It’s important to determine who your target audience is before starting up your reseller web hosting business. If you plan on making this an “add-on” to your current business, then this question is easy. However, if you’re looking to break into the hosting industry from the start – this is something you need to take a little more serious.
When I first got into web hosting back in 2002, my target audience was “anyone that needs web hosting.” Very quickly, I learned this was not a good plan.
Unless you have a clear-cut path of how you’re going to compete with a multi-billion dollar company like GoDaddy (who dumps millions for one Superbowl commercial) you need to start with a smaller audience, cater to them, and build as the success comes.
For example, one of our major target audiences here at NameHero is reseller web hosts! We’re looking to provide our resellers with the most reliable, high performing infrastructure in the industry, combined with the best training on how to get started. By lasering our focus to this audience, it allows us the ability to connect with our customers on a more personal level and be able to cater to their exact needs.
Its important however to pick an audience that is large enough to sustain your goals. For example, you wouldn’t want to only target a market that was too small to be realistically profitable. Especially if you live in a small town, you may find it beneficial to start offering web hosting to local customers, but eventually you’re going to want to expand beyond that.
When I’m thinking of these micro-niches to target, I often think about ones that are reachable in multiple countries. Therefore I’m able to leverage a lot more than just one or two local markets.
I’ve already mentioned one of our target audiences is reseller web hosts. Another one of our micro-niches (yes you can have more than one) is affiliate marketers. We developed our entire Managed Server line especially for those who engage in high-volume affiliate marketing. We learned as much as we could about the industry and developed servers that are quick and easy for them to setup, all while giving them the power, reliability, and security needed for their business.
In my Resell Hero guide, I mentioned how one Reseller let me know they were earning over $8,000 a month profit from their newly-started hosting business. The main key to their success was properly identifying their niche and becoming a “leader” in that space. This is exactly the route you should take – and then expand with those profits to reach your next audience.
Ryan Gray is the founder and CEO of NameHero, one of the fastest growing independent web hosts in the United States. Ryan has been working online since 1998 and has over two-decades experience in Internet Entrepreneurship.
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