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Please Help Me Decide WHO TO USE!!!
| Posted by GizmoWebs, 07-19-2006, 11:23 PM |
| I've read through just about everything in here and I'm more confused than ever!!
I have several clients that I am building websites for (mostly real estate related)
They all need hosting (obviously) so I have decided to start my own Hosting Co.
There are so many suggestions on here, and it seems like the same questions always come up, how much space? Bandwith? budget? etc. etc. - I have no idea on any of that!! that's why I need help. Like I said before, I only have several clients lined up so far, but I have so many others lining up. I'm sure I should start off small, and then add space (i think?)
Important things for me though (and what my customers want) are BILLING capability, Web/Search engine promotion, / programs - I want to resell domain names to them, and the more bells & Whistles, the better. Most of the people I will handle are mostly internet illiterate, so I will be maintaining & administering most of their sites, of course, it would be nice to sell sites to people who are just looking to park their current sites on their own.
So, my problem mostly is this: Who to Use!!! I've looked at hostgator, elitewebs, registerfly, jaguar, sonet7, bulixweb, big wow web, all reseller, domain.com and god knows how many other hundreds.
Can anyone tell me WHO TO USE! My head is REALLY SPINNING!!!!
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| Posted by basic, 07-20-2006, 12:03 AM |
| I suggest you look for a smaller reseller account -- you can always upgrade later, if needed. And I suggest to go with cPanel as a hosting panel, and "Fantastico" script installer. cPanel is easy to administer and Fantastico installs many of the scripts your customer may want to have. Then sign up for an eNom domain reseller account -- so you can offer domains to your customers. And maybe WhoisCart as a sales interface to use (it's cheap and easy to use). Then, if you don't have your own merchant account, simply use 2CheckOut.com and PayPal. Works perfectly fine for smaller and medium size hosts.
John
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| Posted by TCP/IP Warrior, 07-20-2006, 12:07 AM |
| If you have an immediate need and you can't decide then I suggest that you signup with 3 or more providers and "feel" which one is right for you. Email support at 3:00am on Sunday and see who responds... actually see who responds first intelligently!. Each provider will have strengths and weaknesses from your perspective. What is a strong review here might be lacking in what you need for your real state clients.
Best advise I can give you is don't go for the whole ball of wax right away. Get your existing clients on your account and then worry about the search engine promotion, domain name selling, and the bells and whistles. In this business you can spend $5000 the first day and not see a profit for a long time.
Remember... reliability counts. More so than price if you ask me.
Good luck to you!
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| Posted by Jet, 07-20-2006, 02:46 AM |
| I am using sjrhosting.com and their support is good. Dont know if they opffer everything you want but you need to find a support desk that looks after you.
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| Posted by GizmoWebs, 07-20-2006, 10:53 AM |
| One problem though is that I have some customers that are already asking for the SEO - I had always done it myself manually (if you can imagine) and just don't want to spend the time on it - I agree about reliability vs. price - I just don't want get caught with my pants down & not be able to offer services - I have a REAL CORNER on the market here & with my connections really could be handling 100's of accounts within a year - I just want to do my best! Do you have any thoughts on the companies that I listed?
**p.s. thanks ALL for your posts, it really is helpful!!!!
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| Posted by nax9, 07-20-2006, 11:15 AM |
| If you plan on having a few hundred customers, my advice would be to use a host that is scalable. From reseller to vps(if needed) to dedicated.
As for SEO, there's plenty of SEO firms out there that you can deal with. Find a few reviews, and contact them.
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| Posted by Shaw Networks, 07-22-2006, 04:22 PM |
| Reading all of the dramatic and widely variable reviews here won't help you get a good idea of what host to choose. The best way to go about finding your host is to check out some of the larger host review websites and look for higher ranked hosts in the reseller category. After you get a few hosts in hand compare the plans they offer, support options, etc.
Good luck finding a host
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| Posted by Swelly, 07-22-2006, 05:12 PM |
| Seems like a basic reseller plan from any provider will fit like a glove. Things you may want to consider is End-User Support. You can find companies that will provide support for YOUR customers however, you get the credit for the great support. Also there are providers who have billing software including in their reseller plans. Just little things to think of when starting up the business. I agree with you on the start off though. Start small to cut prices, and let your hosting plan grow when you do. Most every provider will let you upgrade your service at no cost, but the pricing will change on the next billing cycle.
When you start off you want to make the MOST possible of your hosting solution. So first thing is first...do not judge your choice on pricing levels. 90% of the time lower plans give lower results, and as a start off you need the most bang for your buck. Check for reviews on those hosts that you have a list for either here or on various directories to see which one may fit your needs best! Also shoot the sales team a few questions and see what their response is like. Typically, it will give you a general idea of how service and support will be. With that being said...only you can choose the host of your dreams, look around for reviews on those providers that are on your list and narrow it down from there. If you have to pay a bit more to get features such as billing solutions, end-user support, SEO tools and promotions, etc...then I suggest do it. Better to start off on the right foot and you have the right idea, seem to be going in the correct direction.
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| Posted by redihot.com, 07-23-2006, 05:23 PM |
| We would recommend elitehosts, with their plans you get all the bells, including the domain name reseller, billing system, and lots more bells. They offer lots of different plans so there is a basic one to get you started.
Before you register to any of the hosts ask some pre-sales questions to get a feel for them and find out the time for a response.
Hope that Helps
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| Posted by hebergeo, 07-25-2006, 10:49 PM |
| Hostingzoom has a good reseller plan, you may want to check out
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| Posted by sfoma, 08-02-2006, 01:10 PM |
| I too have been happy with hostingzoom (actually resellerzoom.com)
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| Posted by cartika-andrew, 08-02-2006, 06:42 PM |
| Sure, or you could get an hsphere reseller account and have all this, plus dual platform, plus exchange integration plus full automation...
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| Posted by NashTax, 08-02-2006, 06:59 PM |
| I would go with www.hostgator.com there an awesome company who care for customers. I currently have their rea-seller package.
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| Posted by GizmoWebs, 08-04-2006, 03:03 PM |
| OK, so those of you that chose Hostgator - how many sites do you host? How easy was it to set up your 'own' hosting biz? What size should I start with? any other thoughts????
(I am still considering Registerfly.com too, any input on them?)
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| Posted by gate2vn, 08-05-2006, 08:31 AM |
| well... it's not very easy if you want to have a long time business. You will need to prepare finance, staff, what you want to do... for starting, you can go with smallest package, then upgrading when needed.
For domains, I would suggest ResellerClub. We have registered 1000+ domains through them without anyproblem, even they are slow in support sometime. You can signup directly with them, or go through a reseller (it might be cheaper)
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| Posted by 2Macs Jim, 08-05-2006, 10:24 AM |
| I would agree with CartikaHosting. H-Shpere isn't the biggest name system used here, but it is comprehensive. You don't have to worry about extra billing programs, etc. Everything is right there for you. Might cost a couple more bucks in the beginning, but well worth it. As a matter of fact, contact CartikaHosting and see for yourself. I'm sure they will answer any of your questions.
your second best choice if you'd rather go with C-Panel is Hostgator, they seem like they have a pretty nice setup for resellers and they get good reviews.
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| Posted by stefansun, 08-06-2006, 09:37 PM |
| I like HostingZoom too. I've been with them for 5 months and so far it has been great.
I came from JaguarPC which was ok but I noticed the servers were going down too much.
HostingZoom tech support is great too...fast responses. I had 2 SSL certs installed and they did it for free for me.
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