Introduction
If you're reading this, I can already assume you have quite a bit of interest in the web hosting industry -- either you're already running a successful (or at least active) hosting company and are looking for tips to improve your business, or are thinking of getting into the industry at some level. If you're in the first category -- i.e. you already have a hosting company, you can probably skip this lens and check out some of my other lenses on web hosting. If you are fresh to this industry, you probably should read on.
Actually, that leads to one of the first lessons about web hosting: shortcuts will usually lead to short changing -- what I mean is, if you take a shortcut approach to running your hosting company, it's probably going to come back to haunt you. There are a few exceptions, some of which I discuss in my web hosting lenses.
As for my role in the industry, my experience has been as a hosting company consultant, helping build (and build up) many web hosting companies all over the world. Although this lens may be slightly counter-intuitive to my own business interests, there's a greater good: I think if people know the realities of the industry (and they can be harsh), they can make up their own minds if they really want to pursue the path of web hosting entrepreneur.
Actually, that leads to one of the first lessons about web hosting: shortcuts will usually lead to short changing -- what I mean is, if you take a shortcut approach to running your hosting company, it's probably going to come back to haunt you. There are a few exceptions, some of which I discuss in my web hosting lenses.
As for my role in the industry, my experience has been as a hosting company consultant, helping build (and build up) many web hosting companies all over the world. Although this lens may be slightly counter-intuitive to my own business interests, there's a greater good: I think if people know the realities of the industry (and they can be harsh), they can make up their own minds if they really want to pursue the path of web hosting entrepreneur.
The Facts of the Hosting Business
Being in the web hosting business can be tough -- whether you're an employee or a hosting company owner
Running a web hosting business can be a tough gig, particularly when you consider that there are (sadly), a lot of really not-so-smart people in the web hosting industry. You will notice this no matter where you go in the industry, and if that's not the sort of thing you can tolerate, you may want to cut your losses and move on. There are many other industries where people are (in theory, at least) smarter, kinder, and better able to communicate. After all, if you want to truly ensure you're always dealing with intellectual people, academia is always an option!
The even harsher reality is that this advice applies even if you want to work in the industry in any number of capacities other than being a hosting company owner, including as a support tech or as a site designer or as a programmer or even as a writer. You will inevitably have to deal with a lot of difficulties -- sometimes heaps of it -- even from companies or people who appear to be well-established. If you can deal with that, though, read on!
Running a web hosting company (with a few exceptions that I discuss below) often entails a lot of commitment. Just the expectations alone from a typical hosting customer can be very, very high -- particularly if you're offering web hosting that's intended for businesses, and even more so if you're offering hosting for businesses doing business (i.e. selling products) through the web. Here's a few things you can probably expect, particularly if you're a one-person hosting shop:
- Phone calls from clients at the most ungodly hours possible, leading to quite a few hours of lost sleep. Keep in mind they expect you to be at your friendliest whenever they call, no matter what you may happen to be doing at the time.
- Clients getting mean, nasty, and even claiming you've caused them to be admitted to the hospital if your web hosting doesn't work perfectly. They'll sometimes swear at you, call you names, or even threaten to sue you. Sometimes they actually do sue.
- A lot of hard work in growing a client base. If you're smart about this, it can take a lot less effort, but some people are just stubborn and do things the hard way. That path is a lot slower.
- Often some of the most insane technical questions you can imagine (or worse). What's even more, shall I say, amusing, are potential customers who want to debate the technical merits of Linux kernel development and mail transport protocols. I've seen it before!
- Quite a few fraudulent transactions. This includes people who will try to convince you that their name consists of food products. No, I am not kidding here either -- I've seen that, too.
- People who expect you to practically gave away your services for nothing (or less). Some of them fit into the mean people category above. Some are just plain annoying. Most of them could care less what your profit margins are.
- All the stresses that come from having to juggle a variety of business relationships. Virtually nobody in this industry avoids this to any significant degree -- not the smallest host with zero customers, and not the biggest hosts out there.
- Again with a few exceptions, it *does* cost money to get into the hosting industry. That said, I've seen some particularly creative (or at least open-minded) people launch successful hosting companies on a shoestring, but to be brutally honest, that's a rather large exception rather than the rule. As an aside, I don't think this fact should be at all startling -- considering that even when things are done well, it can take some time to build up a solid client base.
- A lot of hosting company owners don't draw much salary at all. Again, this isn't necessarily a lot different than any business in the beginning months (and sometimes years) -- it's often the case that it's wise to reinvest profits into building upon and expanding the business.
Although an easy solution to be involved in the industry (and avoid a lot of stress) is simply to become a consultant, over the long-term, the bigger rewards go to hosting company owners rather than hosting company employees -- you may get sort of rich working for web hosting companies, but the only way to get really rich in this industry is owning one.
All that said, if it's excitement and unpredictability you seek, the hosting industry certainly can deliver again and again and again!
The even harsher reality is that this advice applies even if you want to work in the industry in any number of capacities other than being a hosting company owner, including as a support tech or as a site designer or as a programmer or even as a writer. You will inevitably have to deal with a lot of difficulties -- sometimes heaps of it -- even from companies or people who appear to be well-established. If you can deal with that, though, read on!
Running a web hosting company (with a few exceptions that I discuss below) often entails a lot of commitment. Just the expectations alone from a typical hosting customer can be very, very high -- particularly if you're offering web hosting that's intended for businesses, and even more so if you're offering hosting for businesses doing business (i.e. selling products) through the web. Here's a few things you can probably expect, particularly if you're a one-person hosting shop:
- Phone calls from clients at the most ungodly hours possible, leading to quite a few hours of lost sleep. Keep in mind they expect you to be at your friendliest whenever they call, no matter what you may happen to be doing at the time.
- Clients getting mean, nasty, and even claiming you've caused them to be admitted to the hospital if your web hosting doesn't work perfectly. They'll sometimes swear at you, call you names, or even threaten to sue you. Sometimes they actually do sue.
- A lot of hard work in growing a client base. If you're smart about this, it can take a lot less effort, but some people are just stubborn and do things the hard way. That path is a lot slower.
- Often some of the most insane technical questions you can imagine (or worse). What's even more, shall I say, amusing, are potential customers who want to debate the technical merits of Linux kernel development and mail transport protocols. I've seen it before!
- Quite a few fraudulent transactions. This includes people who will try to convince you that their name consists of food products. No, I am not kidding here either -- I've seen that, too.
- People who expect you to practically gave away your services for nothing (or less). Some of them fit into the mean people category above. Some are just plain annoying. Most of them could care less what your profit margins are.
- All the stresses that come from having to juggle a variety of business relationships. Virtually nobody in this industry avoids this to any significant degree -- not the smallest host with zero customers, and not the biggest hosts out there.
- Again with a few exceptions, it *does* cost money to get into the hosting industry. That said, I've seen some particularly creative (or at least open-minded) people launch successful hosting companies on a shoestring, but to be brutally honest, that's a rather large exception rather than the rule. As an aside, I don't think this fact should be at all startling -- considering that even when things are done well, it can take some time to build up a solid client base.
- A lot of hosting company owners don't draw much salary at all. Again, this isn't necessarily a lot different than any business in the beginning months (and sometimes years) -- it's often the case that it's wise to reinvest profits into building upon and expanding the business.
Although an easy solution to be involved in the industry (and avoid a lot of stress) is simply to become a consultant, over the long-term, the bigger rewards go to hosting company owners rather than hosting company employees -- you may get sort of rich working for web hosting companies, but the only way to get really rich in this industry is owning one.
All that said, if it's excitement and unpredictability you seek, the hosting industry certainly can deliver again and again and again!
Taking The Next Step
Before deciding if hosting is for you, you should research the industry as much as possible. This section provides a starting point for further explorations
On the premise that one shouldn't assume anything, it's probably necessary to stress the following: it is critically important -- if you are interested in starting a web hosting company (or even considering specializing in some aspect of the industry) -- to actually learn (a lot) more about the industry in general. Although Google and Wikipedia undoubtedly can help with "the basics," getting a better idea of the actual day-to-day operations of a web hosting company requires one to look elsewhere.
Probably the main starting point for getting a feel for the hosting industry would be in some of the popular web hosting industry on-line forums. The largest is Web Hosting Talk at www.webhostingtalk.com , which is truly international in scope. Quite a few other forums exist. HostingDiscussion.com is one, HHO is another. Internationally, Canucks visit sites such as Hosting Industry Discussion while Aussies frequent Web Hosting Talk Australia. There are of course a variety of other forums of the same type; just use Google with search terms such as "web hosting forums."
There are of course other resources for learning more about the hosting industry. One is the industry's main magazine, and my former employer -- available in print and electronic versions -- Ping! Zine. Day-by-day news and further magazine coverage is presented by the likes of the Web Hosting Industry Review. Many blogs on the hosting industry also exist -- perhaps the most famous is that of Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com available at www.bobparsons.com. For those more into the audio side of things, a colleague of mine, Mitch Keeler, runs The Web Hosting Show -- by far the most famous (actually probably one of the only!) podcasts specifically about the hosting industry. That podcast has its website at www.webhostingshow.com.
In terms of books about the hosting industry generally I've never seen any I would recommend. This is an industry that tends to move very quickly in some respects, and you can learn far more by listening to podcasts, reading blogs, following (and participating) in forum discussions, and reading things like Ping! Zine or TheWHIR than you probably ever could from some kind of formal treatment on the matter. That said, don't think that learning about the industry isn't important -- quite the contrary, I think a good understanding of both hosting companies and hosting customers is absolutely critical to being successful.
Probably the main starting point for getting a feel for the hosting industry would be in some of the popular web hosting industry on-line forums. The largest is Web Hosting Talk at www.webhostingtalk.com , which is truly international in scope. Quite a few other forums exist. HostingDiscussion.com is one, HHO is another. Internationally, Canucks visit sites such as Hosting Industry Discussion while Aussies frequent Web Hosting Talk Australia. There are of course a variety of other forums of the same type; just use Google with search terms such as "web hosting forums."
There are of course other resources for learning more about the hosting industry. One is the industry's main magazine, and my former employer -- available in print and electronic versions -- Ping! Zine. Day-by-day news and further magazine coverage is presented by the likes of the Web Hosting Industry Review. Many blogs on the hosting industry also exist -- perhaps the most famous is that of Bob Parsons, CEO and Founder of GoDaddy.com available at www.bobparsons.com. For those more into the audio side of things, a colleague of mine, Mitch Keeler, runs The Web Hosting Show -- by far the most famous (actually probably one of the only!) podcasts specifically about the hosting industry. That podcast has its website at www.webhostingshow.com.
In terms of books about the hosting industry generally I've never seen any I would recommend. This is an industry that tends to move very quickly in some respects, and you can learn far more by listening to podcasts, reading blogs, following (and participating) in forum discussions, and reading things like Ping! Zine or TheWHIR than you probably ever could from some kind of formal treatment on the matter. That said, don't think that learning about the industry isn't important -- quite the contrary, I think a good understanding of both hosting companies and hosting customers is absolutely critical to being successful.
If you're not afraid yet...
If my treatment of the harsh-realities-of-hosting hasn't scared the wits out of you, well, you may just be the right person to start a hosting company! If so, you may want to read my lens The Nuts and Bolts of Web Hosting: Some Important Considerations.
Comments and Suggestions
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by reecesel
I have a fairly wide-ranging background and an equally wide-ranging span of interests -- essentially everything from web hosting to baking to politics... (more)
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