Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Running a Web Hosting Business : should i start a hosting company

[barry100]

Hi all. I current have a VPS and I host around 80 websites on it for my website design clients. this brings me some decent residual income. The thing is i have now closed my website design business and i am looking to sell hosting instead (still keeping all my current clients hosted though)

is it really worth the effort starting a hosting company these days ?

any genuine answers are appreciated

[barry100]

i forgot to say i am into SEO so i can get the services well ranked but is there a demand for the small website hosts services ?

[VDSDC]

I think there is a huge demand for hosting services, unfortunately there are thousands of small hosting companies out there selling plans for next to nothing. It is very competitive but if you have the resources and especially the patience to hold out for quite awhile I'm sure you would do just fine. At least you already have 80 clients! Thats a great start.

[Antonio23]

its a really gud idea but my dear friend my advice to you .

start web hosting but start seo on few less competitive keywords and then start .


it will take atleast 2 years to grow ..

[IGXHost]

It will be a very serious and time consuming commitment. However, seeing how you already have a client-base developed you may be able to use this to your advantage. You also seem to have some knowledge in being able to provide web hosting.

[linuxissues]

I think if you are still into web design and stuff, you might have better chances of growing your client base.

[MikeDVB]

I have to agree with linuxissues - your best bet for obtaining new hosting clients is to continue the design business as that will set you apart from all of the other smaller hosts out there.

Without the design aspect you're just another host offering XYZ for $x.xx/month - what makes you stand out?

[XTremo]

Speaking as a designer, there's more money in that than Hosting.

When you do both then you get an income from each.

Can't fathom out why you'd want to stop the web design though.

[usera]

me either. web design earns more than hosting in my experience especially when you combine the two.

[ldcdc]

Speaking as a designer, there's more money in that than Hosting.

In a "new company, compare the next week" scenario, yes. But in a 5-10 years from now one, you'll find that the designer doing hosting on the side doesn't have to rely on web design all that much anymore (and get paid more or less by the hour), and can possibly take 2 months off web design to spend with the family without worrying about being able to pay the bills.

[XTremo]

Originally Posted by ldcdc

In a "new company, compare the next week" scenario, yes. But in a 5-10 years from now one, you'll find that the designer doing hosting on the side doesn't have to rely on web design all that much anymore (and get paid more or less by the hour), and can possibly take 2 months off web design to spend with the family without worrying about being able to pay the bills.

Depends on where you are and what your market is really.

Where I am (Spain).....and what my market is (Brit businesses in Spain)......it's a different ballgame. The failure rate is about 90% so I have a continual volume of new clients in and old clients out when they end up going back to the UK with very little left.

Consequently after 7 years of providing hosting to my website clients I'm nowhere near the stage that you mentioned.
If I was still in Britain.....yes I would be. But I'm never going back to Britain.....not even in a box.

[Antonio23]

market is down and full of cheap players...

better to work as a designer and spread ur client base

[NoSupportLinuxHostin]

Offering design in addition to hosting makes your business different than a lot of companies that only do hosting. If you close your design and only do hosting, what will make your business different than other hosting companies?

[Atarim]

Hmmm. I'm thinking about the turnover of your client base. It's not a good base for growth as a host yourself - but with that constant flow of new clients, you might do very well not as a host, but as an affiliate of a host, who will pay you nice commissions for each new signup.

[eDedi]

Pretty much every market is saturated, web hosting is no different, but just like every other market if you know what your doing and you have a clear strategy to enter into your target market you can make good money. I would recommend to use your contacts in the web design industry to get you started, try and stay as offline as you can, sell bundles of design and hosting, that should get you on the right track i think..