Let’s have some fun – and try to do it with no (little)money!

Concept: Small Amounts Really Add UP FAST!  Let’s make some money selling hosting (really). Goal: $120 per hour.

The “changing affiliate world” is a series I’m doing in parts to give those going through the 30 day guide some ideas to get something off the ground.  You can see all the posts on the “Changing Affiliate World by looking at the “Changing Affiliate World” Category.

As I noted in part 1 I’m going to be burning through my “idea” folder and just posting them all.  Today I’m going to post one that I can’t believe I never got around to doing – and be warned, I’m going to be jumping into this with two feet this coming week.  I’m so dang nice though that I’m going to share ALL my notes.  Since my handwritting is horrible I’ll type instead of scanning them in.  I won’t pretend there aren’t a thousand spin offs for this – so there is room for you to do it as well in any capacity.

I read in a forum a few months ago a great idea – but it was flawed in my mind.  A whole lot of money was being left on the table.  The concept was simple. Get people to sign up for Hostgator in exchange for a free website.  The way hostgator works (and some other hosting companies) is that you can give people a free month, or a month for a penny or something.  You then get a crazy commission (60 to 150 dollars).

Sounds pretty simple right?  Put up a blog with a few pages of content that they provide you and you are on your way to earning big bucks right?  Well the flaw in this plan is simple.  Hosting companies have been known to scrub commissions to stay profitable, and of course if they can pay 150 bucks for a penny sale it’s because a hosting customer is worth well more than that over the life of their site.  Figure it will take an hour to set people up…. so that’s 60 to 120 per hour.

In your case you are probably a wealth of knowledge at this point — you are worth MORE than just a hosting company… let’s exploit this.

So here is the “sell em hosting plan”:

What you will need:

• Hosting space (your own – I recommend starting with 2 VPS servers  for this (I’ll explain later why))
• A Website of your own to sell from.
• Minimal Programming Experience.  (you should be able to make a form)
• A little seed money beyond hosting.
• Possibly a phone line.
• A copy of WHMcomplete (consider getting the flash tutorials)
  

It’s important to get all your ducks in a row BEFORE starting this up…. and if your smart you will listen up here.  First things first – you need to set up WHMcomplete on a place you will keep.  A small VPS plan, or even a very stable shared server.  Keep this separate from your hosting clients.  You are going to also need to completely set up WHMcomplete – ie your own hosting company.  It sounds scary, but it’s really not.  If you get the flash tutorials for your clients they can “watch” anything they need to learn.  Make sure you sign up for one of the domain registar reseller services as well (reseller club has no deposit).  Set your prices for domains about 20 to 30 percent higher than the cost and it’s an extra profit stream.

I actually DO this service – it’s not just an idea but something I do every day.  I charge $10 dollars a month for hosting and $19.99 for the domain.  That gives me 20 bucks to set their ‘site’ up – enough to pay for it to be done by someone else.  I go in and add the content they provide myself.  That client is then worth almost $150 per year IF they don’t purchase anything else.

For this service we aren’t going to target “people” – we want small businesses.  Think mom and pop shops, contractors, etc….  you might get people or churches and they are probably only going to end up being your hosting fee – and thats still worth it.

So let’s talk about the information we want from them at sign up so you can set your forms up the right way.  I ask them a series of questions about their business.  I ask them to upload a picture. I guide them through a couple questions that let’s me “HELP” them pick out a domain name.

By the time it’s done I usually know they are a contractor in xyz city, and their name.  So they usually end up with a domain like:  DoverDelawareContractor.com or Charliecontractingdover.com.  I clear this with them in an e-mail…. and they gave me all their content.  I head over to my copy of WHMcomplete and create an account for them. I order their domain and set up their hosting account.

Enter in the content into a blog – pick a theme, etc…  Then I send them a short video on how to add new content themselves, along with the log in info for the blog.  I usually do just enough link building to get them indexed – “real” promotion comes later if they want to pay for it.  (there is an add-on for WHM that would let you include this if you wanted to).

Total time – about 1 hour spent.  I’ve got a lot more information here though.  I’ve got their name, phone number, and address. I’ve also made them happy by giving them a free website that would be a ROYAL headache for them.  Time to make a little more

Postcards offering SEO services, Upgrades, Site Networks, Promotion packs, content services, PPC ads, etc…… you could literally sell them anything.  Heck I’m considering mailing all of them a promotion for quick books with my affiliate link.

Your not done though – if you don’t “Really” want to be a host, you can actually SELL your server filled with clients at any point.  Usually for about a years worth of income.  So let’s say you have 50 clients bringing in 500 a month in hosting fee’s.  You can sell them for 10 to 12 times that amount.   Personally I would keep them….. for about a year.  Then I would sell them.

Other than your server and set up costs this one is pretty affordable (literally about 100 dollars to start up with out any add ons at WHMcomplete).  Very easy to recoup your costs and get profitable.  Advertising in “REAL” newsprint works wonders – and you can even use craigslist and other services.  You could offer free websites to all the businesses in your local chamber of commerce for example.