The Newbie Fear

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Posted by koop, 08-02-2010, 07:13 PM
Hi All, I was interested in opening a reseller account with my current host so I can throw my client's websites online and charge them a yearly hosting fee. Currently I'm telling them to set-up their own shared account then I upload the site for them. I'm only familiar with my standard shared Cpanel ... so I'm a little reluctant about using the WHM panel. Should I be? I'm hoping that I'm not stupid enough to stuff up adding a new user etc! Has anyone found reselling a big scary problem?! Or is it just a small learning curve? I'm not keen to make my client's experience with me a bad one but I would prefer it if I can look after the hosting instead of them having to deal with it alone. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
Posted by KMyers, 08-02-2010, 07:45 PM
Greetings,
Posted by garmanonline, 08-02-2010, 07:48 PM
As with anything there is always a learning curve, however I don't think you should be afraid of it. You do always have a forum here you could post in with questions and there are "how to's" all over Google as well. If you are to setup a reseller hosting account my suggestion would be to run through the entire "client" end of things yourself after everything gets setup. If you are really looking to make money off hosting you could look into getting a VPS with cPanel installed on it. It is a bit more initial work but may pay off bigger in the end. Not sure what kind of margins you would be able to make with reseller hosting. The VPS would give you much more control but of course with that control you would have a little bit more of a learning curve. I'd me more than happy to help you out in learning WHM or setting up your reseller with your host! I'm sure most of the community here is too.
Posted by koop, 08-02-2010, 08:26 PM
Thanks for the response, guys. I'm currently hosted at Hostgator and have been for many years so I will probably take on one of their reseller plans. I have had nothing but great support from them from day one. I'm not hugely concerned with large profit margins at present - just looking for a way to offer a more 'hands-off' package for my clients. Most want a website but don't care for the back-end stuff. If I run into any difficulties I will certainly be hunting around this forum for advice!
Posted by Forward Web, 08-02-2010, 08:57 PM
You should be fine, I think you will find WHM to be more useful than cpanel (gives you more control over your web hosting accounts).
Posted by mjfroggy, 08-02-2010, 09:31 PM
As the others said, the learning curve wont be to far away from cPanel. The layout and documentation is nearly perfect, along with the countless tutorials and walk-throughs on the web. Using a reseller account will allow you to have complete control (er, nearly) over your clients. Unless you need particular PHP.ini configurations or root access, you'll be just fine.
Posted by koop, 08-02-2010, 09:39 PM
Thanks Fernando, I hope you're right. I'll give it a run with a few dummy sites/accounts and see how it plays out. Cheers Chris
Posted by vWiz, 08-04-2010, 12:12 AM
WHM isn't all that "scary", and there's a lot of online resources and video tutorials that can help you get started. Overall, if you're familiar with cPanel, I would think there isn't too much of a learning curve to master WHM.
Posted by kevster1, 08-04-2010, 12:45 AM
whmm is very user friendly you'll be fine and we all have the same thoughts when first setting out. a point to remember, yes you will make more from your own vps but make sure you get a fully managed one. at least that way you can pass on the support tickets you have an issue with to your host. Remember a reseller doesnt deal with the support queries he is just the middle man and for a start that is the best way to learn. you can always move onto a vps afterwards.
Posted by XeHSean, 08-04-2010, 12:48 AM
WHM is very straight forward. Besides, if you have any questions, you can always just submit a ticket to your hosting provider and I'm sure they would be glad to walk you through it.
Posted by M Bacon, 08-04-2010, 01:05 AM
Practice makes perfect. If you have issues, contact your host or ask us on WHT.
Posted by koop, 08-04-2010, 03:26 AM
Thank you all. I really appreciate the feedback. Certainly makes me feel far less anxious. Cheers
Posted by hosting49, 08-04-2010, 05:26 AM
I was like you once but I thought what the heck and took the plunge. It didn't take me long to get used to the system and how to use it. One thing I would say is don't be afraid to ask if you don't know. I sent quite a few support tickets in to my provider and they were extremely helpful when I got stuck. I also found a great deal of usefull knowledge on the internet and forums like this one.
Posted by kevster1, 08-04-2010, 07:20 AM
exactly there is always help out there and google is your friend
Posted by TmzHosting, 08-04-2010, 08:15 AM
Google is your best friend when dealing with this stuff. If you have used cPanel before than WHM shouldn't be hard to learn for you. - Daniel
Posted by patrick101, 08-04-2010, 11:42 AM
Go for it koop! It seems a shame to design websites and then let someone else make money out of the hosting. Once you finish the design work you then get a residual income from your clients' hosting fees. WHM is nothing to be afraid of especially if you are used to the cPanel interface. Just dont fiddle with anything that you are not sure about! As you have seen (above) there are plenty of people who are willing to offer advice.
Posted by koop, 08-04-2010, 07:24 PM
Patrick101: Thanks. I kinda hate knowing that a client is paying someone else horrendous monthly fees for hosting ... and I'm not getting any of it! I'm in a tiny niche market so I think I'll just keep focusing on that. Although I am unsure what from end set-up I should provide for any customers that aren't design clients. I noticed WHMCS and was wondering if this was a smart move for a newbie? @AKPC: I noticed your front end is based on a WP template. Did you integrate the back end stuff onto it yourself? And is it WHMCS? I've been looking around this forum the last few days and have to say it is a great resource. Definitely a helpful community.
Posted by ThisOldMan, 08-04-2010, 11:01 PM
WHM is just one very little step up from cPanel so go ahead by all means. btw you should play around with it for a while before getting clients. It will give you more confidence to handle real-time hosting issues.
Posted by TBradley, 08-04-2010, 11:18 PM
From the sounds of it you would be fine to grab a reseller account and begin reselling. The extra monthly revenue is a big help as a freelancer, which by the sounds of it sounds like you are. I would recommend you going with a host that offers SSL certificates and a WHMCS license!
Posted by ThisOldMan, 08-05-2010, 12:02 AM
Who would you recommend? I mean a host that offers SSL certificates and WHMCS licence. I am interested. Especially if it comes bundled with the reseller package.
Posted by CrocWeb, 08-05-2010, 03:47 AM
HostGator seems to offer free WHMCS with their reseller plans. It is a great billing software, will make your life much easier.
Posted by stoppingfear, 08-05-2010, 04:11 AM
I've never tried it but it shouldn't be very complicated.
Posted by patrick101, 08-05-2010, 05:33 AM
Yes, WHMCS is a great way to keep track of your clients. It will bill them automatically (by intergrating with Paypal and others) and provide many additional functions such as support desk and ordering services from you. Use as much or little of it as you like!
Posted by ninak, 08-06-2010, 09:09 AM
If you have used cPanel then learning WHM will be very easy. A lot of it is almost self explanatory. Look for a reseller package that offers free WHMCS or Clientexec. They integrate with it very smoothly and also are not that hard to learn.
Posted by ThisOldMan, 08-06-2010, 09:55 AM
What is Clientexec? Like WHMCS?
Posted by ninak, 08-06-2010, 10:54 AM
Very similar with somethings that WHMCS doesn't have but then again WHMCS has more things then Clientexec. (getting more similar by the day) You need to go to their web pages to see the two programs. (The major difference is the pricing if you are purchasing on your own)
Posted by qtriangle, 08-08-2010, 04:49 AM
I have just 2 things to say: 1. You make a better choice to go Reseller with a provider you have tested well for some time. 2. WHM is not alternative of CPanel, but it is NEEDED to manage all your customer. A customer can manage his/her resources using CPanel. Similarly you need a way to manage your resources (customer websites), so WHM is there for you. You should learn it, and use it. Do not depend on support for the stuff you can do from WHM itself.
Posted by XeHSean, 08-08-2010, 11:01 AM
For webhosting, I'd highly recommend WHMCS to you over clientexec. WHMCS is a lot more tailored towards the web hosting industry and has a lot more frequent updates.
Posted by DewlanceHosting, 08-08-2010, 06:44 PM
Read reseller tutorials and also read tech blogs and increase your knowledge.
Posted by neumannu47, 08-08-2010, 07:27 PM
You also want to "interview" your new host. If they don't have time for you when they're trying to get your money, they will not have time for you when you really need them. New companies are often very helpful. Once they get a lot of business, things can change.
Posted by ThisOldMan, 08-08-2010, 09:17 PM
You speak the truth. I, myself, normally would just forget it if I don't get a response within an hour. After all, it's not like there is only one host available. The situation is now becoming a buyers' market. Buyers can pick and choose the best host that they want. I know because I am doing that right now. And I am not talking about 100Mb plans. I am looking at 10Gb offers. I don't know. Maybe ThisOldMan is just lucky.
Posted by Capital-hosting, 08-08-2010, 09:49 PM
Lol what a strange post

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