Is it worth to open another file upload site ?

Hi

Didn't passed through the Introduction topic , I will post direct here my issue. I'm Dan, I've been reading this forum for a while and finally decided to post here. I don't excel in anything and I don't have even half of your knowledge, but I want some opinions from you. As long as you don't make fun of this thread it's ok.

So, I was wondering if it's worth to open another site offering free file hosting , something like uhmm... rapidshare.de , megaupload.com , etc.

Looking forward to read any thoughts.

I have a job in advertising (not online advertising, outdoor) and I also have a lot of free time to spend it online. Why I want to open a website with this theme , well to be 100% honest, to gain some extra money since I don't earn too much from my real lifetime job. I purpose to gain in a few months or so a minimum 20-30$/day with AdSense service.

 

Sure why not. Make it unique, and they will come.

 

wow, such a quick answer.

since I don't have any programming skills, I'm forced to look for a php script who will do that job. I've seached a little and found many. Most of them are not free but that's not a problem, I can invest some money for a paid script. Also, I believe that I will need to rent a dedicated server with lots of space and enough bandwidth to support the traffic, if it will be any

I'm allowed to post any examples of the paid scripts that I found here ?

 

There is a script http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?t=139061 which you might want to look into.

Well, as for the success, I am sure that people would love something free and something fast.

Like you said, there are quite a number of such sites around and you might be competiting for the same pie but the good news is that with MySpace, people may be looking for free space to host their pictures and stuffs so what you offer can be of help to them.

But unless you have a huge pool of money, I would think that getting a virtual hosting account first just to test the water might be a prudent thing to do and when you put sufficient traffic, you could opt to move to a dedicated server. If things don't work out for some reason, you can just abandon the project with the minimum of cost.

Also since you mentioned that you do not have any programming skills, I assumed that you might not be familiar with server administration so going with a virtual account could free you from that headache for now. While you run your site, you can learn how to manage your own server and or when you make enough money, you can get someone to manage your server for you.

The other option is look to buying over a newly established upload site at the Site for Sale forum http://forums.digitalpoint.com/forumdisplay.php?f=52 , you do see some people selling off their site for nice prices. Getting one of those would mean that part of the work is already done for you.

All the best in how you decide.

 

Well there are many sites but I don't feel like a rival for them since I don't have the funds to promote it properly like imageshack, rapidshare, etc.

Regarding the hosting, you are right, that's what I thought first, to get a shared account (found some good reviews about aplus.net ...) and if I get somehow any success with it move it higher.

As long as I have a control panel from the hosting provider , I can handle it. Even if I get a virtual account I think I can handle it in a few days and do some tests. The only thing that I'm affraid is the site optimization, the reason why I'm here to learn too.

oh, and I don't want to get a site already done. I have enough free time to read and I want to handle it on my own. Maybe in the future if I have any oportunity to open another website I will accumulate a minimum experience ..

 

looking for other opinions...feel free to give me any advice

 

It's a quite saturated market, but if you find some way to make your site more profitable and better to use for users, you might be going in the right direction.

 

if you have any other opinions please do it. monday morning I'll take a shared hosting plan with aplus.net - soloxr (190 GB, 2000 GB/bandwidth a month). If everything works ok, I will take a couple more accounts with them only for storage ... another 4 maybe to have ~1000 GB for start. If people will like the service, I will get a dedicated one.

 

ok can u manage linux servers? handy with perl, php flash?

used lighttpd server before, know apache inside out?

can afford several hundred to thousand euro worth of servers?

can write scripts and software to scale across servers?

have time to answer legal letter?



if answer is no to any of above think again otherwise pm me im happy to help!

 

You might want to check with aplus.net about hosting a file upload site. The shared account which you specify is quite heavily overselling because it is plenty more diskspace and bandwidth that I have with any of my dedicated servers and paying tons more.

 

aplus.net agreed to host such site. they don't have any problem with that , they just recommended me a dedicated server on future.

to mihd: have time to answer legal letter? - what do you mean with this phrase ?

 

one more question and that's it: any suggestions for the domain name ? it should be a .com ?

 

A good keyword domain is always a plus point. Like i have one freehost.pk

 

what do you do when someone uploads a file that goes against your TOS and you receive complaint?

i reccommend at least starting with a vps that gives you shell access, also you should offer something unique (for example i offer huge uploads and no download limits)

the cheap hosts will not work as most of them have low timeouts so large uploads will fail, or they will ask you to move to dedicated server (it is a shared host and if you stand out and not worth the resources you using), or their php.ini is not set up for large file uploads and they wouldnt let you change it

 

As far as I could see in a demo account with aplus.net I can modify my own php.ini file.

Geting a targeted keyword domain isn't easy. I've tried at least 100 domains now and all of them are taken. Speaking of .com domains. I've find free some .org ones but I don't know what to choose.

if you could PM me and tell me more about users complaints etc.

 

if you receive a legal letter you have to comply and remove the files as soon as possible dont hesitate or show any hesitation.

make it clear that its against you TOS and you thank them for notifiying you, as such if a file is encrypted and filename scrambled there aint much you can you


i have 2 sites that i had as test runs for few months i might sell them but they still get traffic and already have alot of backlinks


http://www.alexaholic.com/mihd.net+easyfilehost.com+bigfileupload.com


it is worth opening a filehosting site still (even tho they are poping up like mushrooms) but you need to have software that can scale to multiple servers otherwise you stop growing

there is alot of variables for example;
-i had to ditch apache and go with lighttpd
-im currently working on premium system but my aim is not to annoy users like rapidshare.de do
-also security is of major concern
-i took risks in buying expensive hardware and learning alot as i went but its worth it


i reccommend visiting http://webhostingtalk.com


set clear targets for yourself

 

I found a single commercial script to buy online that has multi servers support. It might be others too, but I couldn't find absolutely none. If you know other php scripts who offer multi servers support PM me.

 

ur on the right track now its quite a learning curve but its worth it
i learned alot with this project


most scripts i found are of bad quality, i ended up writing a php5/c/java/perl concotion (for lack of better word) myself


ull quickly realise php is not suited for large file uploads and downloads u will find this interesting;
http://trac.lighttpd.net/trac/wiki/Docs:TrafficShaping
http://trac.lighttpd.net/trac/wiki/Docs:ModSecDownload
http://blog.lighttpd.net/articles/2006/08/01/mod_uploadprogress-is-back
http://uber-uploader.sourceforge.net/


all my servers are in different datacenters and countries so i couldnt do classic scaling

 

Zuk, I don't know if will help you, I have no idea how good a service these guys provide, but I did find this site that might be worth your time to check out:

http://www.unlimited-space.com/web-site-hosting.html

Code (markup):

Well, on second look, I realize that the bandwidth they're offering isn't so hot. Oh well, I tried.

 

Exactly. People are always interested in "free". Just make sure you have the server power to do so. So many image hosts go under quickly because they overlook this.