Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Ways to Profit from Web Hosting

By Matt Hedges

Web hosting is a vital business that many companies embark on world-wide and enjoy a good profit from. There are many ways for a web hosting company to expand its operations and create even more income from their one single business. Web hosting itself requires some investment in equipment and space. Once that is acquired it makes sense to make the best use of it possible to generate as much income as the potential for it allows. Various ways to earn extra income are actively sought out in this very competitive industry.

There are ample opportunities which the web hosts can utilize if they have the provisions for it. Such services can not only increase their income but also develops a better relation with the customers.

Below are some of the methods that can help the web hosts to make money.

Extra Ways to Earn Money with a Web Hosting Service

Reselling: This is a very popular method of creating extra income that does not require much effort. A web master buys a hosting package at a discount and resells it at a higher price. Sound simple? Both the web master, and the web host makes money on the proposition and everybody is happy. Large amounts of income are created with this method and some web masters make a great deal of money fast with this method. It isn't quite as easy as it sounds, however. First, there is an initial investment to be made and the only return is if you are successful in reselling the service. Some space is required and that like is provided for a small business isn't enough. A web master needs to acquire enough space and bandwidth to begin the service. After the acquisition of the space is acquired they can sell it to other users in broken up portions. Each new customer pays them on a monthly basis. The procedure then repeats over and over.

Resellers can make money just like that of the original service provider. The monthly fees of the customers would get into the pocket of the reseller. The reseller won't have to take the trouble of investing in the equipment or IT staff. They are paid by the customers for setting up the accounts. When a reseller purchases server space from the original service provider, he/ she is offered say ex: 10% discount. Now, the profit of the reseller would be determined by the number of server space in lends and also on the size of the spaces.

Resellers are always in an advantageous position as they do not have to provide technical support as a package. However, there are some companies, with the wake of stiff competition, provides technical support. Reselling operations are usually small and can be operated from the home itself if the resellers can manage a large investment amount. But several companies are growing at a faster pace in this business and are providing ample services to outshine in the industry.

Advertisement: Free web hosting allows a web host to earn from advertising. Since this service is rendered free to the clients, the web hosts what to use the websites of the client for advertisement purposes. These kinds of options are limited as only small businesses and beginners opt for free hosting services. Thus making lots of money with this service is logically not possible.

More Services for Making Money:

* Optimization: This can be a useful service to provide extra income for a web host. Clients are often unfamiliar with methods used to generate more traffic-but they know they want the traffic. Since they don't know how to get the traffic a web host can give them information on SEO (search engine optimization). Clients then can be given the top search engines and the host can charge a fee for submitting URLs to the most popular ones. The most often submitted engines are Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.

Offer website templates: Those web hosts who are established in their fields can increase their monthly income from the profession by providing low price services to the clients. These incomes are more like top ups and can also increase the reputation of the company. The web hosts can offer clients to purchase their website templates. Companies can also provide clients TemplateMonster.Com and earn more per sale basis.

* Selling domain names: Selling domain names to customers can is a great way to earn extra money. Web hosts who do not offer this are missing out on a large portion of their possible income. Registration for the transfer of a domain name, as well as the original registration of the name can definitely make money for a web host. There are many private domain name companies to work with to provide this service.

Site Builder tools: If one can provide their clients with website related offers and techniques to build a better website, then customers will always appreciate such offers and would like to obtain them from the web hosts. Web hosts can act as one stop shop for the companies in providing all the necessary kits that they require for developing a website. Templates, font, pre build graphics, and customization etc. can always earn some extra profit for the web hosts.

Avoid Overselling:

No matter what method is adopted for web hosting money making, it has to be remembered that there is no overselling. This is such a situation where a web host offers space to large number of clients but ultimately fails to retain the service. Too many clients using limited space can be a dangerous situation where there is a high chance for the entire system to crash along with the business of the web hosts. Too many web hosts cannot simply sustain simultaneously in a single server. The bandwidth and the space of the server have to be judged beforehand. The reputation of a hosting company depends on these factors to a large extent.

Web hosting is often a legitimate and profitable technique of earning money online. The nature and type of service however, depends on the knowledge of the host along with the equipment and programs he/she has access to. It is advisable that a web hot begins with a small business and then process to a large one with time.

About the Author:

No comments: