Blog Home Page

How to start a web hosting company

By: admin

So you’re looking to start a web hosting company? Starting to research is the best way to get started and this article will run you through what you need to know to start a web hosting company using the UptimeHost Clustered Cloud-based web hosting service.

We’re going to keep it simple so that you don’t get overwhelmed. The truth is, if you have never done this before, you need to start thinking small and focus on the little details. A common mistake that is made by those looking to start a web hosting company is thinking they’ll get rich overnight — don’t be fooled. You could easily make this your full time job or more, but it requires patience, determination and some business sense.

Here’s a quick run down of what you need when starting a web hosting company:

Hosting Infrastructure
Here’s my plug! Sign up with us, UptimeHost! Our specialty is providing web hosting companies the infrastructure to run their business. Our Clustered Cloud-based web hosting service allows you to take advantage of a robust & scalable infrastructure, which will allow you to grow as you need, avoiding money wasted due to unusable resources. You only pay more, when you use more. Also, because of our unique technology, you do not have to worry about migrating from a reseller hosting account to a dedicated server and then to co-location. You’re able to grow your business with us on a single platform.We manage the infrastructure and act as your system administrators, you focus on building your business, supporting your customers and best of all, collecting money.

Professional Company Web Site
Hire a web designer to create you a UNIQUE web site that stands out from the rest of the competition. Creating a site that looks similar to your competitors does not help you in the long run. You may also be able to find web hosting design templates to help you get started.

Billing Software
Other than having the infrastructure to host your customers on, this is probably the next most important detail to starting a web hosting company. This is pretty much the life line of your entire business, it’s the thing that processes payments, provisions accounts, suspends accounts, etc. Some popular billing scripts that can be downloaded and purchased for reasonable monthly payments are Modernbill, ClientExec, WHM Auto Pilot and WHMCS. When using our web hosting infrastructure, you can integrate the server setup to any of those billing systems by using the WHM API.

Payment Gateway
Accepting payments online for a web hosting company is absolutely 100% mandatory, that is if you wish to be successful. Usually there are two ways to collect money online, the first being a Merchant Account, and the second being PayPal.Some Merchant Account providers are: PSIGate, InternetSecure, 2CheckOut, CCAvenue, Authorize.net and WorldPay.

Support System
A web hosting company must provide technical support, it’s a must. Simple e-mail won’t do and it is not recommended. You have to stay organized and be able to track incidents quickly and efficiently to reduce response times and the number of frustrated customers. A proper support system should include an e-mail/web-based ticketing system and an easy to use Knowledgebase system.Some popular support scripts are: Kayako eSupport, Cereberus, PerlDesk and DeskPro. Also, some billing systems come with built-in support systems. However, if you expect volume, I strongly suggest using a purpose-built system. UptimeHost uses Kayako eSupport.

Marketing
This is fundamental to any business really. Once everything is setup, it’s recommended that you spend a few dollars on establishing some precense on the world wide web. If people can’t find you, they can’t buy your service. Create reasonable packages that are competitive and use the following methods to market your business:

  • Submit your web site to the major search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc)
  • Submit your web site to directories (DMOZ, etc)
  • Buy advertising on popular web hosting/webmaster/web design related web sites.
  • Sign up to different webmaster forums and insert your signature with a link to your hosting company. Try to avoid spamming the forums, just be helpful to others.
  • Sign up for PPC advertising – Google Adwords, Yahoo Search Marketing, etc.

That’s all there really is to starting a web hosting company. I hope that this article has shed some light and has helped you in your journey to become the Internet’s newest web host!

Best of luck and we hope to see you on the Cloud!

January 3, 2009 | Filed Under Help Guides

1 Comment 

Comments

One Response to “How to start a web hosting company”

  1. John S on January 7th, 2009 9:26 am

    Another tool I see used at several hosting companies is HelpSpot (http://www.userscape.com/products/helpspot/). I’m also surprised you didn’t mention having a blog in your marketing section since this is one! I think that’s a very important feature for any company starting out.

Leave a Reply