eBook Profit Spiral

Picking a great Web hosting company for your eBook site means keeping access to your Website “up” open and your costs “down.”

There are many hosting companies to choose from, each with pricing plans and features.

However, competition in the field means that prices continue to drop, and features continue to accelerate.

And you don’t need to purchase the highest priced plan when you start. And reputable hosting companies allow you to upgrade (even downgrade) to “right size” your plan.

If you want to expand your eBook site to include audio and video offerings (because you can sell these add-on products for a higher price), you might consider a larger capacity plan at the start.

Note: Web hosting is only one cost that you will incur as you start your eBook business. Other costs include: shopping cart (preferably with a built-in autoresponder), merchant accounts, software tools and outsource (contract) help.

In general, you should start small and test. just in case the niche Website proves to be a less than profitable choice. Just be sure to check that the hosting company allow upgrading to an account with greater capacity at a later date.

Make sure that the hosting company that you choose is reliable.

This means uptime: 99.9% uptime is the minimum standard.

An example of a hosting company that offers 99.9% uptime, 24/4 customer support, and the ability to upgrade accounts is Host Gator.

Also ensure that your Web pages will open quickly. While this has a lot to do with how you design the site, i.e., too many large graphics on a page, it also means that you shouldn’t host your site in India, Australia or Samoa if you live in the United States, just because you can get a great price for the service.

If your site is down or takes to long to load, visitors will hit the “back button” after 15 or 20 seconds. We are spoiled by broadband Internet access, and poorly designed sites are tolerated as a pig in a operating room.

And once folks leave your site is disgust, they seldom visit in the future. So, stick with a well known company. And check references.

There are small hosting companies that offer Web hosting for as low as $.50 to $1 per month…and want you to pay for at least one year’s hosting in advance. Steer clear!

But some reliable hosting companies offer great products for under $4.00 per month. And these even can offer a first month free trial and a 60 day money-back guarantee.

You can also choose a site that offers a What-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) Sitebuilder.

These Site builders use built-in templates and, while the results fall short of stellar, the results are acceptable.

There are other eBook site building strategies. For example, SiteSell is an example of a system that lets you cut and paste content into site templates that are optimized to bring traffic to your site. This hosting service is more expensive than the monthly hosting fees, but bringing customers to your site soon after you start may pay off in short-term profits instead of a long-term wait by someone that doesn’t know the “ins and outs” of Internet marketing.

Some Web hosting companies may also offer a discount on their services such as domain name registration if you host with them. the World’s Largest Registrar - GoDaddy.com
is an example of a company that offers this bonus.

In the end, which hosting company you choose depends on your needs and what you can afford. Look for bargains, and stick with a well-know company…one that will allow you to upgrade your eBook site if you need to. Exercise due diligence when picking a great Web hosting company for your eBook site.