Hello.

Been a while since I have been thinking about doing this. I feel that after being screwed by few host and its hard to find a good host, I am trying to see how it feels like to open a hosting service. Also the reason I am trying to open one is, I notice most these online kids like opening community site especially hiphop website so am trying to help most of them instead of them getting screwed by host or they can't find a good, fast and reliable hosting with price ranging their budgets. I have 2 pretty good domain names that matches exactly what am looking for and the type of customers am aiming for. My target is basicly urban and hiphop businesses and entertainment website. Both the domain names I currently have are www.urbanhosting.com and www.hiphophost.com and urbanhost.net I will redirect. urbanhosting.com will be the main website and I will redirect the other 2 domains. Also, it wont only be a hosting service but I will also open a community to help kids learn about html, mysql, php and more.. maybe a community like this so that kids that work on urban or hiphop websites will learn instead of just taking other people stuff. I will also have section to help them out with problems like, incase someone steals their work, copyrights, things they need to know and more. Currently someone working on a professional design. At the moment I have a dedicated server with on active site on it even though I have close to 30 domains and I have plans to make some of those domains into website but then I know for a fact I will get another dedicated server and if things goes well then I will end up with 3 or more servers. The ded server I have now is pretty decent.. Good bandwidth providers ( not cogent ) A managed server so if am not available, my datacenter are always promp to fix problems. Been with them for about 4 months and its amazing I haven't seen any problem so far 3 people are helping me paying for the servers and they are also interested in getting more servers and open this with me. Also for staff, I have lots of volunteers willing to help. I use to run lots of community so most of my mods are willing to help. We are not bunch of kids, am 22 and they are also in thier 20's..


Few things I need to know.

Do you think it worth me trying to do this especially I dont have any experience doing it?

is there any profits running a hosting company using dedicated server instead of your own datacenter?

What are few things that I need to know?

For sign up page using credit card, what do I need and would it cost me?

do i need to do some type of paperwork to start a business on the internet?


since I have a pretty good bandwidth providers and top notch machine, are the following packages below good?

Cpanel 5.0
350mb of disk space
10gig monthly bandwidth
unlimited mysql
unlimited sub domains
ulimited email and pop3
unlimited ftp
and all feature that comes with cpanel 5.0

adult content is allow but no copyrighted materials
no warez or illegal materials and also no illegal mp3 or unauthorized CD selling business.

price $19.99



for package 2.

cpanel 5.0
400 mb disk space
15gig bandwidth
and same features as package 1

price: $24.99


for package 3.

cpanel 5.0
450mb disk space
20gig bandwidth
same features as package 1

price: $29.99


package 4

cpanel 5.0
500mb disk space
25gig bandwidth
same features as package 1

price: $34.99


$1.50 for addition bandwidth
$.25 for 5mb disk space




any tips, suggestion, help, feedback or whatever is accepted.


thanks.

chris

Ok a few things,Many people i know run urban websites and im saying it like this:
Youre plans aernt good enough if you want to reach out to that community cause fact is these kids dont want to pay very much for their hosting,dont bother with cpanel,its not important to them and you can oversell alot on the bandwidth and as for your question about making money without owning a datacenter
Offcourse theyre is,only 1 out of 10,0000 hosts own their own datacenter and yet were all still in business,I hope this help's ya,as noone else has bothered to respond so far.
Peace

Originally posted by pattox
. . . . . . . noone else has bothered to respond so far.
Peace Yeh. There should have been tens of responses within that seven minutes.
Just a bunch of slackers here! :mad:


Okay; back on topic.

1) Do you think it worth me trying to do this especially I dont have any experience doing it?
>> If you it's something you want to do, it's always worth it. You can learn whatever you need to know.

2) is there any profits running a hosting company using dedicated server instead of your own datacenter?
>> Yes.

3) What are few things that I need to know?
>> You need to know your target audience. Although you have a general idea of them, it seems, you don't fully understand their needs at this point.

4) For sign up page using credit card, what do I need and would it cost me?
>> You have different options. I think third party processors, like PaySystems, are great.

5) do i need to do some type of paperwork to start a business on the internet?
>> What's paper? Of course you should always work a detailed plan before beginning on any business venture.

6) since I have a pretty good bandwidth providers and top notch machine, are the following packages below good?
>> See #3.

Ya i thought I might have lots of replies also. but thanks for replying. truely appreciate it. One question, paysystems or 2checkout, which one is better of for me to use without them taking alot from me because am trying to profit from this also. WIll start off by hosting 5+ account and see how I can manage them with support and so on even though I have people that will help. I heard paysystems charge monthly including the one time fee they already charged you. Also which one is reliable and will pay you upfront without pissing you off.


thanks.

chris
chris

I don't have experience with 2checkout. I've used PaySystems for nearly two years and I've never thought of using anything else. Their support is top notch. Easily integrated. And always pay.

The two have been compared on the forum before if you feel like searching for them.

Either Paysystems or 2checkout will take about the same amount of money from you. Paysystems lets you choose: 3.95% and 1.00 per transaction, or 5.5% and .45 per transaction? The breakpoint is about $38, so your choice will be dictated by what you think you'll sell the most of.

Paysystems has two accounts: IBA and IMA. IMA is if you have your own merchant account. That is a monthly charge. But if your target is the urban-hiphop market, for starters, why not just use PayPal? Their fraud checking isn't as good, but they do take less per transaction.

I decided not to use 2Checkout, so I can't tell you how good or bad their payouts are in terms of timeliness; but Paysystems has paid me just fine, no hangups, no delays.

Paperwork: check with your local chamber of commerce (I'm assuming you're in the U.S.) They will tell you what you need to know, or at least get you started.

Set aside an hour each day to read this and other hosting forums: they're a good resource, both in terms of currently active topics and archived threads. The only way you get experience - true experience - is by doing a thing, either as an apprentice to someone else or going it alone. Don't let your lack of knowledge deter you from trying something out. Just be sure to treat your clients well, no matter how many or how few you have. As you yourself have experienced, that's where many hosts seem to fall down on the job.