A couple of years ago it seemed that every young man and his dog were starting a hosting company. It is a little bit like blogging at the moment – if you were looking to get rich online then the first thing every seemed to start was a hosting company. I am not sure how successful they all were, but I am guessing the majority failed – as a lot no longer seem to still be around.

Today the hosting business seems to have matured a lot, weeding out a lot of unprofessional, small-time hosts. Does this mean that you can no long make money starting a hosting company? Not at all. With the amount of new people starting websites everyday and the rate the internet is growing, this is definately an industry to watch. Here are a few tips if you are looking at starting a profitable hosting company

Be Unique

You need to have a point of difference. If you are just like all the big hosting companies, why would people use you over someone else? Think about what sets your company apart from everyone else.  One point of difference I would never target is price. You will always find someone who can charge less then you, so make your point of difference an expertise – and charge more. Here are a few ideas to get you thinking.

• Church Hosting
  A lot of churches are starting to make their way online. What if your website hosting company focused specifically on hosting church websites? The benefit is, since they are offline organisations, you are not competing with the rediculously low priced hosting companies.
• Local Hosting
  Be a hosting company that only hosts companies websites from your city? Market by flyers or align yourself with a couple of website design firms in your area.
• Add Value
  Include special bonuses with your hosting packages. Instead of focusing on lowering your price, focus on adding more value. Whether it be a discount for SEO, or a free ebook on how to get a flood of traffic to your site. The more value you can add to your hosting package, the less people will want a discounted rate.
• Niche Hosting
  This could be either topical niche, or product niche. How about targetting only blog hosting. Or Arcade sites? What benefits could you offer to add value to that a generic host couldn’t?

It is all about thinking creatively, instead of generic, low cost. People pay for value, and if they believe that you can give them a better service they will pay for it.