Hello All!
We just starting our new Hosting company. Got server up aad running (Win 2000, Linux). Got software installed and tested: ASP, .NET Framework, Cold Fusion 5.0, SQL Server 2000, got PHP, Perl, MYSQL for Linux.
Just need to know what whould be the good pricing scheme.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

advise hey...

what i look for in a hosting company is primarily value for money.
people who come at me and say "pay me very little and i'll give you a lot" get my response of "whats the catch?" because it will be banners, links back, % of my sales etc etc.

the best thing for you to be is honest. give them a range of packages, and then offer them a "customised package" where they can pick the features they require and you'll calculate the cost (you'll have to add on some extra costs for the time it'll take you to set up a customised account).

have a look at other hosting sites, what they offer in their packages and how much they charge. a good, competitively priced host is www.hostone.co.uk - i've used them before, and they've always been great.

as a rough guide, i'd say about...$20 per 100mb space per year. this is very basic, and would require some good features to justify it.

something i will say, is don't go over the top with bandwith allowance. very very few sites will use more than say 50mb per month, so giving 1gb will be fine for basically everyone. then tell them they can purchase more at a cost of $0.01/mb. this works for many hosts, and means popular sites make you more money

work out what you want to give as standard. ie, cgi, perl, php, asp, 1xmysql account, 1x subdomain on all packages. then put together some good package names, and add extra features as the price increases, up to your "super" package which has all the trimmings like cold fusion support, unlimited bandwith, unlimited webspace, 10subdomains, 10mysql accounts, unlimitied autoresponders etc etc. web hosting is a tiered system, and the idea is to create a tier for everyone.

i would say 5 packages should be enough to suit most people, then the 6th "misc" package of one that is customised to suit all needs.

another key point is the technical support. you need to be familiar with everything and good enough to be able to handle queries quickly and efficiently. 24/7 support is prime, if you can do this you're on your way to success, if the support is good.

i could write a book on something like this, i'll keep talking forever, but i'll leave off there. if you want to know more, just ask, and i'll post more later.

Hey DaveTodd!
You sound like pro at this That would be my first Hosting Company, so I need pretty much any advice that I can get. I have a very good team working with me, but none of them were in hosting business before. We've got brilliant programmers, designers, and system engineers. We just need a little guidance

ColdFusion I really dont know much about hosting but im looking for a great host under $150 a year, and what i really look for is value for money, because ive also seen stuff like 500mb for 5$ a month which sounds like a scam. Try and make your prices reasonable.

wow davetodd im impressed you seem to know lots about hosts, do you recommend any? Im looking for a few.

recommendations would be www.lmhost.co.uk and www.hostone.co.uk - fast response to technical issues, good prices, and good equipment to back it up.

i've been around the web building side of things for 3-4 years, so i've been looking round plenty of hosts.

if you're starting up, first decide on your packages. okay, i'm gonna list points cause otherwise it'll get confusing
*Decide on your hosting packages
*Decide on package prices
*Get a catchy site design
*Create the site
*Optimise the site for search engines (should be done as you design as well)
*Submit to directories
*Advertise like crazy
*!!MAKE MONEY!!

the last step is my favourite like i said, your first step should be to decide on your hosting packages. initially, decide on what you are going to make standard. don't offer people things like 20mb space on the starter package, because i wouldn't settle for any less than 100mb. i probably wouldn't ever fill more than 20mb at the most, but the figure sounds good and is reassuring. if people opt for a custom package, then they can get less space if they need it.

as standard, i would recommend the following features, these should be visible on your home page with "as standard" somewhere, so that it impresses potential customers :

Free domain transfer - 24/7 FTP Access - Online Control Panel - Perl - PHP - ASP - Lots of emaily thingies - Web Statistics - 1 MySQL Database - 1 Subdomain - Fast Resonse Technical Support

Then you need to set the bandwith, and webspace for each package, plus additional features like email virus protection, extra subdomains, mysql accounts etc. i recommend that if people want SSI and SSL, then they should pay extra for these features, because they won't be required by the majority of customers, dependant of course upon your target client base.

offering things like "5 preinstalled cgi scripts" always helps to seem like a special offer even though its so easy to install them yourself. it sounds and looks good on your homepage.

shop around, check out different hosts and look at their prices. you'll find a happy medium. work out how long it will take you to set up an account, half an hour, 10 minutes, an hour, because that will have to be taken into account with the pricing. don't go OTT with bandwith or space for the beginner packages, they'll be for the less-well-off clients. the top packages should be extreme amounts of space, maybe multiple domain space, crammed with features for everything you could ever dream of.

also, do you want to offer a free domain with the package? if so, include the cost of the domain in the package price, and add a link of "already got a domain? email us for an updated price!" or something similar, so that people don't suffer because they already have something.

okay, these are just basic ideas. you'll need to shop around. i'm stabbing in the dark with these because its all general information. ask me some questions and i'll post the best responses i can. questions would be best i think, things like "i'm thinking of offering xxxxx for xxx, is this too much?" etc, so that i have something to go at

hope this helps!

Thanks for all your help!

great sites, im not british though, and i live in the US. Do you know of any US sites where i can get great hosting packages for under $150 a year.

I might give a try to these hosts anyways and see how good they are.
Im looking for a nice 200-500mb because I have wallpapers on my website and they take up a bit of space. I also have lots of car pictures which need space.
As for transfer It can be whatever, It really doesnt matter much to me.
All im worrying about now is how much MB's they give me for my $. I know the rest will be a problem later when im trying to do something else but for now it doesnt matter.

Do you know of any good hosting sites like that? Your the expert man!

email www.lmhost.co.uk with your problems, requirements, and ask them to work you out a package, they will do so.
$150 is £100, which is a fair amount to be paying for hosting. Many sites can give you great packages for less than $60 (£40), my own package cost me only £30 ($45), and includes 3 subdomains and 3 MySQL accounts. its with lmhost.
you can get them to sort you a custom package, and if you have AOL IM then you can talk to them in real-time so that it can be sorted within the hour. hence my liking them

they have UK and USA hosting. Dedicated servers I believe located on both sides of the atlantic. it doens't make a difference where you're hosted, with data travelling at the speed of light down the cables, and off satellites and who knows what else, it'll be here in less than a second anyways.

Take note of this ColdFusion, if you want a sucessful hosting site, then being able to be contacted almost 24/7 is very important. if you have another full time job, then you'll need to deal with tech support in the morning before you go to work and in the evenings when you get back, because you'll host people from all round the world in different time zones (and the stupid people who stay up till who-knows-when posting in forums and having problems )

Well, since our Hosting Site is not running, I can safely recomend www.crystaltech.com. I've been using them for a while, and I think they are great.

hmm interesting both coldfusion and davetodd, Davetodd you mentioned about AIM, Whats their screen name? Ill add it on and talk to them when i get a chance, because the under 60$ plan sounds real nice.

I just found one 2 minutes ago 100mb for5.00$
then i can upgrade later 10$/month for 300mb and free domain registration. It also has great options like SQL and stuff.

i think its lmwebdevelopmentsuk - don't quote me on this one cause its on my other SN on the buddy list, for quick access when all goes wrong.
i'll update you with it if its wrong, also try Jester20022 - i think that ones right, again, don't quote me. they're both for lmhost.co.uk

for hostone, its HOPLEY6, i'm sure of that one. but he's usually got his away message on

Hi ColdFusion-

Never offer unlimited space or bandwidth. Companies which do this are looked upon as scam artists. You do not want to ruin your reputation by ending up listed on a website such as http://unlimband.com/ . There is no such thing as unlimited bandwidth or unlimited space. If this were so, Yahoo and Micosoft would host with you. There are no unlimited size hard-drives. Hosts which offer unlimited bandwidth or unlimited space are the object of many jokes and ridicule because they are offering the impossible. They are lying.

A very popular hosting forum even has a smilie which pukes the words "Unlimited Bandwidth".

-Lamar

my apologies for my errors

unlimited i guess is not the way to go. setting levels high enough for any user would be the way to then. thankx for pointing me out PH.
things such as a top package with over a gb of space and over 5 / 6 gb of bandwith should be good enough for any site, save microsoft, google, yahoo and amazon.