Website Hosting Pricing, Your Thoughts?

[ProTech Support]

If you recall, I decided on focusing my business on a new venture (website hosting) to help makeup for the slow times as well as to blossom into something of it's own (hopefully). If you don't recall, here is the original thread

As of now, I am just finishing up on the front-end cosmetics of the site. All of the back-end work is done (the billing, client management, services, etc).

I have done a lot of homework in regards to this section of business and decided on my actual packages and pricing about a month ago. Though I have not officially "gone public" with it at this time, I have been getting nothing but good feedback on them from my current clients.

The whole reason for this post is to ask you, fellow technicians, what you like/don't like about the pricing and packages. As always, any feedback is greatly appreciated.

Starter Package: $2.95 p/m
* 1000 MB Web storage
* 5 GB monthly traffic
* 10 POP/Web Email
* 1 Domain Allowed

Premium Package: $7.95 p/m
* 2000 MB Web storage
* 15 GB monthly traffic
* 25 POP/Web Email
* Unlimited Domains

Ultimate Package: $14.95 p/m
* 5000 MB Web storage
* 40 GB Monthly Traffic
* 50 POP/Web Email
* Unlimited Domains

Other Features:
99.9% Uptime Guarantee
Personal Customer Support
30-day Money Back Guarantee
CPanel Hosting
4,500+ FREE Website Templates
50+ FREE Website Scripts

 

[K007]

Yes I like them.
Ask me if I would buy them, that's another story.
You are a third party (reseller) web host provider right?
It all depends who is the main (first) provider, what hardware they have, who else is hosted by them, etc.....

You may want to put that info there as well for a more informed decision.

 

[NYJimbo]

You are competing with 100,000 other "web hosting companies". Same services, same prices, same promises.

I would really recommend trying to get your existing clients interested in web design and annual hosting contracts and not bother with the $2.95 a month accounts that every kid with a Cpanel reseller account can offer. It's just not profitable.

 

[ProTech Support]

You are competing with 100,000 other "web hosting companies". Same services, same prices, same promises.

I would really recommend trying to get your existing clients interested in web design and annual hosting contracts and not bother with the $2.95 a month accounts that every kid with a Cpanel reseller account can offer. It's just not profitable.

That is part of the plan for new & existing small business clients. Although rather then limit myself to just those business clients, I am also targeting other markets with different needs.

 

[rurbaniak]

We've been hosting since 2002, and I'll give you a few tips regarding pricing, etc.

#1: Don't try to match or beat the other millions of web hosting companies on the internet. Make 1 plan and adjust it up as needed. Don't under sell your time and effort.

#2: Most business customers don't even care how much bandwidth, disk space, control panel, etc.

#3: With the cheap plans come risk, and no reward. Spammers can cause havoc to your email hosting by using a cheap accounts to spam and then your IP or server becomes blacklisted because of it. Then you try to appease clients while you get off the black lists, all this for $3 a month.

#4: Start by recruiting your current clients. This is what we did, I told them $20/month and no one balked at the idea. The biggest selling point is that you are local to them, and they can get a hold of you when needed. We gathered enough clients to go right to a dedicated server, and never have looked back.

If you plan on selling Web Hosting on the internet, it's going to be hard to compete. You better be on the first pages of Google and hope the customer likes your site over another, and doesn't want to compare plans. Seriously, been there, tried that..

Hope that helps.

 

[ProTech Support]

We've been hosting since 2002, and I'll give you a few tips regarding pricing, etc.

#2: Most business customers don't even care how much bandwidth, disk space, control panel, etc.

#3: With the cheap plans come risk, and no reward. Spammers can cause havoc to your email hosting by using a cheap accounts to spam and then your IP or server becomes blacklisted because of it. Then you try to appease clients while you get off the black lists, all this for $3 a month.

#4: Start by recruiting your current clients. This is what we did, I told them $20/month and no one balked at the idea. The biggest selling point is that you are local to them, and they can get a hold of you when needed. We gathered enough clients to go right to a dedicated server, and never have looked back.

Hope that helps.

#2 - I have learned that with most of my current business customers, but with my current package's I felt it still kept me competitive.

#3 - You make an excellent point and I appreciate that. I have really been on the wall about the "Starter" package. Originally the $7.95 package was the starter package, but I figured having a $2.95 package would attract more attention - I just didn't consider the possibility of negative attention.

#4 - Have already done that. Happy to say they all signed on board

 

[Mushin]

Would you be willing?

Would you be willing to turn this into something that I can offer to my clients as well?

I don't want to mess with all the work but I am willing to "Sell" the services if I can put my brand on it. Example... I will create a front end for me and handle all billing for my clients etc... you just provide the "service" to me.

Thanks
Phil

 

[Jory]

Drop your other packages and only offer the "Ultimate" package. I assume you're going to be mainly focusing on your existing clients so don't bother trying to compete with the billion other web hosts out there right now. It's a complete waste of time offering packages for under $12-20/month unless you're looking at tons of volume. One five minute support call basically destroys your margins for MONTHS if you value your time at your normal working rate.

I assume you're just going to buy a reseller account so plan ahead now and choose a generic domain for your main reseller account (i.e. domain to your DNS server). Then you can place your actual host website on that account. In the future when you've gained the critical mass to branch out you can choose a new name and keep your local clients and internet clients separate with different pricing structures.

The best piece of advice I could give you is don't cheap out on your reseller plan. Every time the host has a problem you're going to get phone calls and emails. Paying a few extra bucks for rock solid hosting is worth every penny. It saves you time and money in the long run. Do some research on what hosting actual costs the provider and don't believe the ridiculously cheap plans being thrown at you.

Personally I use BlueWho. I've been with them for years and NEVER had to send a support ticket. I use 2 separate uptime monitoring services that check the server every 5 minutes and neither one has ever caught the server being down. At this point I'm fairly certain they're using some type of black magic because that doesn't even seem possible. I really wish they had some type of referral program because I go out of my way to recommend them whenever possible.