What do you guys look for in a Web Host?

[jam]

I'm currently looking at starting a small webhost.

It's actually a uni assignment but ill prob keep it going for 2 years or so and finish with some kind of exit strategy.

What I am wondering is what do you guys look for in a web host?
Everything will be hosting in Australia.

Do you go for cheap, no frills?
What do you look for? High Bandwidth? Lot of space?

[justinsigns]

I look for stability and support, this would outweigh the cost as 70% of our business comes from the web.

[Carl Taylor]

Hi Jam its great to see you researching the marketplace before starting the business.

Your already ahead of most business owners.

I reccomend you also ask this question on some web hosting forums, but also you could think about finding a niche, for example only hosting specifically for a piece of software ie there are hosts that are just for joomla, the servers are optimised for running joomla. Once you find that niche ask the people who are in that niche what they want from a host.

Also once you have your feedback dont just take that, see if you can innovate on that feedback, make your hosting a "PURPLE COW" read Seth Godins Purple Cow (http://www.carltaylor.com.au/index.php/Library/Business/Purple-Cow.html) to learn more about what this means.

Good luck.

PS. I look for features and support from my web host.

[Brendan]

Hey jam,

I actually run a small boutique web host, I have found that what my clients want is top notch support, they want to be able to have access to someone either via live support, over the phone or via email and get a response quickly.

Features such as spam prevention, web mail, statistics, and built in scripts are becoming increasingly popular also, so as a web host you need to provide these for your clients.

If you only have a two year plan, then as part of your exit strategy you must think of your clients and how they are going to be treated.. if you will be migrating them to a new host or just selling your company then work out how you are going to deal with the sites hosted on your servers.

Any further questions, feel free to ask.

[jam]

Its seems like support is the way to becoming a good host.

What is a great way to pull customers, and what do you think is the best way to advertise for a hosting business?

Would you guys be willing to put a small add, say something around 100x50 pixels for discounted hosting?

As it is a uni project I'm thinking of offering a discount to full time uni students.

[rosshill]

Support quality and response time is #1.

[Slade]

Yep, support is definatley number one!

I am currently waiting on a reply from a hosting company that I put in 3 days ago and have still had no response, I would love to change hosts but I can't for a few reasons.

[HWT]

Support and stability and speed.

Have used sites in the past with huge bandwidth and storage limits but their database access time was soooooo sloooooooooooooow it made my site run like frozen treacle, and back then barely 10% of the site was database backed, which says a lot for how bad the hosting was. Host was Servage btw, please to be avoiding it like the plague unless you have an extremely low traffic site or you just host huge files with no scripting.

Very happy with my current host, thinking of signing up as a reseller once we launch the current idea. They are not in Australia though.

[ecomm]

guys,

I have been working with an Australian hosting company for the last 3 years. They started off fairly small and now host over 500 domains and websites globally.

Hosting has become very much a commodity. Domain names and hosting plans come pre packaged with many 'goodies' such as OOB ecommerce sites, easy Wordpress installation through Fantastico etc. At the corporate end you have Virtual Private Hosting.

What's important in this industry is following the market trends and consumer needs - e.g. during the recent times it is cloud computing (office online - e.g. MS Exchange web hosting and Sharepoint portals) and infrastructure consolidation through virtualisation. This means having the necessary infrastructure and know how to keep up with ever changing technology..

Customer service and response times is critical to retaining customers going forward..



cheers,

ecomm

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[Bennett]

Web hosting is basically a service given by companies who provide space on the servers. The server is usually owned by the company and they provide space on it for their clients wishing to put themselves on the internet. There are many such companies who provide hosting services. You can get a lot more details on web hosting on the net. And not only that you can also get a list of SEO Hosting (http://www.seowebhosting.net/) companies too.

[one]

Stability, speed and support, in that order. Some users will probably have different priorities depending on their individual needs.

[seocourse]

I run over 400 sites... so in my case, I need 24 hour support, the only company that offers me a chat/phone suppor 24/7/365 is hostgator in the US....

[amisha12]

Hostgator is the best and sufficient in all ways.