There are a couple of key things to look at when starting a hosting company. Basically there are
four major factors to look at provided you have the servers, and
technical abilities.
1. Site design is the first thing a
prospective customer sees!! I have seen some horrible designs for
hosting companies. If you think putting some text, links and a logo
on a page is enough, you will likely fail before you even realize.
You will also notice a lot of companies have a generic template that
can be found online at templetemonster or any other temple site.
Avoid these. It is very hard to develop a company image when you
look like 134,000 other hosting companies. I suggest put a bit of
effort and creativity into a well designed "professional" looking
home page for your company. The bottom line is a new customer will
not even consider you as their host if they feel you are an armature
no matter how great or cheap your packages are.
2. Develop
your website as a total package to it's clients. Don't just present
your hosting packages and leave it at that. Offer tutorials,
articles, support forums etc. These additional services not only
provide additional content for you clients, but if developed
correctly will bring additional traffic to your site which will
potentially lead to more sales.
3. You MUST understand how
search engines work. Over 90% of your business will likely come
directly from search engine results. Therefore, it is absolutely
essential to optimize your site for search engines. You could have
the greatest hosting plan in the entire world, but if no one knows
about it, then it’s useless. Do a search on google for Search Engine
Optimization (SEO). You will find tons of great information on how
to create a website that is both user friendly and search engine
friendly. There are also a countless number of companies out there
who offer SEO services. Just be cautious of their offers and do your
research first
4. Find your niche. The hosting business as a
whole is a huge industry which is very competitive. Your best chance
at success is to simply find a market and develop your business to
cater to that specific niche. An excellent example of this is http://elite-hosts.org/ who offer hosting and
development to those who operate online forums.
Maybe in the
early 90’s the idea of “if you build it they will come” might have
been true. But in the year 2005 the internet is a far more
competitive and complex. place To be successful today, you have to
develop a business plan which works from all angels. If you can
develop a hosting company which has a professional design, some
extra content, search engine friendly and which targets a specific
niche, you will have a far greater chance at success Of course there
are many other factors to consider as well, but if you can master
these four, everything else should fall into place |