EDIT – DIGG USERS: This was a guest post, and was not written by me. That’s my first point. Second point is that I do not host with Kiloserve, but with HostICan, and I’m on shared hosting… I never imagined how big this website would become, and am on a search for a decent VPS after you lot forced me with the numerous crashes to reconsider. As for the reason this, and a couple other posts went wild, there’s an Eastern European community that just stumbled across my website, and thought they’d surprise me by digging the posts… they did, but in an unsuspecting way :) .

Thanks for the traffic, let’s hope this doesn’t crash anymore times. Since you’re here, you might as well want to take part in my blog contest with $3,000 worth of prizes or even subscribe to the RSS feed through a reader or by email. Cheers!

Jason :)

No offence but it’s as simple as that.

I admire teenagers (including many of you) who do take the step into the on-line world, but Web Hosting is a business which you should attempt only if you are serious and only if you are not after a quick buck. Why? Because you will fail and drag your customers with you when this happens. Take a look at the Web Hosting Forum on DigitalPoint. 50% of those offering Web Hosting will be out of business in a couple of months. Out of the other 50% probably only a handful of them will survive after a year.
If you want to succeed in this industry then make sure you have the following:

  1. A Partner (at least one)
    Two bodies (and two brains) are always better than one, especially when you need to support a 24/7 market. You will be competing in a world-wide market and, believe me, you can’t stay awake 24 hours a day. Providing answers to your customers and to potential customers in a timely manner, is crucial to your success. Ideally you will be able to cover for your partner and vice-versa. Make sure one of you can sell otherwise go get a job as a tech.
  2. Capital for (at least) six months
    Web Hosting is a cut-throat business. At the beginning margins are low and profits are slim. You need to allow some time to establish yourself in the industry. You probably won’t get customers from the first day so make sure you have the cash to keep you in business until you start winning those accounts. Try to calculate your break/even point (i.e. when your expenses will equal your income) to find out how much money you need to be making each month to keep you afloat.
  3. Some knowledge of the Industry
    You need to know at least the basics of the industry like what kind of hosting exists, what people are asking for in terms of plans and what are the industry prices. Lurk around forums like Webhostingtalk.com, DigitalPoint, Namepros, to find out what people are looking for in terms of packages and what sort prices your competition is selling at. Make sure you are competitive but also make sure that you will be making a profit. Otherwise you will be part of those who fail in this industry
  4. Technical knowledge (either you or your partner)
    Most probably, if you don’t have the technical background, you won’t have the interest in this industry. In any case, you need to know a few things about the hardware and the software that you and your customers will be using. One of the most important aspects of this is being able to answer the questions of your potential customers. And when I say “you” I mean either you or your partner(s). Don’t be afraid to say “I don’t know – let me check that and get back to you” as long as you do just that. Obviously if you are selling VPS and you don’t know what a VPS is then you are not going to look credible. You also need to be able to choose wisely where you will be renting servers from (unless, like Kiloserve Web Hosting, you own the equipment and the data center :) ).
  5. Manners and professionalism
    If you can’t stop swearing at a customer (like Jason :) ) then don’t even bother getting into Web Hosting. You will be frustrated, angry and even infuriated but you need to be able to handle it. Your customer deserves what he paid for and even more if you are planning to keep him. Every now and then we see on forums chat or email extracts of angry customers complaining about their web hosts. This is very bad business which will ruin your precious reputation.
  6. Patience
    As I said earlier, you won’t be selling from the first day you go in business. You need to be patient and do everything you can to build your good reputation. If you provide a good service then people will come to you for more. Post offers on forums, do promotions, answer questions, contribute to the community and customers will eventually come.
  7. Great Support
    After everything said above, this might seem as duplication but the truth is that excellent support will set you apart from the crowd. Everyone can offer hosting but not everyone can offer outstanding support. If you want to compete and survive then this is the way to go. If you try to compete (only) on price then you’ll be part of the 50% that goes out of business within a couple of months of starting your operations.

As you might have figured, the above is not a “get rich quick” recipe (I’ll leave that to Jason and his ebooks :D ) but a great starting point for a solid business.
I am not claiming to know everything about Web-Hosting but Kiloserve is established after just a few months of operations and is growing strongly. Feel free to email me any questions – I’d be glad to help in any way I can.

xpsave[AT]kiloserve[DOT]com

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