Others say...

"Excellent resource"
Excellent resource. Well written and easy to read. I especially enjoyed the high level step by step guide on how to start out as a web host. The marketing section is resourceful for the beginner and the pro. This book is a must to have.

"Great Read! The New Industry 'Bible'!!!"
I considered The Web Hosting Manager to be a fantastic book, especially for those just beginning in the web hosting business - or for those who need to remind themselves why they're in the business. The information does not get too technical (I consider this to be a good thing), and grammatical errors run rampant (I consider this to be a bad thing. Ok, so I'm a writer and kind of freak out about that - most folks probably wouldn't notice.). This book holds a great wealth of information.

The book starts off by detailing the costs for getting started, and the exact actions to take. It does a superb job of guiding one along from wanting to start a business to actually getting the startup process done. Everything is covered here - from legal to reseller accounts and more. One thing I liked about this book was that it did not detail one hundred different ways to start - i.e. reseller account, dedicated server, own data center, etc. - Christoph Puetz, the author, realizes that most folks reading this book have limited funds and so want to startup as quickly, easily, and inexpensively as possible. Therefore, the book assumes that the reader will go with a reseller account, and everything from the beginning forward is based on that.

This book evaluates typical competitors and typical customers, and also details financing, employment, pricing, and more. This section was extremely useful to me, as it helped me cement my business plan and actually feel comfortable with it when I was finished! Again, it does not go very in-depth into any of the subjects, but there is also not too much of a need to do so, in my opinion. I found the section about employee motivation to be particularly useful, as I am getting to the point where I will need to hire some folks, if I go after VC funding.

The last section of the book deals with marketing. It is filled with many quite brilliant marketing techniques, and includes sections on business cards, AdWords, local marketing, and other proven techniques. Even if you buy the book only for this section, it is still very much worth the $20 or so you will pay.

All in all (grammatical errors aside), this is an excellent read, and I highly recommend that every web host purchase a copy. It is the only book written wholly for the startup/small web host, and perhaps the only book that would enable these smaller hosts to become larger. It is the industry's one true "bible", and I recommend getting your hands on a copy ASAP.