webhosting911.net - Turnkey webhosting business for you!

So I spend last few weeks working on this web hosting idea of mine only to find out that it doesn't excite me as much as other projects I got myself involved into. Now as you know its much better to fully dedicate oneself into ONE project and do it properly than keep tossing between few of them half heartedly. Hence I am putting my webhosting startup http://www.webhosting911.net up for sale.

The business fairly new and apart from few sites of my own and some of my friends' (all to be erased before change of the ownership unless agreed with the new owner otherwise), there are no customers as yet however it is setup in a true turnkey manner using WHM and WHM Autopilot (best web hosting management soft I came across so far).

Ie. customer can choose one of the plans on offer (new plans can be designed/created to suit the new owner in a matter of minutes), proceed with the registration, pay and (if WHM Autopilot setup to auto mode) account will be created automatically on the hosting server (Thank you WHM Autopilot!). No need for much work from the owner during the registration process is there?

The cost of running this business you ask?
Well the cost are as high as you make it. For me I had a dedicated server plan in the pipeline (cost anywhere form $80 to $anythingyouwannapay per mo) + also joined (mainly to take advantage of their excellent support) a reseller program from a major web hosting company (less than $30/mo). If you were to play it save on the money side at the startup than you would perhaps consider only the reseller program until you run out of capacity right?

How does one make money?
Number of options here as you may imagine.
I was first looking into running a free web hosting and earn my $$ from displaying ads on the customers' sites. At the end I decided against this since I did want to host some quality sites and not loads of phishing/warez dudes.

Hence I changed the min plan from free to $0.5/mo (anyone at least moderately interested in owning own website should be able to show his/her dedication to pay this laughable fee) still making it one of the cheapest hosting plans around.

Another idea I had for this was engage in "webhosting arbitrage" ie. reselling the hosting plans from other reliable web hosts (with a comission or surcharge on the top of course).

Anyway I could go on with tips how to make money from webhosting website/company. If interested I will consult these with the new owner also.

How much do I sell it for?
Though question. I see the value in two main things:
- domain name: term "webhosting" gets searched about one million times each month (http://www.webconfs.com/keyword-rich-domain-suggestions.php)

- turnkey setup: while appearance and site design are based on a free template the background operation is not. WHM and WHM Autopilot are installed and preset so the new owner can start managing the business right away. While I took advantage of some free offers for both WHM and WHM Autopilot, normally one would most likely need to spend top dollar obtaining them, getting them installed and supported.

Having said all this, the price for this potentialy highly lucrative enterprise is:
BIN: $300
Min./starting bid: $99

Last note: I will help the new owner with all the necessary changeover/setup if required. I am also wiling to provide a complete "sexed up"/redesigned front end of this site however that would incur some extra cost on the top of the sale price.

Anything else I forgot, pls drop me a pm or ask here. I have nothing to hide

Good luck bidding.

jkoll

 

Hi,

Please can you set-up an account to allow people to see the front-end available to customers and the admin back-end?

Thanks

Jake

 

Hi,

thanks for your post.

Customers:
- Each customer is provided with access to his/her hosting via the latest version of cPanel software. For security reasons I will not be creating a demo account on my actual server but for all those unfamiliar with cPanel please have around this secured demo provided by the cPanel software creators (to restate the obvious: the actual cPanel interface run for my customers is identical):
cPanel demo
login info:
Username: demo
Password: demo

Business owner
- Managing the accounts/packages via WHM (WebHost Manager). Again I am not going to provide an access to this vital part of the business on a public forum If you are serious about this business and not familiar with WHM than have a peak around the web for the info about it; eg. here or here.

- Automation using WHM Autopilot. Again I have to repeat what I already said - for security reasons no demo accounts on my live server, sorry. A demo should soon be available on the Autopilot's creator's site here and once again if you are serious about this, please spare a minute and have a read of that site as, to the unfamiliar, there is lot of helpful info right there.

As the last reminder here I just want to assure all the novices out there, who may be considering getting into this exciting webhosting business:
Don't get put off by seeming complexity as the docos may suggest, its really all just point & click management software and you will get the hang of it in about 30 mins latest.

Anything else, keep me posted.

cheers

jkoll

 

Thanks for clearing that up i think I count as one of your noobs, but your links are very informative. How long does the WHM license have left on it?

Thanks

Jake

 

No problems. I should have thought of putting this info in my first post really

As stated previously, I took advantage of a deal offering the WHM and its Autopilot as addons to the mentioned webhosting reseller package. Hence as long as this business stays onboard as reseller both WHM and Autopilot license are provided with it.

And of course, should anyone need it, I can provide an assistance in order for the new owner to get a firm grip on the vital part of this business.

Thank you for your interests,

jkoll

 

That is excellent, so the current running cost is simply $30 a month, that sounds great to me. Final question, this time regarding the templates on sale. Are these unique templates, or are they being resold, and if so, what percentage profit is there?

Thanks for your time

Jake

 

Well yes. If you want to keep the cost really low than you could start off with a pure $30/mo resell package and keep adding the services/resources on as you grow.

Templates: As it stands now the webhosting911.net is an affiliate of a major template website, which is where those featured templates are coming from. The commissions from template sales are between 10-20% of the sales price. As any affiliate, its not set in stone and the new owner can keep on selling templates or use that space for anything else his/her heart desires

Anything else, pls post at will

jkoll

 

pm sent please check your inbox

 

leo777: Checked, read and replied. Anything else let me know.

 

pm sent waiting reply

 

leo777: Reply on the way

Guys I forgot to mention that I can only accept the payment via PayPal (ie. sorry no egold).

Happy bidding!

jkoll

 

To get things on the way I decided to drop the prices as follows:

BIN: $200
Starting bid: $50
Min bid increments: $3

Don't miss this opportunity. As you can see its priced well below the replacement costs!

Happy bidding

jkoll

 

I have two different parties interested in this site both starting the auction at $50 and both contacting me directly via email. While I would much prefer a bid form an established DP iTrader, I hope their intentions are crystal clear and the offers are genuine.

So we are slowly on the way:
- currently at $50
- min increments $3
- BIN $200

This auction will end in 48hrs from now and I reserve the right to accept/decline any bids made.

Moderators: I understand that receiving a "non-public" bid may look suspicious and if required I can provide copies of the received emails. Thanks.

 

Ok another bidder via pm: $53

Auction ends in less than 24hrs from now. There is no reserve so this turnkey webhosting business with prime domain name will be sold to the highest bidder!

Recap:
- min. bid increment $3
- BIN $200
- currently at $53

 

Thats it guys. Auction finished. Congratulations to the private bidder for snatching a great bargain with huge potential.

Thanks for your interest.

jkoll

 

All right back to square 1.

The private bidder has had a change of heart so this site is again on the market.

From now on I will only accept public bids here in the forum, any bids arriving in the pm I will just paste here directly myself. This is to be as much open about the bidding process as possible.

Thank you for understanding, happy bidding.