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Gaining Profit: Hosting Services

March 29th, 2008 | Posted in Profit.

One problem many designers face is a lack of ongoing relationships with their clients. What if you could offer a service that the client needed that would allow you to still keep in contact with them?

Every web site online today needs a web host. Instead of sending your clients to a third-party, consider doing it yourself.

Your Own Servers

If you are the do it yourself type, you might consider setting up servers at your location for your clients.

Do this if:

You know what you are doing.
Know all about network security.
Do daily backups.
Have a really fast internet connection.
Have the spare time to fix problems (server errors, etc.).

It can be a huge liability if you host web sites on your servers at your location, please be aware.

Virtual Private Servers

If you know a bit about web servers, you may be interested in getting a Virtual Private Server (VPS) to host web sites with. These are basically servers setup in a datacenter for you to use for whatever you wish. These can be costly, but highly effective on custom items.

Reseller Accounts

If you are like me and don’t want to spend all of your time fixing server hardware and software issues, you should invest in a reseller account. A reseller account can be a great way to take away a lot of the liability you would have by hosting on your personal servers. Basically, big web hosts will allow you to sell their services under your brand. All support and server management will go through them, but you will be the front person the client sees.

Example:

Purchase a reseller account from Hostgator, nicely priced at $25 per month. Charge your clients $25 per month for hosting. At the end of the year, if you have five clients, you should have received an income of $1,500. Subtract your yearly hosting expenses of $300, and you will make a profit of $1,200 for your first year.

*Once you reach six clients, you should purchase another reseller hosting server or upgrade your package.

Conclusion

Having constant contact with your clients is key to a long-term business relationship. A majority of clients who leave firms feel that the company didn’t care about them anymore. Your long-term and happy clients are the key to a business’ revenue stream.

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