Learn How to Host Websites For a High-Demand Business

Business Overview:

If you’d like to know how to generate great profits by providing a service everyone needs in order to get their websites online, learn how to host websites. Every website on the internet requires storage space in order to make their website accessible to the world. With this business idea, you provide the storage space and software that website owners need to get their websites online. To do so you purchase or lease a server—which is a piece of equipment on which data is stored. You then allocate a certain amount of space on your server(s) to your clients to store the data for their websites, and you provide software that allows the website data that your clients upload to your server to be made accessible to the world via the internet. For an even easier approach, you can pay an existing webhosting company for a specified amount of space each month, and then you can allow others to host their websites from that space. Think of it in the same way that you would if you were to sublet an apartment: while you are actually the one paying the monthly fee to the “landlord,” others are paying you for all or part of that space. Not all webhosting companies allow this, but many actually encourage this approach—and will even offer the technical support to your customers. With a website hosting business you’ll have a number of options in regards to how you generate your profits. For example, you can charge your clients a monthly fee in return for a certain amount of data space on your server (typically a low-end cost would be around $10 USD, although it will depend on the amount of data space your client requires). Alternatively you could offer your hosting service for free, and in return for the free hosting have your clients display adverts on their websites which generate your revenue. In addition to the various options available to you for generating revenue, one of the most attractive things about starting a website hosting business is the high retention rate and high lifetime value you can gain from your clients. As long as you provide a competitive, quality service, your clients will be unlikely to leave you. This is because once a website has been set up with a host, transferring it over to a different hosting provider can be a technically complicated and difficult process. Therefore once you have gained a client, so long as they remain happy with your services you can expect them to remain with you for many years (if not indefinitely). It is for this reason starting a website hosting business is one of the most potentially lucrative online business ideas — because if you can attract lots of clients, the chances are good that you will keep the majority of them, and therefore generate great profits consistently over the long term. You can easily start this business from the comfort of your own home either by purchasing server space from an existing company or, if you’re truly tech savvy, by purchasing relatively small servers and updating your hosting capacity as your business and server space demand grows. Staying committed over the long term is key to making great profits with this business. Therefore with the desire and a willingness to work hard, you can definitely build a successful hosting business that generates fantastic profits.

A Day in the Life of a Website Hosting Business Owner:

As a successful website hosting business owner, a large part of your time on a typical day will be spent providing quality customer service to your clients. This is because setting up a website with a host can be a technically challenging process to those who aren’t familiar with it, so you will spend a fair amount of time in your day assisting your clients either over the phone or via email. You will also spend time overseeing the performance of your servers—if you’ve chosen to purchase your own—ensuring everything is running smoothly. Additionally, you may spend time updating your hosting infrastructure in order to meet demand as your business grows. Of course, you can hire staff to provide support and customer service for you. You can also hire assistants to take care of system maintenance and upgrades for you. And if you don’t want to be bothered with these details at all, you can choose to purchase space from an existing webhosting company that also will agree to provide technical support to your customers. In this case a typical day would likely be spent focusing on growing your business by seeking out new marketing opportunities, and ensuring that your hosting business is ticking over smoothly.

About Your Customers:

Your customers will be anyone wanting to set up a website. They will include businesses and individuals wanting to set up websites for either commercial or personal purposes.

What You Need to Start:

• A server on which to host your clients’ websites (you can either purchase your server, or you can lease it)—or server space that you’re paying for from an existing webhosting company
• Storage space for your server / hosting equipment
• Website hosting software
• A customer service phone line
• Marketing
• A business license
• Financial tracking software

The Good:

• Every website needs a host—so the market for your service is huge.
• You can start this business and run it from the comfort of your own home.
• There are several options available for generating great profits (monthly subscriptions, advertising).
• Due to the technical difficulties associated with changing website hosting providers, your clients will be unlikely to leave you so long as you provide a quality service and keep them happy (therefore the lifetime value of your clients will typically be high once you gain them).

The Bad:

• Purchasing the servers/software that you need to start this business can be expensive, though you don’t need own your hardware unless you choose to.
• You will need to provide an excellent service and be committed to working hard to achieve great profits as website hosting can be competitive.

Resources:

• Association of Internet and Hosting Service Providers
• Web Hosting Association
• Web Design and Developers Association
• Bureau of Labor Statistics on Data Processing, Hosting and Related Services
• Wikipedia on Web Hosting Service

About The Author

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