Starting a web hosting business - thoughts?

[Jimmy]

Hi all,

It has always been an interest in mine to start my own web hosting & development business. If I were to do this I would probably have the following services:

Web Hosting
Custom Websites
Search Engine Optimization
Website Management​

With that being said - have any of you done this? and what were your pros/cons on creating your own web hosting company? I know that obviously there are 100s out there that are highly successful, but I would also like to have one in my area that I could grow in my local region. I think that it is something that a lot of business owners would use out here especially if I could provide decent pricing. My plan was to get a dedicated server or VPS, purchase a cPanel / WHM license too.

I just wanted to get some opinions from different people that may have done this before. Thanks in advance!

 

[meetdilip]

Web Hosting is like forums. If you start them as a standalone, these days it is hard.

 

[Jimmy]

What are you referring to as far as "stand alone"? Like just offer web hosting?

 

[meetdilip]

Yes, there are too many big players around.

 

[Jimmy]

Yes, there are too many big players around.

Yeah I can understand that. That's why I was hoping to incorporate a couple different services as well. I'll probably have to eat some of the cost at first, but it might help it pick up easier.

 

[Kale]

Web Hosting is like forums. If you start them as a standalone, these days it is hard.

Agreed. It's very hard to start a web hosting thing nowadays. Forums are rough as it is, cannot imagine this. I say if you wanna go for it, then go for it.

 

[Jimmy]

Agreed. It's very hard to start a web hosting thing nowadays. Forums are rough as it is, cannot imagine this. I say if you wanna go for it, then go for it.

Appreciate the feedback. I'm still open to all options. But I want to do something web related.

 

[Ravenfreak]

Even if it may be tough, if you're very passionate about starting a hosting business then I say go for it. You never know if it'll be a success until you give it a shot!

 

[Katrina]

My brother-in-law does web hosting along with web design and marketing and attends a lot of trade shows to boost himself. Is that something you're willing to do to get some big clients?

 

[Jimmy]

My brother-in-law does web hosting along with web design and marketing and attends a lot of trade shows to boost himself. Is that something you're willing to do to get some big clients?

That's cool! Yeah, I'm up for whatever it takes. I am willing to go all in on a company that I can create to help with side income. Web related things have always been a passion of mine.

 

[Deleted member 17779]

Yeah I can understand that. That's why I was hoping to incorporate a couple different services as well. I'll probably have to eat some of the cost at first, but it might help it pick up easier.

Offering services that others in the field don't have already may help you reach your audience and get customers.

 

[Kale]

If this does end up happening, you should also share here on FP and other similar forums and sites. Might be your audience right there.

 

[Jimmy]

If this does end up happening, you should also share here on FP and other similar forums and sites. Might be your audience right there.

Appreciate the advice. I will for sure advertise on here and probably give a discount to FP users. FP has been good to me over the years.

 

[Nomad]

I have been brooding over starting my reseller hosting for a long time but have not started yet because I am not sure if I can profit from the trade.

 

[Jimmy]

I have been brooding over starting my reseller hosting for a long time but have not started yet because I am not sure if I can profit from the trade.

Yeah. I feel like at first profits wouldn't be much. But it could turn into something bigger!

 

[Allegrits]

What are the security measures and server backup protocols?

 

[Cam]

@Jimmy, did you ever pull the trigger on this project? Maybe we could partner up! 🙂

 

[Ghost]

For years I tried to "just be a host", but I never made more than $5-10 per client. The way I made the most money "as a host" (quotes intentional) is by using hosting as an upsell for my development services, not as a primary service. When I ran my agency (we ran for almost 5 years) we would offer discounts. For example if a service was $55/hr, we would offer it at $35-45/hr for hosting customers. We also always did our hosting contracts for 6-12 months, and it was managed / premium hosting, so we'd charge anywhere from $40-100/mo for hosting. So we'd get let's say $480 - 1200 for a year of hosting from a customer. Now, was it worth it for the hourly rates? Probably not, but you can look at it more like "the rate is $45 and we'll increase it to $55 for a non-host customer" rather than a discount for the hosted client.

At the company I am currently at (I sold my agency few years ago) we do hosting, but only if client wants it. It's not worth it for us to really go after clients. The rates are $120-200/hr at this company which is much higher. The hosting plans are usually $100-300/mo for these clients, but many of them use Vercel or others and pay as high as $1500-5000/mo (enterprise hosting).

All in all, what I'll say is this - Make hosting one of your upsells, not your main business. That's just my opinion though - happy to help you get started if you want more info.

 

[Nosotremo]

As a hosting client, saving one or two dollars per month is not worth the loss of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars when your site goes down.

 

[Jimmy]

@Jimmy, did you ever pull the trigger on this project? Maybe we could partner up! 🙂

Sorry, I didn't see that you ever replied to this message. I haven't pulled the trigger yet but I am still interested in possibly doing it. I would need help with names, as I am not very creative when it comes to that. If you are still interested in partnering on it let me know.

For years I tried to "just be a host", but I never made more than $5-10 per client. The way I made the most money "as a host" (quotes intentional) is by using hosting as an upsell for my development services, not as a primary service. When I ran my agency (we ran for almost 5 years) we would offer discounts. For example if a service was $55/hr, we would offer it at $35-45/hr for hosting customers. We also always did our hosting contracts for 6-12 months, and it was managed / premium hosting, so we'd charge anywhere from $40-100/mo for hosting. So we'd get let's say $480 - 1200 for a year of hosting from a customer. Now, was it worth it for the hourly rates? Probably not, but you can look at it more like "the rate is $45 and we'll increase it to $55 for a non-host customer" rather than a discount for the hosted client.

At the company I am currently at (I sold my agency few years ago) we do hosting, but only if client wants it. It's not worth it for us to really go after clients. The rates are $120-200/hr at this company which is much higher. The hosting plans are usually $100-300/mo for these clients, but many of them use Vercel or others and pay as high as $1500-5000/mo (enterprise hosting).

All in all, what I'll say is this - Make hosting one of your upsells, not your main business. That's just my opinion though - happy to help you get started if you want more info.

I appreciate your insight and advise on it. One of my main ideas was to offer different services as well - web development & design, SEO, etc. Thanks for the reply!

As a hosting client, saving one or two dollars per month is not worth the loss of a few hundred or a few thousand dollars when your site goes down.

I'm not sure really how to respond to this message. I feel like majority of the time now a days, sites don't typically just "go down". I wouldn't pick the worst place to host the business obviously.. Kind of an ignorant response on your end, in my opinion. Thanks though.