Hello, I'm here today to ask the experienced and knowledgeable people who can tell me steps on becoming a great host and the ups and downs they may come.
Hello, I'm here today to ask the experienced and knowledgeable people who can tell me steps on becoming a great host and the ups and downs they may come.
IMHO if you have to ask, your not ready to run a business.
Unless you have an amazing idea that no other provider has thought of yet, don't.
That is a bold statement to make, as I do not see what makes your hosting company any better than the 100's already available and more popular than yours. You offer nothing that other companies do not already offer, yet you tell the thread starter he needs to be unique.
That is a bold statement to make, as I do not see what makes your hosting company any better than the 100's already available and more popular than yours. You offer nothing that other companies do not already offer, yet you tell the thread starter he needs to be unique.
Just my opinion of course.
They have history which speaks volumes in this market.
It's easy to pick up a box at OVH and start a "host", but how many are going to be here in a year? 6 months? 3 months? Hell, many brands 'merge', etc, within the first month just because they can't get sales without having to dip to some very deep discounts to just break even. How many of them can handle a christmas/post summer break slump? How many of them have the time to continue providing support/running the brand once classes start back up?
How many hosts on here own their own equipment? Very few. Own their own IP address space? Even fewer.
The churn rate of new hosts is very very high, and after people get bitten a few too many times they realize it's not worth the headache of losing their work, etc, over literally a couple dollars a month. Sure, you can find hundreds of providers cheaper than Provisionhost or my own brands, but I assure you that in a years time, we'll be kicking along w/o much issues where as most of those cheaper ones bailed.
They have history which speaks volumes in this market.
It's easy to pick up a box at OVH and start a "host", but how many are going to be here in a year? 6 months? 3 months? Hell, many brands 'merge', etc, within the first month just because they can't get sales without having to dip to some very deep discounts to just break even. How many of them can handle a christmas/post summer break slump? How many of them have the time to continue providing support/running the brand once classes start back up?
How many hosts on here own their own equipment? Very few. Own their own IP address space? Even fewer.
The churn rate of new hosts is very very high, and after people get bitten a few too many times they realize it's not worth the headache of losing their work, etc, over literally a couple dollars a month. Sure, you can find hundreds of providers cheaper than Provisionhost or my own brands, but I assure you that in a years time, we'll be kicking along w/o much issues where as most of those cheaper ones bailed.
Never undervalue peace of mind
Francisco
I did not say it was easy. Of course it is not an easy business, or everyone would be in it. However, that is not a valid response to my question. My question was what makes them unique, and the answer is there is not anything. History will only get you so far. You could lose all the credibility you gain in a month or so based on actions and business decisions.
Your company has unique features many do not offer for free, which makes it unique. That is what makes you stand out. To be a great host and a "top dog" in the industry you need to have unique and never before seen features. ProvisionHost is a good company, but not a top dog competitor. It is not a name a majority of people are like, "yeah I think I will use them" when there are many others with the same, if not lower, prices which just as much history.
That is a bold statement to make, as I do not see what makes your hosting company any better than the 100's already available and more popular than yours. You offer nothing that other companies do not already offer, yet you tell the thread starter he needs to be unique.
Just my opinion of course.
I'll list a few of my points that shows us how we're unique and different than the majority of the Minecraft hosts in this market -
We are one of the first Minecraft hosts in this market, we aren't a new host who opened recently. We have been hosting since 2010, offering quality services and managed support for over four years now.
We have developed an in-house custom made control panel that allows our clients to take full advantage of their server, this is called the Provision Stack. Provision Stack is a system developed by Provision Host to deliver added functionality. It allows customers to to easily add, install and configure a set list of applications through a web-based page. We fully support these applications in our management options and can assist with any migration and configuration. With this, the client can have several applications running on one server with different ports.
Provision Host is the leader in Minecraft managed support, we take our free managed support to another level no other hosting provider has ever done before. You can read most of our reviews about our management here and here.
We colocate our hardware in our Toronto location, there are a handful of hosts that actually own their own hardware.
All our Minecraft services come with a free dedicated IP, managed support, full root SFTP / SSH access, unmetered bandwidth, McMyAdmin 2.0 control panel, sub-domain, and more... Almost all hosts charge extra for these features, I've seen hosts charge almost an additional $30 for these features; we don't charge a penny.
Starting a hosting company that is aimed towards Minecraft now-a-days will die out within a few months unless they have already established their ground or have a unique idea that will help them grow quickly.
That is a bold statement to make, as I do not see what makes your hosting company any better than the 100's already available and more popular than yours. You offer nothing that other companies do not already offer, yet you tell the thread starter he needs to be unique.
Just my opinion of course.
I, for one, agree with the great folks over at ProvisionHost. The Minecraft market - and actually game server market in general - is heavily saturated. If you don't have something unique to offer, I would recommend against wasting your money and time. OVH and Multicraft isn't unique, nor is $3 per GB RAM, nor is the FlatHost website template.
ProvisionHost has quite a few features that many other providers do not or cannot. They offer full VM-based solutions at $10 per GB. They offer easily installation of extra software solutions to put on the VMs. They've been around for ages. They have some of the best support in the industry, being fully managed at such a relatively low price.
As for us, we own all of our hardware and IPs. We're one of only 3 or 4 providers (that I know of) who do this in the Minecraft industry, and it allows us more control over our infrastructure so we can provide our clients with a quality service at fair prices. We are also planning on beginning the development of our own in-house control panel in early-mid 2015.
That brings me to my next point. If you don't have enough money to run the company for a few months - that means to cover ALL costs with an assumption of no income - I'd recommend stopping right now. I've made that mistake before and I learned volumes from it.
Just my 2 cents. Kinda written hastily (and just after waking up).
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Head of Operations - HostVenom, LLC dba Ready2Frag
+1 to OSTK and ProvisionHost. If you want to start a host... don't. It's largely a matter of luck, timing, and marketing. Unless the stars happened to be aligned for you, you'll end up losing money and time.
I've owned two hosts (before leaving hosting directly and becoming a web-developer full time). The first was fairly sucessful. We had near exponential growth, and grossed in the tens of thousands of dollars per month by the time we were six months in. But, it was a crappy host. Mediocre to crappy servers, indistinguishable for every other host out there except for its rather nice website. That host shut down after seven months of operation due to malicious activity by one of the other co-owners.
So, the others took what we had left and created a new company, in large part so as not to leave the old, existing customers in the dark. Our motto was "Hosting Done Right". We had top-of-the-line hardware (partly colocated), a custom control panel and billing solution (with several features that were unheard of in Mincraft at the time; there have since, in the last ~12 months, been a few others that cropped up with those features), true 24/7 support, a pretty good community, and a nice bit of seed money. Oh yeah, and it was actually a registered LLC, unlike most of the hosting "companies."
And it failed. Five months later, we sold the company and each walked away with about a hundred dollars -- significantly less than if we just had split the seed money between ourselves and shut down entirely.
Moral of the story is: you can make a crappy company or you can make a great company. But it's just luck, and chances luck will not be in your favour (just look at all the old posts in the Other Hosts section). Spend that money you'd use to start a host... take an online university class or something, just use it for groceries. Better than tossing it away.The Minecraft hosting market is not one I'd ever enter willingly again.
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Web designer and developer, @ConnorPeet. Opinions and views are solely my own.
Ya if possible as I have a great idea of a server but can't find a host. If you are interest and would like to know more Email me at [email protected] or leave your skype
After running Eternity Hosting for nearly 2 years now, we weren't that unique and we still aren't, We survive simply because we provide good personal support and we are reliable.
Our main game has always been minecraft.. However it was not until we expanded away from minecraft before the money started coming in, so i guess my advice to you is don't lock your self down if you can avoid getting multicraft then do so, it will give you more option in the future, you simply cannot beat the top providers that only do minecraft because they do it damn well. (refering to the guys above, and mcprohosting)
Also unless you have 10-20 thousand dollars saved up and ready to invest then don't you can't balance school or work while having this as a job, basically what i am saying is, Do not expect to break even or even make a profit in the first months and expand slowly, Do not get 200 games and 50 locations right away. you simply cannot maintain them.
I wont go into anything that was covered above so this is a short post
Well there is alot of competion out there
the best thing to do is offer Free Webhosting
it get's you a fair amount of users
Hopes this helps you start your own webhosting Buissness
Regards
Devnith
CEO Of DevaHost
IMHO if you have to ask, your not ready to run a business.
Skype: simplydigitalhosting
That is a bold statement to make, as I do not see what makes your hosting company any better than the 100's already available and more popular than yours. You offer nothing that other companies do not already offer, yet you tell the thread starter he needs to be unique.
Just my opinion of course.
They have history which speaks volumes in this market.
It's easy to pick up a box at OVH and start a "host", but how many are going to be here in a year? 6 months? 3 months? Hell, many brands 'merge', etc, within the first month just because they can't get sales without having to dip to some very deep discounts to just break even. How many of them can handle a christmas/post summer break slump? How many of them have the time to continue providing support/running the brand once classes start back up?
How many hosts on here own their own equipment? Very few. Own their own IP address space? Even fewer.
The churn rate of new hosts is very very high, and after people get bitten a few too many times they realize it's not worth the headache of losing their work, etc, over literally a couple dollars a month. Sure, you can find hundreds of providers cheaper than Provisionhost or my own brands, but I assure you that in a years time, we'll be kicking along w/o much issues where as most of those cheaper ones bailed.
Never undervalue peace of mind
Francisco
I did not say it was easy. Of course it is not an easy business, or everyone would be in it. However, that is not a valid response to my question. My question was what makes them unique, and the answer is there is not anything. History will only get you so far. You could lose all the credibility you gain in a month or so based on actions and business decisions.
Your company has unique features many do not offer for free, which makes it unique. That is what makes you stand out. To be a great host and a "top dog" in the industry you need to have unique and never before seen features. ProvisionHost is a good company, but not a top dog competitor. It is not a name a majority of people are like, "yeah I think I will use them" when there are many others with the same, if not lower, prices which just as much history.
I'll list a few of my points that shows us how we're unique and different than the majority of the Minecraft hosts in this market -
If you wish to chat further please shoot me a PM.
I would like you to consider of giving me a host as I would like to host a server and we can work as partner. If u are interested please let me know.
Thanks.
You would like an Minecraft server?
We offer a Minecraft Server reseller plan, if you are interested please contact me via skype: bamitsjamz
Thank you.
https://www.fibrebox.pw
I, for one, agree with the great folks over at ProvisionHost. The Minecraft market - and actually game server market in general - is heavily saturated. If you don't have something unique to offer, I would recommend against wasting your money and time. OVH and Multicraft isn't unique, nor is $3 per GB RAM, nor is the FlatHost website template.
ProvisionHost has quite a few features that many other providers do not or cannot. They offer full VM-based solutions at $10 per GB. They offer easily installation of extra software solutions to put on the VMs. They've been around for ages. They have some of the best support in the industry, being fully managed at such a relatively low price.
As for us, we own all of our hardware and IPs. We're one of only 3 or 4 providers (that I know of) who do this in the Minecraft industry, and it allows us more control over our infrastructure so we can provide our clients with a quality service at fair prices. We are also planning on beginning the development of our own in-house control panel in early-mid 2015.
That brings me to my next point. If you don't have enough money to run the company for a few months - that means to cover ALL costs with an assumption of no income - I'd recommend stopping right now. I've made that mistake before and I learned volumes from it.
Just my 2 cents. Kinda written hastily (and just after waking up).
I've owned two hosts (before leaving hosting directly and becoming a web-developer full time). The first was fairly sucessful. We had near exponential growth, and grossed in the tens of thousands of dollars per month by the time we were six months in. But, it was a crappy host. Mediocre to crappy servers, indistinguishable for every other host out there except for its rather nice website. That host shut down after seven months of operation due to malicious activity by one of the other co-owners.
So, the others took what we had left and created a new company, in large part so as not to leave the old, existing customers in the dark. Our motto was "Hosting Done Right". We had top-of-the-line hardware (partly colocated), a custom control panel and billing solution (with several features that were unheard of in Mincraft at the time; there have since, in the last ~12 months, been a few others that cropped up with those features), true 24/7 support, a pretty good community, and a nice bit of seed money. Oh yeah, and it was actually a registered LLC, unlike most of the hosting "companies."
And it failed. Five months later, we sold the company and each walked away with about a hundred dollars -- significantly less than if we just had split the seed money between ourselves and shut down entirely.
Moral of the story is: you can make a crappy company or you can make a great company. But it's just luck, and chances luck will not be in your favour (just look at all the old posts in the Other Hosts section). Spend that money you'd use to start a host... take an online university class or something, just use it for groceries. Better than tossing it away.The Minecraft hosting market is not one I'd ever enter willingly again.
Ya if possible as I have a great idea of a server but can't find a host. If you are interest and would like to know more Email me at [email protected] or leave your skype
After running Eternity Hosting for nearly 2 years now, we weren't that unique and we still aren't, We survive simply because we provide good personal support and we are reliable.
Our main game has always been minecraft.. However it was not until we expanded away from minecraft before the money started coming in, so i guess my advice to you is don't lock your self down if you can avoid getting multicraft then do so, it will give you more option in the future, you simply cannot beat the top providers that only do minecraft because they do it damn well. (refering to the guys above, and mcprohosting)
Also unless you have 10-20 thousand dollars saved up and ready to invest then don't you can't balance school or work while having this as a job, basically what i am saying is, Do not expect to break even or even make a profit in the first months and expand slowly, Do not get 200 games and 50 locations right away. you simply cannot maintain them.
I wont go into anything that was covered above so this is a short post
the best thing to do is offer Free Webhosting
it get's you a fair amount of users
Hopes this helps you start your own webhosting Buissness
Regards
Devnith
CEO Of DevaHost
This is a Post made by a DevaHost Officer.
Email:[email protected]
Goto:Devahost.ga For cheap Deals on VPS/Webhosting