Earning Money

I have a story to tell, so pull a chair, sit back, relax, have some popcorn, because the story I am going to tell could be a story you have experienced before. Oh, I know! You’ve heard all about overselling. You have heard about how web hosts, at least some of them, can’t be trusted and they are never to be relied on. Spend more money, get a better host, get a dedicated, whatever. You’ve heard it all before. But, amuse me and allow me to tell you this story…It is a good story. It is a lesson that I hope you can learn from this blog post rather than reality yourself. Let me begin…

Once upon a time, in a far away land called my friend in Ohio, there lived my friend. And he came across an amazing deal for a proxy that was making a killing in money. He made the wrong move and forgot to ask how much hosting was costing the man before he bought it. So, he bought the site and he decided he was going to build a network of proxies. If one works, so will so many others. And so he began. However, before he could even get started, his web host said, “no! Your proxy is sucking too much bandwidth, we hate you, GO!” So he went.

Now…He went in search of a web host. He went searching long and hard, praying he could find a web host that would satisfy him. And along came the knight in shining armor, the knight who said, “you can have UNLIMITED disk space and UNLIMITED bandwidth for $15.99.” My friend said, “awesome, let me try it!” And he took it. He took the web host and he put his proxies up and he began to have some beneficial days. And then…Tragedy hit. That knight in shining armor was no knight! He was a deceiver!

My friend found out that his hosting had been cut off because he was using too much bandwidth. Wait, I thought that he got unlimited EVERYTHING for $15.99. And so, on he went, looking for a new web host to try and turn his not so great network into a shining, earning, profitable network. And although he has yet to live happily ever after, we will say that he did, just for the sake of the story…The End.

What did you learn from this story? I learned never to trust a guy that says, “yeah! Unlimited everything for less than a dollar a day! SCORE!” No. That’s bogus. He lost more profitability because of the downtime. As webmasters, we CANNOT afford that. Learn from the lesson of my friend…Get a reliable host. Spend some money. Do whatever it takes to ensure that you are giving your sites the best uptime possible. Their uptime will determine whether you have success or not. So, learn from the story of the big bad overseller. Copies will be available in all bookstores before Christmas. Later!

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Back in August, I talked about how downtime means money and that it is incredibly important to find a web host that gives you what you need and doesn’t scam you. I was talking to my friend last night and he was asking me what sort of a hosting plan he should get. I was giving him ideas, but the problem was, he just didn’t have the money for the plans that he needed. I guess you can say that it was bad business on his part, but regardless, he was trying to find a way to host his sites when a brand new hosting company contacted him. They told him that for $15.00, he could get unmeasured bandwidth and unmeasured disk space. That sounded pretty cool and he was excited beyond belief. He was going to be able to host his sites for chump change and make a considerable profit now that he wasn’t paying so much on hosting. I told him to go for it, see how it is (especially since the site was brand new), but to get off of the host as soon as humanly possible because they WERE overselling. How did I know? Here’s how:

• Whenever you see someone telling you that they will give you unmeasured (unmetered) bandwidth, you have to know that they don’t intend on you EVER using all of that. There is no way that you can have unmetered bandwidth because that just does not exist. Sure, web host is selling something that is not held in your hand for money, but there is still an amount of it. You can’t sell ten hot dogs if you only have five.
• If someone is providing a great amount of bandwidth and disk space for a really cheap price. How can someone afford a good dedicated server when they are providing 200GB of bandwidth for $3.00? It’s not going to happen and you need to ensure you don’t fall for the cheap price.
• Look for other customers. If the site is BRAND new, chances are, they are new to the business. Wait for some reviews about the company and see what they say. If they say great things, try for it.
• And finally…If something doesn’t seem believable, ask why. Ask either the people who own the site or ask on a forum. A lot of people with more experience will be able to tell you whether the site looks fishy or not. We’ve all been scammed, so we can help you not to make the same mistakes.

Earning on the web can be tough. But, if you do your research and pick a hosting company that really is durable and is known for their exceptional hosting, then you’ll be on your way to making money. If your sites are down, you can’t earn money. So, take my one piece of advice and get hosting from a company that is a bit more expensive and can offer you reliable hosting. In the end, the uptime you have will be well worth the extra few bucks compared to the downtime you’d have for very cheap hosting. Take it from me…Sometimes cheap isn’t best.

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