Unless you are already a dedicated IT person, you probably would not consider web hosting as a niche. However, if you do it right it can be quite profitable for you. There are two ways you can make money from this niche.

The first is to sign up with a hosting company as an affiliate and promote the company. When someone opens a hosting account with them you get a commission. That is the simplest way to profit from this niche. If you get a reasonably number of sign-ups per month you can generate a sizable income. It helps if the company you are promoting has a great track record. That doesn’t mean they have to be “complaint-free”. Check out forums that discuss web hosting and see what people are saying. If most of the comments are positive then that is a good sign. Of course, not everyone will have something positive to say so when you encounter a negative comment, consider whether it is a “show-stopper” or merely a minor issue.

The second way to profit from the niche is to actually sell web hosting yourself. Many hosting companies provide this option. In most cases they are completely in the background so you can develop your own branding. The technology is sufficiently mature that you can quite easily host typical sites without having to be a “geek”. If there are questions from your customers that you can’t answer the hosting company is usually only too happy to give you the answer so you can satisfy your customer.

This second scenario can work out very profitable for you if you also offer website design services (whether you do it your self or outsource it) or if you set up niche websites to sell. When you sell the website you can offer free hosting for 6 or 12 months and then charge a monthly fee. If that monthly fee is what you are paying your hosting provider, then you only need to be hosting a few sites yourself to generate a comfortable monthly income.

One of the better hosting companies, IMHO, is Hostgator. I have used them for a number of my sites for a couple of years now and have found them to be very good. Of course, they are not the only company or the oldest, but they do provide good service and their pricing is very reasonable. Check them out and decide for yourself.