How to start selling hosting

OmniSlash

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How I start to sell hosting?

Before answering this question we must clarify some points:

• The hosting is not a gold mine in which you invest little money and time, and running on autopilot, you become rich in less than a year. Take off that idea from your head if you have one. This will lead to failure. This is an expensive, arduous and sometimes disappointing work, but very rewarding when you go through the correct lane. Remember ... "Patience is a bitter tree roots and sweet fruits".

• You need to have time to invest. The capital is necessary, but the ability to fully exploit the resources that can possess is also necessary. This can make you save a few dollars then you will need.

• You will provide a service. Never forget that. Many are tired of how we treat mobile phone companies or Internet providers. It seems they do not care about the customer, which after all, is the engine of the company. Never lose sight of this: No customers, no business. Treat them like gold because in fact they are.

• I Think three or four times before embarking. Think if you have time, knowledge, money, desire, etc ..

I already clarified most importantly, let us continue:

1) Know

So simple and yet so important. How will you sell something you do not know what it is? Learn as much as you can. Read a lot, pay close attention. The hosting is a multi disciplinal entrepreneurship. You need to know many things. Namely:

• Having some knowledge in server administration (More than anything related to hosting. You can leave the administration to another person or the same company that will initially provide your space, but can not fail to know how your system. A thorough knowledge Control panel necessary, eg.)

• Have knowledge in business administration. Customer Management (Communication, Billing), etc ..

• Knowledge of the tax and legal system of their country. This is important. We can avoid many conflicts later.

• Basic knowledge in web design (HTML at least) is always welcome. Basic operation of DreamWeaver or any web editor.

2) Create a business plan

Important.

A business plan, basically, is to translate intentions into a document you have with your future business. Examples:

• A market that will point
• How am I going to enter the initial funds?
• What will be my method of promotion?
• What is the purpose of my company?
• Plans for the short, medium and long term
• Planning costs
• Etc

A business plan well armed can be the difference between success and failure.
There are many articles online that explain this in detail. Maybe in the future I create one, but for now, take this as an introduction and expand it.

3) Make a market study.

Now you know what you need to know. It has all that information and ideas in the head and is ready to begin. How to follow then? Well, it's time to analyze where you stand.

Already know to market points? Will you sell hosting at close range or will target a specific market (eg. Hosting for forums)? Who are your closest competitors? What they have in common and that their sites differ? What does the buying the service you offer? What can differentiate you above the rest? Do you offer any specific service you do not have? If so, why?

Study the market is for me, studying the competition and see how to adapt your business plan to market demands in which you want to insert. A question that can help you is why would someone buy me me and not another?

4) Create the structure of your company

It is important to base or structure of your business before starting his image.

First of all, a name and its respective domain is required. In this respect one can speak much, but I'll summarize a few points:

• Unless point to the local market, the domain must be xxx
• Avoid signs (eg a script. "-")
• I tried the name is easy to spell, remember and pronounce.
• The name has to explain what you offer.
• Do not set on the first name that comes to mind. Write it down and go comparing with other names. A brainstorming could help.

Once you have the name and domain, must begin to prepare some more technical stuff.

First, Where will you have your bills?
Today there are 2 options to get started: Reseller (Reseller) or VPS

A reseller account is a common hosting, with the difference of having more resources than either a normal hosting, and a panel to create new hosting accounts with separate resources (ie, its own control panel, a certain amount of bandwidth bandwidth, disk space, email accounts, etc).

The advantage is that you need resell knowledge in server administration and another does it for you. In turn, it is the cheapest way to start, because for a few dollars you can have your company and walk alternative.
On the other hand, the downside is that it is limited to resell, and eventually, will have to migrate to a dedicated server or VPS.

On the other hand, the VPS is a partition of a dedicated server. This way you can run multiple instances (each with different resources, different panels, etc ..) on a single server.
Regarding the cost / quality. This option is best. Some knowledge is required and investment is older, but aside sites work best, you can withstand certain sites with an account reseller may not be because the host to which you buy hosting does not allow (eg, a site with Videos passed to flash via FFMPEG with abundant views, although they may work on a reseller account, you may come a time when it is a problem), etc ..

If you are able to afford a VPS (economic and labor cost) is the best option. But otherwise a reseller account is best to start.

Perhaps on this subject I stretched slightly. The truth is that the "technical" part requires more detail, but to some extent is something that you can change later. The first steps are important and many are perhaps irreversible. I prefer to stress upon those steps. This does not mean that the server selection is a minor detail, because in fact it is not, it is one of its pillars.

Second billing. How will charge its customers?
Today, a hosting company without payment script is an "outdated" company.

A billing script to help with complex tasks, save you time and give you a professional look.

There are several systems that can help, not very expensive and powerful (as ClientExec, WHMCS, ModernBill, WHMAutoPilot, etc ..)

How will you make the payments?

ECommerce equals credit card.
If you do not accept credit card, is very likely to fail. The cards are convenient for both customer and seller.
This is a major issue. The options are few and sometimes are not the best.

We must seize Paypal if you can use. Paypal is an alternative to always consider: Their fees are low (less than 3%), it is free and no monthly costs, most have a paypal account and if not can use your card without registering, etc ...

If not: 2CheckOut is the other option. For $ 50 more 5.5% down payment and $ 0.45 per transaction, and has a pretty solid system with many options behind.

There are other options depending on the country.

If you work in your country, find out by local payment systems. Eg to Argentina, accepting Easy Pay is an excellent choice, and companies like CuentaDigital provide that service in a simple and effective way. Same for credit cards. You may have a more effective option to accept them.

If you live or have access to data from united states, the combination + Merchant Account Payment Gateway is the best choice. With this option, you pay at your site, the payment is a payment gateway where it is processed and the funds to your bank account directly. The downside is that to have it must reside in the US or Europe. No personally know a company in South America that provides a similar service ... Can you help me in this itemWink.

Western Union, Xoom or other companies based on sending money can be an alternative for some users. No serves base its payment gateway in this system, but to offer an alternative.

At this point in the guide I need not tell you that you need at least a bank account, no?

5) Support


Before coming to the website and corporate identity we have one more detail: Support.

Perfect, the user purchases a hosting plan with you and already received the first payment! ... Now what? The after sale service must be equal to or better than pre sales service.

It is necessary to provide as many possible methods.

Think first of all buy a support table, there are many scripts (even free) that will be very useful. This link has a list of my authorship, where you will find both free and help desks payments and a description of each one.

Then, what methods of support offered? This is important.

A hypothetical situation: Someone at 4AM in your local time decide to start a website. Search and find your web hosting. Buy and automatically already have an account .. Now, one problem: The user does not know where to start!

Go to his page and there is only a contact form. Send the email and the answer will arrive the next day, at that time the user already lost interest in the site may or frowns to your company.

Solution: Provide self-help methods.

What's this? Simple. They are manual or online help to be found at all times.

So let's split the support in two ways: Personal and non-personal. On a personal contact between the seller and the customer is involved, and the other does not.

Method of Personal Support:
• Email or Ticket
• Live Chat (Live Chat, Messenger and MSN, IRC)
• Phone
• Depending on the case, personal meeting
• Discussion Forums

Methods not personal.
• Database
• FAQ
• Video Tutorials
• Trigger problems (troubleshooter)
• Downloads
• Manual PDF

There has to offer everyone, but at least two personal methods and three non-personal methods are ideal.

This assures you a drop in tickets received, but in turn, the user is happy to find the information you need, when you need it, and after all, that's what matters.

6) Your identity

Look professional. This simplifies this aspect.

Your online identity is your face to your potential customers, and as in a job interview usually looks matter, however much otherwise stated, this is like. Many people leave a site just go by their appearance, or load time. Do not miss potential customers for design done in a hurry. Take the time to do it and plan it.

Hire a company web design if necessary, but a comfortable, simple and professional design is vital. A logo and would also vistoza and typography.

Your website needs to reflect the seriousness and the simplicity of its service, this pseudo-metaphysical concept is partly one of the pillars of Web 2.0 and is what makes commercial sites today differ.

On this point I do not elaborated much because it depends on personal taste, but remember, identity is all you will see your potential client until you hire or contact.

Write your own documents and sub pages of your company. Be consistent and simple.

This is the end of the guide will hopefully serve to start in this beautiful but difficult undertaking.
Obviously not everything that is hosting itself, but it is a pretty good guide to know how to start .. or what to do and what not to do.
Now it's up to you, as will provide the support your marketing campaign, their associations, etc ..

I hope you liked the article!
 

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