I always start websites about things I like and this time I am thinking about a webhosting related website. The thing is, I know almost nothing about the market... of course I have a good knowlege of the subject but would like to have your thoughts experiences on some points: - how is the competition in that market - what are the most common / successful business models in this market (how do people make money from this kind of sites: affiliates, adsense, links, sponsored articles...) - who will read my articles (experienced webmasters, non tech savvy people, people from south asia or USA, should I have it in english or another language...) - should I rely on SEO or try to drive social traffic - how / where should I promote the website - should it be informative, interactive / a blog, static pages - should I talk about webhosting in general or focus on some hosts - An so on... I would really appreciate your input especially if you already own a webhosting realted website or have run one in the past thx
Not sure that a webhosting company/provider would come and give you blueprints to how they are successful However I WILL say that ALL your points above are important, and you should utilize them all if you can. It's too late to wonder about market research or product research, that should have been step 1 not the final one... Research your competitors yourself and you'll find out way more than asking them for it directly. Another way would be to sign up as an affiliate to a very successful hosting company and see how they work, what they offer as marketing material, read company news, etc. Competitive intelligence is probably your best route right now. Best of luck with biz, Norb.
Hmm thx. Will try some of your tips but I really don't know how they can still make money while paying $100 to affiliates and only charging about $7 for 300Gb space and unlimited features
I think they expect a long-term relationship with their customers. $7/month times 2 years = $168. If they customers stays hosted there for 4 years at that price it's $336. Bandwidth and storage costs are minimal on the average account for larger hosting companies that buy in bulk, so the profit margins are still really good after paying out that one-time bonus to an affiliate.
This means you can't go into that business if you can't buy in bulk since your costs will be too high, right? Do you have an idea about the standards when it come to the cost of a Gig of space or a TB transfer?