Starting a Web Hosting Business – Part 2

(Continued from Starting a Web Hosting Business – Part 1)

For part 1 we discussed the effect that your initial choice of web hosting service could have on the success of your web hosting business as well as how you should piece together the web hosting plans that you will eventually offer to your own web hosting customers. The importance of promoting your web hosting business was also discussed and how you should go about it in order to gain maximum exposure to your target audience. For part 2 we will be discussing the affect that customer service can have on your business and why it is important to keep your customers satisfied, a factor which leads on to the other two points that will be covered – web hosting service reliability and server security.

Customer Service and Support

If you wish to retain customers for the long term then you will need to make sure that your customers are satisfied with the web hosting service that they have purchased from you. The main factor that your customers are likely to judge you on is the level and friendliness of the support that you offer them when in communication; if you are able to provide your customers with a high level of customer service then they are more likely to be satisfied overall with your web hosting business.

If you are going to be offering fully managed web hosting services then it is important for you to take the support that you offer your web hosting customers seriously as by doing so you are more likely to get referred on to the friends and colleagues of your existing customers. Although when starting out it may be hard for you to offer 24×7 support as is provided by some of the bigger players in the web hosting industry, if you choose a reseller hosting provider that can offer end-user support for you then you may be able to get away with offering 24×7 support without having to put in a great deal of work yourself.

The support that you offer your web hosting customers needs to be effective and precise; this means that you need to have the knowledge and skills that will allow you to eradicate problems as they arise. Providing your web hosting customers with a precise diagnosis with the problem that has occurred is also recommended since by providing comprehensive support they are able to see your dedication to ensuring that they are kept in the loop about problems.

Reliability

Most consumers generally expect a high level of reliability from their web hosting services these days, regardless of whether they are using shared web hosting or have opted for a dedicated server hosting service. When choosing the web hosting service that you are going to use initially for your web hosting business you will need to make sure that the web hosting provider that you choose to go with can offer you reliability; if you are offered reliability then you can guarantee a certain level of uptime to your own web hosting customers.

The reliability of a web hosting service can be affected by a number of different factors ranging from the number of websites that are hosted on a single server right down to how much load a single website is putting on the web hosting server. In order for you to be able to offer a high level of reliability to your own web hosting customers it is important for you to ensure that you choose a web hosting provider that doesn’t oversell its servers; this will allow you to be sure that you can guarantee the resource assignments that you have assigned to your web hosting customers.

If you are going to use your own VPS server or dedicated server from the outset then it is important for you to choose a server hosting service that is of a high specification as by doing so will allow you to use your server for the long run meaning that there won’t be any need to upgrade for a long time to come. Using server hosting from the start also means that you can offer more flexible web hosting plans to your hosting customers featuring certain features and components that may not be available in a reseller or shared hosting environment.

Security

As well as reliability, consumers also want to be sure that their web hosting environments are secure so that the data they that they are storing in their web space can’t be compromised in any way. Hackers and spammers are becoming smarter with the methods that they are using to exploit unsecured servers and websites that use weak code; however, most web hosting providers are also securing their servers to such an extent that it is more or less impossible for hackers to gain entry using any of their current methods.

If you or your customers are planning on processing the personal data of others to any extent then it is important for you to make sure that you choose a reseller hosting service that is hosted on a PCI certified server; if you choose to use a VPS server or dedicated server then you will need to make sure that your server is secured to PCI standards and you should then pay to have a scan done to confirm that your server is secured efficiently. PCI stands for ‘Payment Card Industry’ and is a set of standards that has been put together by some of the world’s largest credit card providers to ensure a certain level of security on the internet with regards to how personal details are handled by vendors to guarantee consumer confidence.

It is important to take into consideration that if any of your servers are hacked and data is stolen then you could be held personally responsible – the same can be said for any web hosting provider you may be using for your own web hosting services. This is why it is important to ensure a high level of security but at the same time you don’t want to go too far by offering such a secure hosting environment that not everything can function as it should; in effect you need to be able to strike the right balance between security and functionality.

In conclusion, starting a web hosting business can provide you with a decent long-term income if you go about it properly and put your customers first over making money. It is important to remember that most businesses make a loss in the first year meaning that you shouldn’t be too disheartened if this happens. Offering reliable and secure web hosting packages using a reseller hosting package or server hosting service doesn’t have to be hard; on the other hand, offering a high level of customer service is only something that you can do yourself meaning that it is up to you to make sure that you have the right attitude towards customers.