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
3. 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.
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.
