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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
About the Author
Ron is the CTO for Dice Ventures Inc an internet holdings and development company.
Some current projects include a hosting forum and a Linux forum |
