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I'm thinking of starting a webhosting business. Advise?

Discussion in 'Web Hosting' started by D_C, Nov 30, 2009.

  1. zoneweb

    zoneweb Peon

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    #21
    Wishing you success in your endeavor.
     
    zoneweb, Dec 1, 2009 IP
  2. alex288288

    alex288288 Well-Known Member

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    #22
    its people like you that has a bad atitude and just wants money


    "overselling" is very popular in the hosting biz. and there isnt really a way to find out if your hosting provider is doing that, but if your a new person starting a webhost business, you cant get that idea that you will make alot of money by overselling and offering unlimited stuff this and that,

    webhosting is a serious thing, almost everyone needs it. and anyone on the web needs a webhost. just my opinion on that one. thank you
     
    alex288288, Dec 1, 2009 IP
  3. D_C

    D_C Well-Known Member

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    #23
    I agree with you fully alex. I plan on being a quality host. I will NOT oversell. I'll work my way up from reselling to ending with a dedicated server. Any suggestions for a good reseller account? I'm thinking about godaddy but people have been knocking them around these parts.

    I'll do some research. Thanks everyone for the friendly advice!
     
    D_C, Dec 1, 2009 IP
  4. alex288288

    alex288288 Well-Known Member

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    #24
    Well if your looking for reseller account. i would look carefully, i was with a reseller at one point and was great for about 6 months. but they went down and lost ALL my data, and customers data gone too. was horrible.

    just do your alot of research and make sure you find some reviews and really read them! a lot of bad reviews and up being stupid ones and are automatically considered a bad company. i cant really recommend a good Reseller unfortunately . but like i said if you search and find a decent named company that knows what they are doing then you will be more happy then paying someone 5 dollars for outrageous features that prob seem unrealistic

    hope this helps!
     
    alex288288, Dec 1, 2009 IP
  5. Vinsar

    Vinsar Active Member

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    #25
    Overselling is not that bad as you mentioned, all the big names are doing that, do you think HostGator is bad? Are all these telcos bad, they are overselling too? Are all the roads sufficient enough for all the population, what if every one is using them at the same moment? Is internet not oversold? Are IPs not oversold?

    What matter is how you plan it, what matter is how much are you overselling. Tell me can you host 400 sites on a 100 Mbps pipe without overselling that pipe? People think it's space/bandwidth that is being oversold.

    The reason I mentioned overselling is as OP seems to be sound technically but not business wise but he needs to make money. By overselling allowed on a reseller account does not mean that resources can't be delivered as promised. In an oversold reseller account you are limited to actual usage not actual sold, and if and when the need arise OP can always upgrade to higher plan.

    Even a single script can bring down a monster server crashing, so will you continue providing a cluster of servers at the price of shared hosting to the client in the name of quality? You need to oversell to make money but you have to manage everything in a proper manner, you have to be ready to provide the promised resources without affecting the quality.

    @ D_C, I will give you simple example of how overselling works, say you have a 10Gb space & 100 Gb traffic reseller account, now if you create 1Gb/10Gb plan, without overselling you will be able to sell only 10 accounts. Now for that reseller account you are paying say $30, and charging $3 for shared plans, will you be able to make money, so to earn profit either you raise your price or oversell, if you are to raise the price will people buy from you, on the other hand if you sell 15 or 20 accounts considering not every one is using 1 Gb/10Gb you will be making some profit without compromising on quality. Yes if some one is going to sell 100s of those plans on the same allocation it will no doubt create havoc. So think about it, plan properly and be ready for providing quality while making profit.

    @ alex288288, you accused me directly without knowing me and my services. Just for your information, I am in this hosting business for last 10 years and not a single client left me because of quality or price. If you visit my domain that is there in my signature you will see that I don't even have a full blown website but I do have thousands of clients and hundreds of resellers hosted on several servers. And all that without a single advertisement, I never had a client from a forum and I had never asked any one across the forums to contact me. So next time before accusing some one, better know them properly and try to understand what is being said.
     
    Vinsar, Dec 2, 2009 IP
  6. WebIntellects - Rob

    WebIntellects - Rob Active Member

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    #26
    Reseller account is the simplest way to get started and get ahead on this.
    Just make sure you have reseller company which provide support for your end users
     
    WebIntellects - Rob, Dec 2, 2009 IP
  7. alex288288

    alex288288 Well-Known Member

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    #27
    @ Vinsar

    i just want to say sorry for accusing you of anything but, that was not my intention at all. Im not accusing you of overselling or anything like that, I'm just meaning; telling somone who is new to the webhosting, should not get the idea of overselling is the way to do business. its bad protocol, its just dirty to do and almost everybody does it yes, but if your not careful your clients will notice it and start having problems. IE: web space limits.
     
    alex288288, Dec 2, 2009 IP
  8. Vinsar

    Vinsar Active Member

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    #28
    Alex you don't have to be sorry, discussion forums are here to discuss matters to reach the right point.

    Like in this thread your input made a significant difference. Initially I just mentioned the overselling and not how to do it the proper way, but only after your post I decided to explain how well planned overselling can benefit OP without compromising with quality.

    So if OP is reading all these comments, he will be knowing enough to do a proper research on this subject before going through route.
     
    Vinsar, Dec 2, 2009 IP
  9. iama_gamer

    iama_gamer Active Member

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    #29
    If your planning to get a reseller pack and it offers unlimited everything then it most definitely is reselling! Even worse are unlimited alpha master resellers. I mean its a bad way to do business and ul most probably have to ban the user if he gets say 100 users under his reseller account!

    I would suggest if getting a reseller account get one that specifies the exact amount of space alloted. And make sure your clients know the tos. Most companies suspend accounts that use up more than 10% of the cpu and some such other rules.

    As for VPS , VPS too are bing oversold. And be careful that you buy from reputed companies. Too many fly by night hosts right now.

    And also remember : if its too good to be true then it probably isnt! just my 2 cents
     
    iama_gamer, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  10. toxicdav3

    toxicdav3 Peon

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    #30
    Everyone oversells in one form or another. Its the hosts offering thousands of gb or "unlimited" everything for a low price that often have a bad service/rep. Most websites don't use over 1gb disk space or 10gb bandwidth and most customers just don't understand.
     
    toxicdav3, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  11. ~ServerPoint~

    ~ServerPoint~ Banned

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    #31
    Learn the market first. There is very high competition there. So double check and make sure if you need that or not...
     
    ~ServerPoint~, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  12. theapparatus

    theapparatus Peon

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    #32
    Amazed no one has suggested talking to an attorney or incorporating their business. In today's sue happy world, it's a requirement.
     
    theapparatus, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  13. Vinsar

    Vinsar Active Member

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    #33
    That is a good point though a legal side of a business.

    But will a startup would be able to afford an attorney.
     
    Vinsar, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  14. alex288288

    alex288288 Well-Known Member

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    #34
    Well depending how much you want to invest i guess, some have lawyers out every which way. some just go off pure luck. its up to you really
     
    alex288288, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  15. theapparatus

    theapparatus Peon

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    #35
    Can they afford not to? First server or network crash and the threats start flying.
     
    theapparatus, Dec 3, 2009 IP
  16. D_C

    D_C Well-Known Member

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    #36
    I still deem overselling unethical. Most people use less than 1GB of disk space (as stated), so I see no reason why a host should lie to their customers. I think part of it is that people are stupid when it comes to purchasing hosting.

    "Why get the 500mb plan for $2 when i can get 10GB for $3!"

    I don't know maybe because unless you are hosting an article or news website you will be lucky to get into the 100's of MBs. Otherwise you just encourage overselling.
     
    D_C, Dec 12, 2009 IP
  17. njoker555

    njoker555 Notable Member

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    #37
    There are different levels of overselling. On a reseller account, it's MUCH easier to upgrade your space limits than on a dedicated server. If you have a reseller plan with let's say 5gb space and you sell 5 accounts with 1gb each and they all use up a total of 500mb, you would have to oversell and sell a 6th or 7th account with 1gb space. But it's easier to upgrade here than on a dedicated where you have to take the server down and install a new hard drive which can take several hours to implement everything.

    As for the logic you used about the 500mb and 10gb with a $1 difference, it's true that most people think the more space you have the better but these people usually learn the hard way that you can't really get the whole world for a few bucks. Can't change the way people see thing sometimes, you have to allow them to see it themselves.

    Other than that, I'm with you about overselling being unethical, but again, you have to look at what part is being oversold.
     
    njoker555, Dec 12, 2009 IP
  18. alex288288

    alex288288 Well-Known Member

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    #38
    thats a good point Njoker, its true it is much easier to oversell and "get away with it" with a reseller account then a dedicated server.

    but just make sure you do your math on that. if your overselling hard drive space that can be bad. BUT the odds of the avrg user using say 1 GB of hard drive space is kinds slim i think. unless the site is huge.

    just my opninon and figured id say that's a good point he pointed out.
     
    alex288288, Dec 12, 2009 IP
  19. D_C

    D_C Well-Known Member

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    #39
    I see where you are all coming from. It looks like there is a tactic to doing it as not to be harmful to the clients. Some people just fail at it.
     
    D_C, Dec 12, 2009 IP
  20. njoker555

    njoker555 Notable Member

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    #40
    A lot more than "some" fail because these people just go into the business of trying to make short term profit. Then when they reach their goal, they just run. Then the client is left with the feeling of negativity towards new hosts and oversellers.

    That's why any one looking for a host should do research before moving forward, and ask questions, sadly most people just go for the best looking deals. That's where your earlier point about the $1 difference comes into play.
     
    njoker555, Dec 12, 2009 IP