Well i was recently in a chat room that is primarily for people that own web hosting companies. Anyways someone imed me and told me that they are starting a web hosting company and asked me for help and I said sure.

Then I asked what he needs help with and he said everything he doesn't know how to do anything. Well I got quite mad about this becuz its a perfect example that anyone from the streets with a few bucks can start a web hosting company. Thats why the webhosting field has such a bad name.

Yup. Its the internet, any 10 year old can start a web hosting business. People don't realize that it IS a business, and people rely on them. When people ask me for help with/starting their web hosting company and don't know a thing about it, I give a good 10 minute speech that makes them change their mind .

I am a web designer based in manchester england and I have been having a nightmare finding a reliable hosting company. I have been thinking of setting up my own web host for use with the sites I design only!! but alas I dont really know where to start it has been sugested to me that I use red hat which comes with apache web server????
Please can any one help me as things are getting pretty urgent now.

My biggest beef as well...any one who has a PC can be a "web" solution provider. makes me mad as hell.

Hi alan,
Sounds like you should look into getting a reseller account first. That is least expensive for you to get started in the hosting business. Keep in mind though there are several "types" of reseller accounts so you might want to do some research into the different kinds that are offered. With reselling YOU would handle your own customers support/billing.
Good Luck

Yes, I would agree with Martie, a reseller account is surely the way to start. This will definitely give you the time to develop the experience you need in both handling your billing and your own service support while cutting down your initial charges. Just make sure to select a hosting company that will allow you to move your accounts easily when you grow and/or that can help you once you need to have your dedicated machine. The last thing you want is a bad surprise if a company your are hosting your reseller account with suddently change their policy and you are stuck with a couple hundred accounts that needs to be moved in a day or 2 with no tools to do so. Otherwise, once you feel confident enough about your hosting knowlege you should definitely consider purchasing your own machine. I do not believe a hosting company can ever grow without this kind of independance. : )

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I must agree that alot of people that do start a web hosting business these day know very little about this field. I myself have worked in this field for some time. I currently work for a ISP during the day if that says anything.

I bet if you ask alot of host how to do a simple dns change without using their control panel they would get.

I started my business this year myself which I relize is slow going it takes a good year before most people will sign up with a new host, but im in it for the long hall I didnt jump into this without doing alot of research.

Granted I cant do the cheapest quotes around ,but then again as the old saying goes you get what you pay for I pay top doller for my dedicated servers for full support even though 98% of the time I dont need it but just in case

I dont have a hugh buget for ads, but found running ads a waste of money very quickly. I have recently looked at campains that most host would not think about or start with some business plans with other businesses that go hand in hand.

Just some early morning thoughts or rambles have a good one I need some more coffee later

These problems are inevidable. Although it's an unfortunate statistic, it provides a pretty bold line between a web kiddie's "company" and an actual hosting provider.

I was contacted by someone looking to buy a dedicated server from us, but didn't know a thing about managing a dedicated server. They didn't want to pay for management too. I told them to get a reseller account, but they wouldn't listen. Why do all these new hosts feel the need for dedicated servers? When I first started out I was running from a reseller account and gradually got bigger and bigger until I had my own server farm. Please, if you are a new web host remember that your best option is probably a reseller account. That's why they exist.

Hi Alan,

Maybe the best solution for your needs would be a reseller plan. You can create the accounts as and when you need them and you don't have to worry about server maintenance and can concentrate on what you do best, web design

But the fact stands, that because anyone can just jump online one day and start a hosting company or any Dot-Com company for that matter, is why consumers must be careful with their decisions.

Never jump into things right away, the best deal isnt always the best choice.

I do consulting for numerous different webhosting companies. It is not something I really wanted to do but people started asking so I decided to do it. I am shocked that a lot of people are interested in jumping right in with a webhosting company without any prior knowledge. I would say that most of the people I talk to are over 21. Most of them are good people, however a couple of them do go and play counterstrike when they know their are a couple people with issues. These people should not be in the webhosting business.

I am at the far end of this issue. We have been an ISP doing hosting since 1994, we even have our own tier 1datacenter. Despite this we are forced to compete against these basement/garage hosting companies. Every time I have to explain the difference between us and them I just want to pull my hair out. How about 10 years experience, our own data center, 24/hr highly paid professional staff? And when asked why we don't charge $1/mo...I think Gee...because REAL businesses have things like profit margins and overhead. I'm hoping time will weed out the, uh...weaker companies. Darwin-like.