Starting a free web hostnig company

[thekidscareya]

1. Which ad company (eg: Google Adsense, Clicksor, etc.) is the most profitable?

I have a reseller account that I won off of eBay several months ago that I use for a couple of my sites. The uptime has been decent (97.711%) over 3 months. The majority of the downtime was from April (my first month). May has come and gone and my sites have been up 98.194% of the time. So far in June, my sites have been up for 99.597%. I think the hosting service I use is quite reliable. Here's the catch: I pay $8.50 a month for unmetered space and bandwidth.

2. I know I can add more cPanel accounts and was wondering what type of hosting I should do. Should I just have paid accounts, free accounts, or both? I have a lot of cPanel and WHM experience and am proficient in PHP & MySQL. (I have my Oracle 9i certification.)

3. If you think I should go with free, what should software should I run my site off of? Should I run phpNuke? Any suggestions?

4. I want to keep the number of free hosting requests to a limited amount of number to reduce the amount of abuse. In exchange, I'll offer better service, etc.

Thanks in advance for all your comments, opinions, and suggestions. Your time and efforts are much appreciated.

[trighost]

1. Yahoo but you have to be in the US to use them. And I suggest you get a server not use an unlimited reseller, I have tried in the past and it has been nothing but trouble. First couple months will seem great but then it will become a nightmare.

2. It would depend on what you want. Paid hosting means guarenteed income if you get customers and free means revenue that varies.

3. I wouldn't use PHPNuke it is unprofessional. Go with a real site.

4. Im not sure how to answer that?

[thekidscareya]

1. Yahoo but you have to be in the US to use them. And I suggest you get a server not use an unlimited reseller, I have tried in the past and it has been nothing but trouble. First couple months will seem great but then it will become a nightmare.

4. Im not sure how to answer that?

The 4th question wasn't a question. It was more of a comment. Sorry about that.

I want to stick to my reseller for the time being and if the revenue comes in - I will purchase a server. However, I don't want a lot of free hosting clients. I want to stree quality and not quantity.

2. It would depend on what you want. Paid hosting means guarenteed income if you get customers and free means revenue that varies.

Do you think it would be best if I offered a limited amount of professional free hosting? Then, perhaps some of the free hosting customers will become paid customers. I think I'll only allow free hosting customers from the US.

3. I wouldn't use PHPNuke it is unprofessional. Go with a real site.

What do you mean by a real site - a custom designed one? I can probably create a typical hosting site easily. What software would you recommend for support and handling accounts? Are there any free alternatives to iPanel that are good?

Thanks for your opinions.

[Volt.Networks]

there is no such thing as unlmited space and bandwidth.

[thekidscareya]

there is no such thing as unlmited space and bandwidth.

It's not unlimited. It's unmetered space and bandwidth.

[[JSH]John]

Is your host iCanaHost?

[thekidscareya]

Is your host iCanaHost?

Nope. I checked out my host's website. It does not have the deal I got on their site. I think they offered the deal a few times on eBay and I was lucky enough to get one.

[ZoomCities]

3. Run a script that you can easily update, maintain and manage.
4. If it is a question, I would say: create your accounts manually and review them first to avoid abuse.

Zac

[thekidscareya]

3. Run a script that you can easily update, maintain and manage.
4. If it is a question, I would say: create your accounts manually and review them first to avoid abuse.

Zac

Thanks for the advice. One more question - what brings in the most revenue for a small free hosting site? I don't think post for hosting would bring in enough money if I'm limiting the number of accounts. How about ads on the user's site?

[ZoomCities]

Thanks for the advice. One more question - what brings in the most revenue for a small free hosting site? I don't think post for hosting would bring in enough money if I'm limiting the number of accounts. How about ads on the user's site?

I cant answer that because we do not intent to get revenues with our free hosting service. But just remember you have to invest on something in order to get revenues. Plan it well.

Zac

[xd3vilx]

it is hard to generate revenues for free hosting, i am just happy if there isn't abuse and trouble cause by my client. Ads on user site might not attract customer as many now a days, demand more than they give.

[thekidscareya]

it is hard to generate revenues for free hosting, i am just happy if there isn't abuse and trouble cause by my client. Ads on user site might not attract customer as many now a days, demand more than they give.

What are the options out there?

Lots of clients with no ads but big community

vs

Small amt of clients with ads and small community

[Volt.Networks]

It's not unlimited. It's unmetered space and bandwidth.

They have to have a cap off point or limitations in their TOS. Unmetered bandwidth is possible, when using a dedicated line. However, space can not be unmetered. They cant just expand their servers in a flash.

[GamePhreak]

Space can be unmetered. Unmetered means it does have a limit. They just don't watch to see how close to that limit you get. The limit is usually the storage left on the hard drive.

[thekidscareya]

They have to have a cap off point or limitations in their TOS. Unmetered bandwidth is possible, when using a dedicated line. However, space can not be unmetered. They cant just expand their servers in a flash.

Space can be unmetered. Unmetered means it does have a limit. They just don't watch to see how close to that limit you get. The limit is usually the storage left on the hard drive.

GamePhreak got to it before I did.