Starting my own web hosting company

[avi]

I am thinking to start my own web hosting company. And I'd like to start small. I already have got a Dedi & a VPS, installed CentOS 32bit & started learning. However I find it too hard. So I have decided to go with reseller hosting in beginning. Once I learn, I can provide dedi.

But I have to make a wise choice here. Indian hosting companies are (in)famous for providing not-so-good service. So if I decide to provide great support, then I have to keep high pricing.

HostGator has the top notch service & they charge 4000 INR / year, with their basic plan with a .com domain. Though they provide unlimited space & bandwidth, but it's not in reality. And they come with restrictions too.

On other hand, one of the cheapest available hosting provider are HostSo. They charge 967 INR for their basic plan + .com domain. But they are so so famous for being worst. Their 200GB space is a big joke. There could be few satisfied customers, but no. of angry are lot more. And their tech support is, youknowwhat.

The saying, you get what you pay for is exactly right.

But I don't want to charge high prices for hosting. So I was thinking to give cheap hosting [somewhat hostso charges] but no support. It must be surprising for you guys when I say No Support. But sometimes I think, do I need really support ? I am with hostgator from past one year. Only once in beginning I contacted them. And NEVER !

If I provide 99.99% uptime & provide support in beginning like domain registration / nameservers etc, but with cheap hosting. And I will be totally providing support for server side errors.

This kinda of hosting for tech savvys & nerds who know how to handle their stuffs. Who already have a hosting experience but need good hosting at low prices.

So what do you say guys ? Thanks for reading

[Choto Cheeta]

Basic question is not those which you have written.. Since like a car buyer, its not always about choice its about need also...

You have people waiting to buy Nano, and may be yards from there you may find some people in waiting to buy their BMW.. Where as in just opposite direction, some dude may be taking quotation for a TATA 18 wheel truck :P

Both is vehicle, both is sold via dealer and serviced via their service network but those who comes buy, they have different need..

Similar for web hosting also..

Snapdeal and ebay is a website so is this chip forum so would be a personal blog too. But when you look at their individual requirement, all looks towards completely different support / feature, some would look for as cheap as possible some would say price no bar but need trust, need good reviews and need personal connection with the company..

First please be sure what type of customer you are targeting, then look into your start up as whether you have funding to cope up with the needs of those customer and compete with present competition or not.

[Quazar]

Cheap prices without support dosent seem to be good idea.
You at least need live chat.

[avi]

Snapdeal and ebay is a website so is this chip forum so would be a personal blog too. But when you look at their individual requirement, all looks towards completely different support / feature, some would look for as cheap as possible some would say price no bar but need trust, need good reviews and need personal connection with the company..

First please be sure what type of customer you are targeting, then look into your start up as whether you have funding to cope up with the needs of those customer and compete with present competition or not.

Thanks for replying My problem is targeting the correct customers. If all n00bs start signing up then I will be in big trouble because of no. of tickets they gonna generate :P

My aim is to provide best possible hosting, with reliable & fast servers at cheap price.

Cheap prices without support dosent seem to be good idea.
You at least need live chat.

Most of the web hosts with cheap pricing, provide bad support :P

[ander]

I doubt there'll be lots of people in your niche. Even tech savvy folk like to be sure that if something goes wrong, they can count on you to get things working again.

[avi]

^I agree with you

Lets divide problems into two categories
Problem created from user end & can be resolved from user itself
Problem from sever end & cannot be solved by users

My idea is to provide support for 2nd kind ;)

[coolpcguy]

And most hosts provide support for server side issues, not on issues arising from users mucking up their CMS. Still don't understand your niche. If people know about things, they won't come to shared hosts. They'll skip to a VPS directly.

[avi]

You do have a point. But would you go for VPS for a simple blog which requires just 200-250 MB ?

[coolpcguy]

I use a cheap VPS for my ultra-low-view blog http://sathyabh.at + the static website http://sbhat.me & another small stuff. VPS isn't as expensive as everyone thinks. https://securedragon.net/openvz.php I use the O96B plan.

[avi]

They have killer plans. ! Moreover their shared hosting are costlier than VPS

Some other cheaper VPS alternatives :
http://www.minivps.co.uk/
http://tinyvz.com/
http://buyvm.net/

Suggest a VPS when someone looking for a blog, you will know what I am talking about :P