

However, I'm guessing it's something we all want to do and enjoy doing, if you have them two things then you will succeed. If you set your mind on just making money, you won't make it through the startup changes.

Something like this needs expertise, knowledge, and the owner to be willing to stay up countless hours to keep a client happy.

It's difficult, but if you can find a way to differentiate yourself, you may have a chance. We focus on pure service and it has worked for us. We're small, but growing every day.

My main reason for starting in this business is so I can create a new cpanel account for myself with every domain I start developing. Even if my sales are poor, I still get the benefit of using the service as much as I want.
Half the time, no one seems to trust a new host anyway, so my domain can sit and age for a little while and during that time I can work on some niche advertising. I also enjoy discussing and learning more about all the technical details. That's why I'm trying this business.

Lot's of markets are saturated, we just feel that way because this forum is full of different types of hosts. As long as you provide quality products and support, I'm sure you will get your share in the market. It's all about the service you give.

I'm sure I can do it, I'd need to hire a customer service person though as that's my area I lack in lol. I'm more behind the scenes, which is probably why I can't ever get one going. I never really think of the money, since I know it's no get rich quick idea of mine. I just always wanted one for some reason lol.

I think the only way to get rich quick is to be a crooked salesman and sell shoddy service then run as soon as people start to catch on. My biggest problem is getting a service worthy of putting my name behind, without breaking my budget. No one really wants to buy from a company that hasn't been around for awhile, except the real beginners. Those are the ones that are gonna be spamming support.

There are a few companies that sell reseller accounts with end-user support. You have to buy a more expensive plan though but it might be worth it for you.

I think the only way to get rich quick is to be a crooked salesman and sell shoddy service then run as soon as people start to catch on.

Well I don't know about everyone else's definition of rich but the type of money taken in a situation like that is not going to be much. Maybe to some 14 year old the amount of money they might be able to walk away with might be decent.

Lets look at it here we'll see 100 accounts at $100/yr. How long would it take someone to acquire that with no presence at all? Lets say it takes them 6 months to do it. We'll say the server costs them $80/month. So we get this:

Revenue: $10,000
Server Expense: $480
WHMCS License: $84

Potential walk away amount: $9436

That's with 6 months of work though so I mean the amount you make it doesn't feel like it's worth it to me. I'd also be skeptical if any get rich quick guy could do the tiny 17 accounts per month required to pull it off. 17 is nothing but when you have no client base and no advertising budget it's a little more difficult.

Unless you're very well capitalized, and very experienced in all aspects of the hosting industry, it's hard yards to get a hosting business off the ground and into self sustaining profitability, in a good time frame. It can be done, without being an expert in the fields of sysadmin, SEO, web design, as I've done it, 3 times, but it's getting harder and harder, even for a bit of a hosting veteran like me.

To those who don't have a bundle of money to invest, and want to start a hosting business, I say you have a hard road ahead, and possibly years until you hit that sweet self sustaining profitable level of cashflow, where you no longer carry your business but it carries you.

IMHO, if you have the expertise, the patience, the right attitude and the $, you can do well. Hosts like MDDHosting who are well rated on WHT (I have one domain with MDD) are new , have survived, and will thrive.

I have an account with MDDHosting as well, and for me, there is no better host. I've tried or had clients on many hosts, and can't say enough good about my experience so far.

The web hosting market has been saturated for as long as I've been on WHT (7 years), but people still start new hosts and become successful. If you put in the time and effort, you can do well. All the saturation does is makes it harder for people to stumble into success. You have to earn it. If you don't give it 100%, you'll become just another small host with an annual revenue of $1000.

I don't sell webhosting. Nor do I plan on selling regular webhosting (shared hosting) that is. VPS and dedicated servers I could see myself doing that one day.

However, enough about that the business I am in is competitive, but I am not worried about the next company because I have a niche I am good at and strive to keep them occupied with what I offer. If you want to generally attract everyone; you better have several niches that are good or you won't make it. Everyone seems to forget who their main target is.

You always have to go with the trends. Currently its VPS and you can always try the tomcat /coldfusion or even exchange hosting, which is a niche market

You always have to go with the trends. Currently its VPS and you can always try the tomcat /coldfusion or even exchange hosting, which is a niche market

Following the trends will get you burned. If you provide good quality service at reasonable prices and shared/reseller/dedicated options, success will come.

Following the trends will get you burned.

Perhaps he didn't mean focusing each year on whatever is the fad of the time, but focusing on something that's emerging as very popular (and he's right, VPS is a very often mentioned word, though it may be a bit late to embark on this train), and make a name for your new company around that type of service.

Undoubtedly, a number of hosts have done just that back when reseller hosting was getting all the attention, and it worked handsomely.

Simply start one and i am sure you will evolve and find your niche.

"There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to hosting; not going all the way, and not starting one."- 'Hosting Buddha'



What's the point of it all? I mean the market is all over saturated. I have just about given up trying to start one as everything I wanna market it in is all full. Everything I know anything about is already done. So, why do you start one?

its all about connections. We have not even launched our service yet and already have private clients up and running. We networked and brought clients in personally, not through our site.

I'm not saying it is easy but even in this over saturated market you can survive if you put enough effort in. The key thing is not to compete with the big players.

Find your niche and stick to it. Perhaps you could run webhosting along side another business, such as web design.

All businesses are hard work - there is no "easy" money in any industry.

Has web hosting got harder as an industry? Yes, I'd probably say so. Companies are raising their game and providing better value for money than ever before. It's great for consumers. :)

It's not saturated. In-fact, the web is growing every day.

Yes, it can be tricky to get customers, but it is with any business.

People who think that hosting is a 'get rich quick' scheme will end up disappointed.

People who realise that hosting is something which requires patience and hard work will probably be fine and do well.

If you can offer something different and better than the next company, go for it. :)