So I started a hosting company...

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subigo

subigo

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Oct 20, 2007
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zensix.com
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After selling off my last company and getting screwed on what was supposed to be me starting up a PR firm with a friend, I've decided to follow through with a backup plan I've had for a while... I started a shared hosting company.

I owned a hosting company for a few years back in 2002 and I sold it off in 2005. I've been quoted on WF as saying I'd never get involved in the hosting industry again, but I realized that even though it can suck sometimes, hosting was something I actually enjoyed doing. Plus, relying on a business partner is not something I want to deal with ever again... anyway... to the point: I have a deal for WickedFire members.

ZenSix Hosting

Sick of your current hosting provider? Sign up with ZenSix and you'll be with a host that visits WickedFire on a daily basis.

WickedFire Members: Use coupon code "wickedfire" and get $5.00 off your order (sign up for the $5.00/personal plan and you don't pay anything for a month).

What we don't offer: Services for people needing reseller accounts, VPS accounts, or dedicated servers. I'm going to stick to shared hosting... at least for now.

What we do offer: Shared services for small to medium sized sites. Adult sites are okay as long as they are legal.

Shared Hosting Plans:

Zen-Lite:: $25/year

500MB Space
20GB Bandwidth
Unlimited Domains

Personal:: $5/month - $50/year

1000MB Space
75GB Bandwidth
Unlimited Domains

Business :: $9/year - $90/year

2000MB Space
150GB Bandwidth
Unlimited Domains

Go here to read more: www.zensix.com

Again... use the coupon code "wickedfire" to get $5.00 off your order. I literally just launched everything tonight and I want WickedFire to be my testing grounds for a while before I start advertising.

The server you'll be on is hosted at the DimeNOC datacenter in Orlando and here are the specs:

Server Specs:
2 Intel Xeon Quad-Core E5405 2GHz CPU's
8 gigs of RAM
1.4TB of HD space for sites

If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask.

p.s. - For the next 2-3 days the only payment method accepted is PayPal. I'm waiting on 2Checkout and Google Checkout to update my accounts with the new site information.

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Awesome, now all the noobs that can't afford $8-$9 a month and get some hosting.

Do you ever plan on offering VPS?
 
wtf is with this testimonial:
"I knew ZenSix didn't officially offer phone support, but after making a request via e-mail, I heard from someone within 12 hours."
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I also think you can do a better job on the "Hosting Plans" and "Technology" pages. You should add some javascript popups explaining the details of each feature. Those two pages just seem bare and boring. The rest of the site looks great though, nice work and good luck man :D
 
RuDeDoGg said:
wtf is with this testimonial:


I also think you can do a better job on the "Hosting Plans" and "Technology" pages. You should add some javascript popups explaining the details of each feature. Those two pages just seem bare and boring. The rest of the site looks great though, nice work and good luck man :D
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lol, yeah, well I didn't want to make anything up and that's what the guy gave me. I'll change it as soon as I get a better one (seeing as how I just officially launched it today I don't have much to work with in that department).

As for the rest of the site, I'll be working on adding more information, etc... over the next few weeks. Like I said, I'm kind of using WickedFire to beta test everything and won't be officially advertising for a week or two.

Thanks for the feedback. :D
 
any plans on a reseller account with Cpanel/WHM and also need some more info on uptime, some thing like live uptime monitoring display will be great.

I liked the design of the site.
 
Red_Virus said:
any plans on a reseller account with Cpanel/WHM and also need some more info on uptime, some thing like live uptime monitoring display will be great.

I liked the design of the site.
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I don't want to put shared accounts and reseller accounts on the same server, so it will be a few months before I start offering reseller and VPS plans.

There is a server status page here: ZenSix Hosting - Server Status - Right now the uptime is at 40 days.
 
Atleast you got ten grand or so to put into this with the sale of your site. You going to setup an affiliate program? and I'll take a review copy plzz
 
CShoemaker said:
Atleast you got ten grand or so to put into this with the sale of your site. You going to setup an affiliate program? and I'll take a review copy plzz
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I've actually got about three times that amount to invest in ZenSix :)

And yeah, I'll be setting up the affiliate program at some point, but I obviously don't have the capital to compete with companies like Hostgator, so the payout probably won't pique the interest of too many WF members.
 
subigo said:
I've actually got about three times that amount to invest in ZenSix :)

And yeah, I'll be setting up the affiliate program at some point, but I obviously don't have the capital to compete with companies like Hostgator, so the payout probably won't pique the interest of too many WF members.
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Take some of that 30k and pay one of the seo pro's here to rank you in the serps ;-).

@affiliate program, you could go after the "free web host" sites, hostgator and major companies don't allow referrals from those type of sites. (obviously for a reason but could make you some quick cash possibly.)
 
i have no idea why i am telling you this, but in true wickedfire help each other and i dont have the money to buy this domain. Get this domain here.. hxxp://www.cheapwebhosting.com they had a bid for 10k and i bid about 40k(i was fucking around). You can get it for around 15k if you are really serious about it. The domain gets about 600 type in traffic hits a month. Dont say i told ya so. :) get it my good friend.
 
nmwando said:
i have no idea why i am telling you this, but in true wickedfire help each other and i dont have the money to buy this domain. Get this domain here.. hxxp://www.cheapwebhosting.com they had a bid for 10k and i bid about 40k(i was fucking around). You can get it for around 15k if you are really serious about it. The domain gets about 600 type in traffic hits a month. Dont say i told ya so. :) get it my good friend.
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I'm sure he'd rather stick with his $7.99 domain and take that $15,000 and put it towards servers, employees, hookers, and advertising.
 
subigo said:
And yeah, I'll be setting up the affiliate program at some point, but I obviously don't have the capital to compete with companies like Hostgator, so the payout probably won't pique the interest of too many WF members.
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You've got a large supply of a tangible good that we all consume monthly. Just get creative and build up users & income before running with the big dogs.

More than likely, many of us would probably do this for free hosting & domains. Not to get too in depth but something like

Sales
1 domain name = .25 points
1 small package = 1 point
1 med package = 2 points
1 reseller account = 2 points
1 vps account = 3 points
1 dedicated account = 5 points

So you accumulate points (residually also at 1/2 the point value) and pay for the services you use with those points.

Services
domain name = 5 points yearly renewal
reseller account = 10 points monthly
new ip address = 1 point monthly
vps = 15 pts monthly
dedicated = 30 pts monthly

So it's close to worthless for PPC people but there are those of us who are 100% organic and could easily push hosting at no hard cost.

I personally drop about $225/month just on hosting and domains and would welcome a system that would help recoup some of that lost income. It would cost me nothing. It would cost you very little & would get you recurring users.

You could even go as far as outsourcing a designer to make landing pages for those PPC only people and could provide an all in one service to them as well. How about installing a homegrown tracking system or preinstall p202 with all reseller accounts for all your clients so they don't have to deal with that side of things.

You can't go buck for buck with godaddy, HG, etc so you're going to have to try and bring something to the table that they can't.
 
Good luck, it's a tough business. I sold my hosting clients off last year and only kept my design clients. Raised my hosting prices & cut support hours since I didn't want to focus on that and don't do any ads for hosting and that side of the business is growing better then I tought. Kind of funny how things work out. I like the design of the site. +1
 
interesting.

cshoe quick question, would you rather start a hosting company with a domain like hxxp://smallbusinesshosting.com that you acquired with 5k out of your 30k startup funds or just buy an 8 dollar domain.

Okay fine let me ask you another question, if you were into porn(hypothetically) would you rather start a porn site with the domain hxxp:freesex.com or buy hxxp://getsomegoodnakedladies.org 8 dollar domain.

Domains matter alot, while this isnt some back and forth argument if i had 30k i would at least make an attempt at acquiring a premium domain before trying to work my way up the s.e.r.ps and ppc. With a domain like hxxp://cheapwebhosting.com he would kill the ctr on adwords. He would be unstoppable.
Just my 2 cents.
p.s i have no relation whatsoever to the guys who own the domains mentioned above. And yes, i would love to own hxxp://www.freesex.com.
I am loving wickedfire more and more everyday with the more i learn about how people(webmasters) approach business.

CShoemaker said:
I'm sure he'd rather stick with his $7.99 domain and take that $15,000 and put it towards servers, employees, hookers, and advertising.
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Not too shabby of a design, well done.


You've got a large supply of a tangible good that we all consume monthly. Just get creative and build up users & income before running with the big dogs.
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I fully agree. You'd be surprised how quick a little can amount to in a short amount of time, even in the most saturated industries.
 
Never got into hosting myself because the profit margins seemed too slim, but I wish you the best and I'll definitely throw you some business next time I need shared hosting.
 
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