How you should charge by.

IkY0294

IkY0294

HD Addicted
I think that this is a charge methood.

$1.25 per 1GB disk
$1.15 per 10GB Bandwidth


15Cents for spec.
 
What are your costs for disk space and bandwidth - are you able to isolate that? Figure that out before you start deciding on what you'll charge your clients. You don't want to charge so high that you completely put yourself out of the market; but you don't want to charge so low that you end up losing money and later have to try and raise your prices. (That will probably lose you clients. It's as much a psychological as an economic strategy.)
 
You'll have to remember that you're asking your competitors to give you ideas on pricing. In some markets this can be considered a form of pricefixing (usually price fixing is multiple businesses agreeing to charge "X" rate") but discussions of what you should charge are usually an internal discussion.

As Lesli stated, you'll need to find out what your costs are, what your expenses will be and what is needed to cover the costs and make a profit. You will also find that MOST businesses when they first start out DO NOT make a profit.
I'll go one step further and say that MOST busiensses do not make a profit in the first year in business. The federal government allows a business to not make any money (losses) for 4 out of the first 5 years in business.

Probably your best bet is to look at what other hosting companies are charging, review your own business plan as to what things will cost, and then apply pricing accordingly.
 
I think it would depend of how much disk space/ bandwidth you have and features. But you should get a piece of paper and mess around with different package ideas and see which one works/makes you profit.
 
You have to find the right price for your specs. Raising it too high will just make people run from your site, and starting to small will get you clients, but in the end will bring you into the negative. It is best to sit down, look at your space and bandwidth, your monthly bill, and just mess around with what packages will be good in the long run, and which ones wont.
 
It's pretty simple maths to work out what the resources cost you. If you know that your package is a certain amount of storage and a certain amount of bandwidth then you divide it up so that each gig of storage gets the same share of bandwidth. Then divide it into your own costs and you will see how much each gig of storage is costing you yourself.

That gives you the bare minimum that you need to charge to cover your own costs.
 
If you're asking a question like this, you might want to take some basic small-business courses. While many people (artists, crafters, web hosts, designers) can provide service in their own area of expertise / interest, running a business is a separate skill.

You have to know how to figure out pricing.
You have to know some basic marketing.
You have to know some basic bookkeeping.
You have to know how to pay taxes.
You have to know how to separate your business life from your personal life: income, payments, general budgeting, legal fallout and obligations, et cetera.

There's a HECK of a lot.

Sure, it's easier to quickly start up a web hosting or design business than a brick-and-mortar storefront. But that doesn't mean that it's easier to keep going. There's a whole lot of dance steps to learn. Fortunately, since you won't have the added wrinkles of a physical business, you have a little bit more leeway to learn as you go. (Honestly, that's what most of us have done.)

Ah, yes - and the learning of new things? It never stops. Ever. (Some people love this aspect. Many weren't prepared for it, but they adjust.)
 
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That sounds like some good tips there Lesli. I see people jump into this and think that most times you can do what you like and not worry about things (like the rest of us do). Oh I wish I could do that, what are bills? Hosting companies do not have those. :D
 
shockym said:
What are bills? Hosting companies do not have those. :D
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Oh, don't I wish!!! I've just bought a house, my cat just had to have two abcessed teeth pulled, and my car needs maintenance. And I've got all my regular bills...I could do without having the server bills for a few months, but they've gotta be paid. At least I did a good job figuring my estimated taxes last year - so no huge hits from that area.
 
Server bills - they get VERY expensive after a while ;) That's something else to be very aware of when runnig your busines, if you do not pay the bill, you put all your customers in jepordy. Some people when starting out can skip on a bill for say electricity or whatever, but if you're a few days late with hosting, you can cripple your business.

Having funds to operate for 2-3 months with NO income is almost a requirement.

One very important thing that you mentioned Lesli was the spearation of business and personal - and even to the extent of personal LIFE. When starting out, every waking minute of every hour will be spent building the business. And then, once it's going, every minute will be spent working :)

15 years in this business and I still rarely take a vaction.
 
Do it on what you think is best for you.

If this is a reseller your talking about that you are selling from contact your provider and ask them how do they charge you by price and just use there mthod.
 
handsonhosting said:
Server bills - they get VERY expensive after a while ;) That's something else to be very aware of when runnig your busines, if you do not pay the bill, you put all your customers in jepordy. Some people when starting out can skip on a bill for say electricity or whatever, but if you're a few days late with hosting, you can cripple your business.

Having funds to operate for 2-3 months with NO income is almost a requirement.

One very important thing that you mentioned Lesli was the spearation of business and personal - and even to the extent of personal LIFE. When starting out, every waking minute of every hour will be spent building the business. And then, once it's going, every minute will be spent working :)

15 years in this business and I still rarely take a vaction.
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If I did that, I'd burn out - FAST. I'm not happy unless I have several things going on at once; but there's a line between "bored" and "burnt". It took me some experimenting to find my zone - but now that I know the signs, I can avoid getting to either extreme. Having a network of skilled, competent, dependable friends who are happy to subcontract from you, and who will hire you to subcontract from them, is a great resource. I'm sure that's made quite a difference in how flexible I can be, and how much I can take on. (And in how often I can just sit back and read a book that has nothing to do with the tech industry :D )
 
(And in how often I can just sit back and read a book that has nothing to do with the tech industry )
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Yeah the signs of the burn out happen often around here. A weekend off just doesn't cut it. Usually once per month there are 3 or 4 days in a row that staff are required to take off and do something different for a change. For me, that's sleeping, watching TV or going to the pub for a few :) Of course, i'm never too far from a computer ;)
 
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