Your clients - What do you do about webhosting?
-
-
- SuperCharlie
- Rocketeer
- Posts: 92
- Thanks: 1
-
I have had a hostgator reseller account for close to 3 years now. The Aluminum (lowest level) one. It is a little less than $25 (US) a month.
The way we do it is that we include a year of hosting with our site development and then charge $15 or so a month afterwards. We do all the setup and whatnot. On a usual build, we develop the site in its ip/~username until it is approved, then either the client or us changes the DNS at the registrar and everything then goes live.
There are good and bad things about hostgator reseller accts.
First the good things..
You have complete control over the hosting (logins, passwords, database setups, etc..)
You can turn them on and off at any time.
You can charge for the hosting.
You can work on the website in the final live space before it gets live so you dont have to migrate.
You can have your own dns server (NS1.YOURNAME.COM) (looks spiffy to clients)
Online chat help 24/7 that gets you to someone within 5 mins, usually less.
Managing multiple clients hosting is a lot easier than multiple logins to a webhost.
Now the downsides..
You are the web host, you field the initial support calls.
You are on a shared server which means you deal with performance issues when you or someone else decides to write an infinite loop or eat a ton of resources. (Same as shared hosting)
They limit the amount of disk and bandwidth per reseller account and you have to apportion it between clients. And try to explain to clients why its not unlimited. This includes email size.
For me, the benefits outweigh the detractors. The next step is VPS and then your own server. The hostgator reseller thing is a good low-priced solution but it is **not** without its downsides. - Behind every great website is more coffee and cigs than you can ever imagine.
-
-
-
- Kent Black
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 261
- Thanks: 0
-
Thanks SuperCharlie, I am extremely happy with HostGator aluminum like yours, and the support has been supurb! Now I just have to learn the ins and outs of the reseller stuff but thinking of offering it with the design like you do. It will be easier to have it all in one place instead of all the login stuff I have to keep for all the other sites. Trying now to get WHMCS setup and learned to be able to invoice clients and offer the hosting. I'm sure I'll be asking a lot more questions.
Thanks again everybody!
Kent
-
-
-
- mistrhanky
- Rocketeer
- Posts: 56
- Thanks: 0
-
I have been considering a switch as well. I am on westhost now and they are pretty good and feature full with backup support, upgrades, etc. They pretty much let me do what I want on there. The downside is that there speeds have declined badly over the last two years. I am considering a switch to either hostgator or hostmonster. My main priorities are ssh access, speed and stability, current upgrades for things like php/mysql, mysql flexibility and the ability to run things like cron and some xsl tools from command line.
Any thoughts between the two?
-
-
-
- SuperCharlie
- Rocketeer
- Posts: 92
- Thanks: 1
- As far as speed goes, until you get to VPS or dedicated server, you are always at the whim of the mob (shared hosting) you are hosted with..
- Behind every great website is more coffee and cigs than you can ever imagine.
-
-
-
- Jason Kopacko
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 653
- Thanks: 1
- 1&1 is running some pretty good deals on low end servers that may be within a lot of yalls price ranges. I have a dedicated box with them.
- Thank you,
Jason
Server #1: 4-Cores @ 2.3Ghz | 8GB RAM | Plesk Control Panel v11.0.9 | Apache/2.2.3-65.el5 | mySQL: 5.5.23 | PHP: 5.3.10
Server #2: 8-Cores @ 2.5Ghz | 16GB RAM | Plesk Control Panel v11.0.9 | Apache/2.2.15-15.el6 | mySQL: 5.5.25 | PHP: 5.4.4
-
-
-
- Kent Black
- Hero Rocketeer
- Posts: 261
- Thanks: 0
-
Is it better to order domains through Hostgator or through WHMCS for a client? I am going to do the ordering of domains myself instead of automated, but still want it in WHMCS like Ben said.
Thanks,
Kent
-
-
-
- Jason Kopacko
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 653
- Thanks: 1
- I don't order my clients domains. I have them setup a GoDaddy account and purchase their domains. Then they add me as an Account Exec so I can manage the domain and the DNS without seeing their credit card and other personal info.
- Thank you,
Jason
Server #1: 4-Cores @ 2.3Ghz | 8GB RAM | Plesk Control Panel v11.0.9 | Apache/2.2.3-65.el5 | mySQL: 5.5.23 | PHP: 5.3.10
Server #2: 8-Cores @ 2.5Ghz | 16GB RAM | Plesk Control Panel v11.0.9 | Apache/2.2.15-15.el6 | mySQL: 5.5.25 | PHP: 5.4.4
-
-
-
- David Goode
- Preeminent Rocketeer
- Posts: 17058
- Thanks: 890
- Web Designer and Host
-
Hi Kent,
I use NetEarthOne but put it through WHMCS. That way I don't use any of my deposited funds until the client has paid me.
Another advantage of doing it this way is that you can start hosting on same day as domain so renewals will always be around same dates. Saves customers forgetting and then blaming you. That can spoil a good relationship.
Just my opinion though. :cheesy:
Please search forums before posting. Please make sure your post includes the version of the CMS you are using and a link to the problem. Annotations on screenshots can also be helpful to explain problems/goals. Please use the "secure" tab for confidential information
-
-
-
- Ben Simon
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 4301
- Thanks: 8
- Full-time web developer
-
NetEarthOne +1
That may only be David's opinion, but it happens to be right
- B
e courteous to staff and members that volunteer their time helping you
E ssential Tool - FireBug
N ever assume I know what version you're talking about
S earch the forum for a solution first
I nclude a link to the problem
M ark your resolved issues as [SOLVED]
O nly PM moderators if they request it first
N o...
-
-
-
- Jason Kopacko
- Elite Rocketeer
- Posts: 653
- Thanks: 1
- I think owning any client's domain is just bad mojo.
- Thank you,
Jason
Server #1: 4-Cores @ 2.3Ghz | 8GB RAM | Plesk Control Panel v11.0.9 | Apache/2.2.3-65.el5 | mySQL: 5.5.23 | PHP: 5.3.10
Server #2: 8-Cores @ 2.5Ghz | 16GB RAM | Plesk Control Panel v11.0.9 | Apache/2.2.15-15.el6 | mySQL: 5.5.25 | PHP: 5.4.4
-
Time to create page: 0.070 seconds