ad-based hosting?

[DiverseHosting]

I got bored and started thinking about some posts I read awhile back where people were wanting to know if they could set up ad-based hosting with RC.

I realize there are obstacles to this method, but do any of you master developers see this as a feasible starting point?

RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule ^(.*) http://adserver.com/adpage.php?includepage=$1 [NC]

And then something like this for the ad page:

echo $adlink;

include($includepage);

I know I haven't thought this all the way through, but I thought it might help somebody get started.

[danuk]

hmmm? explain so more. ad based hosting, not quite sure what you mean.

[DiverseHosting]

Originally Posted by danuk

hmmm? explain so more. ad based hosting, not quite sure what you mean.

To offer free hosting with ads, like geocities or some of those other hosts

[danuk]

ahh yeah that would be quite kewl but woew likke where would you begin.

[kobra]

Another approach might be to offer free hosting(minimal) with the purchase of a domain name...

Maybe along this line:

* No Ads
* No Banners
* No Pop-ups
* No required forum posting
* 1 GB Monthly Data Transfer
* 100 MB Disk Storage
* PHP 5, mySQL, CGI included
* POP email and webmail
* Huge feature list
* Fantastico script installer
* Tons of free software
* 24 x 7 x 365 Tech support,
* 99.9% Uptime
* Easy to use cPanel Control Panel.

Etc....

Get them started for Free and as they require more they are at least with you

Just another idea???

[DeanClinton]

You need to check host's TOS & AUP carefully - many don't allow free hosting as it attracts trouble (like Warez and being targetted by hackers/DOS'ers).

[dr2web]

My take on this...

Dean you mentioned free hosting.. one of the ideas is not free just redirected. If they purchase a domain from you and hosting is included, it is not exactly free...

I think that you need to figure out the market that you are trying to attract. I have written some rotating ad scripts that basically chosen an ad image or text at random and displayed it. The next thing that you would need to figure out though is:

1) do you want to allow them to upload html source? If so, how are you going to include the ad scripts?

2) frames? frames is the easiest way to put the ads in there, but at the same time it is the easiest to circumvent.

It seems that would need a way in order to parse thier page with the ads in order to display the ads in a designated position.

The obvious question then becomes the ads. How much to charge for the ads. Getting the ads sold. It seems like it could be very lucrative, but needs a stable development upfront.

Another option is to offer them a taste of your hosting for free, as was mentioned by kobra. Sell them a domain (which they will renew every year for ease) and then give them a small hosting plan. Like kobra said, if they require more they are already with you, and if they are happy, they will upgrade without question. If not, the extra profit you made in registration will at least cover the hosting cost.

[DiverseHosting]

Originally Posted by kobra

Another approach might be to offer free hosting(minimal) with the purchase of a domain name...

Maybe along this line:

* No Ads
* No Banners
* No Pop-ups
* No required forum posting
* 1 GB Monthly Data Transfer
* 100 MB Disk Storage
* PHP 5, mySQL, CGI included
* POP email and webmail
* Huge feature list
* Fantastico script installer
* Tons of free software
* 24 x 7 x 365 Tech support,
* 99.9% Uptime
* Easy to use cPanel Control Panel.

Etc....

Get them started for Free and as they require more they are at least with you

Just another idea???

lol... I do that

[DiverseHosting]

To clear things up, I reconize the areas of concern when starting something like this. I do not want to implement this myself. I just remember being asked a few times (through forum posts, not me directly) if this could be done with the H9 setup. The point of this thread was not to determine whether it should be done, but rather, how to do it.

[QUOTE]1) do you want to allow them to upload html source? If so, how are you going to include the ad scripts?{/QUOTE]

You can put the ad scripts on a different server/account that is under your control. That is why I have the backwards thinking... Rather than include the adpage, you include the actual page onto the ad page.

With this approach, the only problem becomes keeping the customer from editing the htaccess.

[dr2web]

putting thier content in to the ad... novel idea... It seems that it would be relatively simple to do, just a matter of sitting down and planning and writing.

I definately think that your idea of putting thier page in to the ad seems to be a really decent idea. With that I dont think that they would be able to modify the htaccess because the page that they would be displaying would be from your directory structure.

To elaborate here is what I have in mind.

The index page with the main content, now do not give them access to this directory. Instead makea ftp directory that feeds into a subdirectory. Now because they have access to only the lower directory they can only make modifications to what goes in to the page. I think I am having a hard time explaining what I mean. The only problemI see is that they would either have to have certain page names that they could use, or there would have to be some dynamic content somehow that enabled the page names to be active.

Maybe a content management system would be key here?? I designed a CMS that allowed the end-user to update all of the site pages from within his backend. If you did something like this, you could put code snippets wherever you wanted for the ads to display. Furthermore, you would have the ability then to have an ad server with all of the ads stored in to a database...