Online Business Ideas for Locating Great Hosting

OK here are some online business ideas for locating great hosting. But this is by far not the most comprehensive on this subject. Since I launched (through my company) a web hosting site I felt obligated to share some information. Especially those who are trying to find a way to make money blogging. I am not going to point out my current nor past hosts because of course my option of each would be biased.

Top Ten Online Business Ideas for Finding Great Hosting

I don’t care what they offer. Low costs, a lot of bandwidth money back guarantee. If their servers are down more than 90 percent of the time then your business on the web is losing money. You only have a second to pull a customer in when trying to make money blogging. If your down your dead.

How do you check if their 99.9% up-time is true?

I have four great ways to check.

First find out if the hosting service in question has a forum because they tell all. Irate customers will definitely air out any issues they have with the hosting. I remember looking at a host and reading the-negative comments on their forum. This initially discouraged me but when I read how the host moderators answered I was really impressed. No matter how mad the clients were they were always professional and prompt in their response. Hosting companies that have forums and that are willing to address the issue’s professionally and publicly should be respected.

Second type negative statements in Google using the hosts name i.e. “I Hate Go Daddy” and read. This may lead you to a lot of personal opinions but the key links you are looking for are in forums across the web where the discussions will be hot and heavy. Then Google positive comments excluding the ones posted on the host you are investigating.

Third Google the words “hosting reviews” and see if you can find some forums. Unlike the forums on the hosting companies website, these are specific forums that webmasters visit to talk about great and not so great hosting companies. Search these forums to see if the hosting companies you are considering are mentioned. Here are a few suggested forums WebHostingTalk (aka WHT) and HostHideout, Hostingdiscussion.com, Resellerboard.com and SitepointForums.com. But there are tons of them. And if you know of any good forums please feel free to comment.

2. Got Support?

Imagine signing up for hosting only to discover that “rickyretardohosting.net” can find their a** from a hole in-the wall. As your laughing I am sure someone isn’t. Remember three tactics to expose this challenge.

Response time. Email them some questions initially and see how long it takes. If they are delaying to answers to  sales questions then you know what to expect as a customer. One of the worst online business ideas to me was to create a barrier between your prospects and yourself.

Quality of the response: Did they give you the answers you needed or again did you discover another relative of George Bush?

Personable (politeness): How personable were they?

3. Are their servers Linux or Windows based?

Though windows has the brand names. But if you want script heavy hardware then know that Linux rules! Youtube, Facebook and Google use Linux. I started out on windows but when I began developing more web intense apps and I noticed that most were made for Linux. Initially this may mean nothing to you but as you develop your website(s) you may want to look into Linux. If you want to make money blogging you will heed my advice and use the correct server.

4. How many clients are using each of their servers?

Yeah that 2500 gigs and 300 disk space for 10 dollars may seem like a deal but not if they have 300 people using one server on a shared hosting plan. Your site (s) will be slow and you dont always get what you pay for.

5. What are the Sales, Billing, and support hours?

Sale usually keeps business hours but some really smart companies have 24 hour sales available via chat. I love these options for all three billing, sales and it is a must for support. If a company is flaky with their chat support don’t use them.

6. How many people are on their staff?

24 hour chat support means nothing if you are always waiting 4 customers behind. That should never happen. Though it does. One of the poorest strategies is to shorten your staff. If you really like the company and this is their only issue then check to see if they have a support ticket system / forum and then follow suggestions from #1 and #2. Actual live chat with little or no wait is by far one of the most powerful business ideas for sales conversion and retention.

7. How much of a knowledge base do they provide?

Can you answer your own questions from their knowledge base? Is it detailed? comprehensive? Offer links?

8. What kind of operational panel do you use?

OK I been pretty good so far not to bad mouth any companies but I must say this. PLESK SUCKS!! Horrible panel and I have yet to find ONE developer that likes it (I have roughly about 3700 plus developers and programmers in my network). Of course plesk was on Windows servers making Linux definitely more attractive with their Cpanel model. As I write this I have been using them for a short time so far so great.

9. Are there any services that are not displayed on your site?

You will be amazed what you find NOT listed. Sales, extra packages, server brands not listed. Just ask and see what they say you may be surprised. Plus always ask what extra they can throw in. The worst they can say is no. Hey the only way you are going to make money blogging is bybeing bold. And I see no better time to start than with your hosting.

10. Are there any bonus scripts or training services you provide?

The smartest thing I think any company can do is educate their customers. the more they learn the better they respect and support you. Most people are looking for hosting are novices just trying to start a site. But any company that offers free beginner’s or intermediate training in MySQL, PHP, Open Source, HTML, basic SEO, web marketing, and retail services are worth their weight in gold. And again it certainly doesn’t hurt to ask.

Honorable Mentions

I had to mention these. you might think some should be on the top ten but I will explain why they are not.

How much Do They Cost? This is the first question and a given. Price is always a factor whether its a company or individual. Price must be balanced with the top ten factors.

What is the bandwidth? Again another given. the only thing to remember if your starting out you will probably use less than 100 gigs so don’t go over board. In fact the average blogger uses rougly less than 5 gigs if that much.

What are the storage capacities? Remember if your starting a website for the first time whether you want to make money blogging or not the capacity shouldn’t be more than 5 -10 gigs or less.

How many Domain’s do they Allow? Remember its not just one site that matters. Look at it like this, the web is the largest intellectual property in history! Did Donald Trump become a billionaire with one building or several? Keep your options open and see the future. A hosting company with unlimited sites could be the option for you. Most now offer that option.

What are your goals? As a website? How do you intend to grow whether you are a new upstart or a 5+ year company. Keeping abreast of the latest design and goals can save you time and money.