First steps?

J

jlynch

New member
What are the first steps that I need to take if I'm going to work on building this business? I've been doing some reading, and I know that a business plan is a good call, but what else should I do as a first step?
 
Some steps you should consider while starting a web hosting business are given below :

1. Try to gain all the required knowledge about the hosting packages you will be offering (As much as possible)

2. Check the kind of web hosting market available in the Country you are targeting for business.

3. Check the kind of competitors you will have and the way they have been doing business.

4. Choose a good domain name, launch a website and post useful and unique content so that you get more backlinks for the website easily :)

Hope this helps..
 
Try before you buy!

Get a reseller account and see if you can sell anything on it. Dropping cash on gear pretty much locks you in until it's paid off, or you get it taken back for a loss.

If you can get some sales as a reseller, get a VPS or a Dedicated server and run off of that.

As said before, LEARN how to use your control panels. Make sure you have good support to take care of the things you don't know. Your going to need a good / easy to use control panel. There's a bunch out there, so give them a whirl yourself. You'll also need a billing support system, whmcs seems to be the easiest to get rolling on.

Ask lots of questions.
 
charlier said:
Try before you buy!

Get a reseller account and see if you can sell anything on it. Dropping cash on gear pretty much locks you in until it's paid off, or you get it taken back for a loss.

If you can get some sales as a reseller, get a VPS or a Dedicated server and run off of that.

As said before, LEARN how to use your control panels. Make sure you have good support to take care of the things you don't know. Your going to need a good / easy to use control panel. There's a bunch out there, so give them a whirl yourself. You'll also need a billing support system, whmcs seems to be the easiest to get rolling on.

Ask lots of questions.
Click to expand...

This is a good idea and a good way to start building the business without a huge investment. You can also control your growth without having financial commitments that require you to try and sell sell sell even if you cannot keep up with the work.
 
You need to know what you want to, write it down, analyze market/situation, set up your goals.

Second thing - take it serious,you can't think that if it will be unsuccesfull you can go free :)
 
Writing a business plan will lead to answers for quite a few questions you haven't considered yet. A lot of research goes into writing a viable business plan - executive summaries, marketing strategies, financial planning, trend analysis, licensing and on and on. Aside from a business plan, what else should you do as a first step? I'd say confirm that this business is your passion.
 
Hi!
I have said numerous times before elsewhere..I firmly believe it is impossible to be a good host without being a hosting customer first.

I think a really decent reseller account is a very good place to start. Hostgator is a very good place..in my experience.

Also..spend some time on these boards..listen...learn...take notes.

Bryon
 
- Don't try to compete solely on price . . . both you and your customer will lose
-Always prioritize existing customers over trying to get new signups . . . meaning don't spend all your money on advertising when you need to upgrade your server!
- Become an expert in the field, devote yourself, and people will have more confidence in choosing to host with you
 
Many ways you can start, I say start by writing a plan, gathering a template, some staff and read guides on it a good site is, resellerguide.com.
 
Get a reseller plan with a reputable provider that offers free WHMCS and free domain name reselling account like ResellerClub or eNom. You don't need to hire any staff and throw money away, yet. The best thing you can do is read, read, and then read some more so you can learn about the business and gain some knowlegde.

If you're brand new to the hosting business scence, I highly recommend you read this book. http://www.webhostingbusinessbook.com/

Good luck! :thumbsup:
 
HostLeet-- thanks for the book suggestion! I'll have to read it on my next flight home. :) I'm really excited about learning more before I jump in wholeheartedly.
 
Writing up a business plan should be your absolute first step - everything else should be discussed inside of it.
 
Hello
1. Content is King

The quality of the posts you write is the single most important factor when it comes to Search Optimization on a Blog. I suspect others will argue differently but as I look at my own blogs success in the search engines I’d say that this has been the number one factor.

Quality content that helps people will quite often draw a reader to want to share what they’ve written – of course they do this by passing on the link to your post and often they’ll do it in a way that helps your search rankings (on their own blog for example).
2. Anticipate What People Will be Searching For

Every time you write a post you should be automatically be considering what words people might be putting into search engines to find that type of information. Once you know what kinds of words they’re using you’re in a great position to position yourself for that search.
3. Titles Titles Titles

There are a number of things to keep in mind when it comes to titles. Google pays particular attention to titles – so make sure you get them right:

* first make sure that the way you set your blog up puts the title of your post in the ‘title tags’ on the back end of your blog. This is really important.
* if you’re just looking from an SEO perspective don’t include your blog name in the title tags of single posts. This dilutes your keywords. Of course if you’re looking more at branding including your blog’s name in the title tags might be worth doing.
 
When you start a new business you should have enough investment & facility to support clients. If you set up a business & you get a lot of clients but if you fail to provide support then there is no meaning.
 
Here is my experience. I am also setting up a reseller business at the moment.

Its hard hard hard to get clients, but don't let that put you off. Just think of ways to get into touch with clients. For instance, what I am doing is going through the local newspaper and looking into small companies that advertise there, but don't have websites.

I am doing website starter packs for them, ie, hosting and website for a good introductory deal. I have not done this yet, its my new years plan of action, but I figure that it will be very focused, targeted advertising that will cost me nothing more than a fax / email / letter or personal visit to them.

I think that this is a great niche because large companies don't give personal attention to small companies, so it might make them feel really special if you do approach them face to face.

Anyway, besides that, for hosting only services I think you should really be looking into automating your business as much as possible. Choose a reseller provider that offers you free CPanel, WHM, WHMCS. With these your clients can order and the software takes care of creating accounts, billing, registering domain names, etc, etc. This (I believe) is CRUCIAL because in order to make money off of $2 or $3 hosting packages you will need hundreds or probably thousands of clients. YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MANAGE 1000 CLIENTS MANUALLY!!!

John
 
thewebhostingdi said:
When you start a new business you should have enough investment & facility to support clients. If you set up a business & you get a lot of clients but if you fail to provide support then there is no meaning.
Click to expand...

Very good advise. Make sure to create a business plan that elaborates this in detail
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Forum supporters

Members recently online

Total: 17

Forum statistics

Threads
81,051
Messages
248,679
Members
20,690
Latest member
JohnMuller
Top