If you are running a website hosting company, there are myriad things that can go wrong. There are the obvious things - technology breakdowns, and software glitches - but there are many items that arise which have the potential to truly cripple your business in a hurry. However, it isn't just the catastrophic situations that can harm your business. Anything that threatens your good will and reputation with customers should be addressed. Here is a short list of items collected together with the help of the website hosting experts over at 34SP.com that any web hosting business owner should pay attention to in order to grow and thrive in this tough business climate.
Outages - Of course down time is aweful for you and your customers. While there are sudden unforeseen circumstances that can take your hosting services offline, there are also factors that can be proactively addressed prior to an outage. For example, if you are running a legacy server that hasn't been upgraded or even really looked after since 2001, it's a safe bet that this server needs either maintenance or replacing. By creating a list of legacy hardware and systematically reviewing each machine's status, you can avoid downtime from pure neglect. It is also stating the obvious, but occaisionally you should simulate an outage and test your emergency procedures such as backup generators, switching over to UPS battery backups, and network switchovers.
Runaway Capital Costs - Ironically, sometimes success can actually be as damaging to your hosting business as failure. For example, if you offer a virtual server product or dedicated servers, these require significant capital expense on the front end. That is, you first purchase the server - then place customers on it and begin to recoop your costs - then eventually begin to earn profits. This cycle can be measured in years for some products. Therefore, a successful promotion or other high demand for your services can actually deplete your bank account, rather than adding to it. Securing an adequate line of credit can be indisepnsible for these short term cash crunches.
