Flipping the script on webhosting

Introductions
1

Hi all. Pleased to be in this forum. I have been thinking about flipping the script on Webhosting. Wouldn’t it be awesome if we could design a business model where organisations get paid to be hosted? If you know of one that already does this or if you would be open to a conversation on how we might design such a thing, let me know.

1 Like
2

Hi Douglas. I’m all ears.

3

Ahh yes Graham. Well I notice how the game seems to be something like this:

  1. A social enterprise/charity/cooperative/ community business sets up and needs a website.
  2. Someone in the organisation or someone they hire, buys a domain name.
  3. Someone builds a website and gets paid for that and to maintain it.
  4. Someone is found who will host the website on a server. This hosting company/co-op charges a monthly or annual fee for webhosting. Alternatively, the organisation runs its own server. Some larger membership-based charities offer their servers to their members as part of the benefits of membership.

Is this correct? Have I missed out some steps? Are there existing alternatives in this value chain?

1 Like
4

Broadly this seems fair. Still struggling to see how you might usefully create a model whereby an organisation gets paid to be hosted, unless you are extracting sufficient volumes of valuable data from that website or hosted application such that it generates a lot of added value. I’m guessing you have a cunning plan…

1 Like
5

Sooo I have been thinking about crafting an impact aggregator…

6

presumably if an organisation is being payed to be hosted, then what they’re actually being payed for is the content and services on the website (and the work of maintaining it)?

1 Like
7

So I guess getting paid to be hosted could be done in one of two ways:
1 the host pays the hosted organisation for being on its server
2 a third party pays the hosted organisation’s hosting fees

The first is a simple exchange of value. What does the host value that the hosted organisation can get paid for? - carbon exchange? social impact? anything else such as access to social networks?

The second involves an exchange and a gift (or another exchange) from a third party.