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Guide: run a free hosting business

Discussion in 'General Business' started by vbn, Jan 11, 2014.

  1. #1
    Hello all,

    here is a guide on how to run a free hosting business.
    I will cover ways to provide the service, advertising your website and monetization.

    Hope you will like it.


    Running an hosting business may sound like a complicated task, you may thing you need system admin experience, in fact it isn't and there are online services and tools that will help you and make your life easier.


    HOW TO PROVIDE FREE HOSTING

    You can provide free hosting in two different ways: using a third party service or using your own hosting.

    Using third party services means reselling free hosting services of other companies. There are hosting companies that allow you to resell free hosting, to name a few byethost, resellercluster, myownfreehost, youhosting.

    You create an account with them for free or paying a monthly fee (they may have different plans) and they provide you all the tools to offer free hosting to your users.

    This way is the simpliest to start a free hosting business because you have all the tools already setup by the company you use. But it is even the more limiting model because you have less freedom and you have to meet all the company requirements and rules to continue working.


    The second way is to use your own hosting, here you have more freedom and you only have to make sure you respect the rules of the hosting company where you get hosting.

    You can run your free hosting website in a shared/reseller hosting plan or in a VPS/dedicated server.

    If you decide to use a shared service make sure the hosting company where you buy allows free hosting services, many don't allow it. Choose a company that allows unlimited subdomains and even unlimited addon domains.

    A reseller hosting plan is better than shared hosting plan because you will have all the tools to resell hosting and the only difference is that you offer it for free. Even with reseller plans read the TOS of the hosting company because many don't allow free hosting services on their plans. when selecting a reseller hosting provider make sure that they allow overselling so you will be able to host many more free accounts.

    If you have server administration experience you are better to buy a vps or dedicated server and use it to offer your services. You have total control over the server and you can setup everything to meet your needs. With dedicated servers usually there are no problems in offering free hosting services but still make sure it is allowed by your hosting provider.



    ADVERTISING

    You can get free traffic or paid traffic to your free hosting website

    Directories
    Almost any general directory has a computer/technology/internet category with a web hosting sub category, submit your site in these directories and you will get free targeted links and traffic.
    Even better are niche directories and portals that lists freebies, webmaster resources and hosting services.

    Forums
    Forum marketing can be effective for this kind of business, there are a lot of hosting and webmaster forums and the forum where we are now is a big example. Always advertise your service without spamming and writing usefull posts.

    Blogs
    Post relevant comments on blogs related to hosting and webmaster resources.

    Social networks
    Create pages on biggest social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ and make some social marketing.

    Paid advertising
    Buying ads, for example using adwords, will give you high quality targeted traffic but can be expensive if you don't have a good experience in PPC marketing.




    MONETIZATION

    Ads on your website
    Put ads on your website, you can advertise hosting or related web services affiliate programs, you can use PPC like adsense

    Upgrades
    Offer paid hosting to users that need more resources to their websites.

    Ads on user websites
    Put ads on websites hosted with you. Today many free hosting providers offers ads free services so you can lose many signups if you choose to put ads on users websites.

    Related services
    You can offer related services to your users, for example you can sell domains, offer website development, webmarketing services and more.

    Sell your website
    When you have an established free web hosting website you can try to sell it to hosting companies.


    Let me know if you like this guide and if you have questions

    Thanks
     
    vbn, Jan 11, 2014 IP
  2. kantus

    kantus Well-Known Member

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    #2
    I just want to note that while a reseller plan is usually the better option, one should always check the terms/AUP of the provider to see if they allow free hosting services to be offered under their reseller plans. I know of many hosting providers who do not permit free hosting services as it usually leads to abuse since the service is free.
     
    kantus, Jan 11, 2014 IP
  3. vbn

    vbn Well-Known Member

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    #3
    yes right, a good idea is to contact the host provider if the TOS doesn't mention free hosting services
     
    vbn, Jan 11, 2014 IP
  4. WingedHosting

    WingedHosting Peon

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    #4
    ^This above, most won't allow it. You should also note the cost will be ~20 a month for a decent reseller plan.
     
    WingedHosting, Jan 14, 2014 IP
  5. jhalrem

    jhalrem Active Member

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    #5
    jhalrem, Jan 18, 2014 IP
  6. onlineaholic

    onlineaholic Peon

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    #6
    Is this your website?

    I agree with Kantus, anything that is free - there is always a great chance of getting abused.
     
    onlineaholic, Jan 21, 2014 IP
  7. jhalrem

    jhalrem Active Member

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    #7
    It's a reselling business wherein you will be reseller of web hosting packages. Not everything that is for free will be abused. For instance, the web hosting I have right now comes with free domain as long as you sign up for their service. I'd like to call the free domain as add-on value. Peace!
     
    jhalrem, Jan 22, 2014 IP