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What does it take to be a reseller?
| Posted by miltownkid, 12-01-2004, 05:07 AM |
| If this post looks too long, just skip down to my final question (I don't like reading long posts either ).
Hello. Here's my story, I'll try to keep it brief.
I've decided to register a couple of silly domains because I think they're funny. My current host would make me pay for a new account for each domain (at 9.95US/month) so I started looking elsewhere.
I found many hosts with many different costs and features, but having more domains was the one feature I really wanted. I was happy when I saw one the was 19.95 that allowed 15 domains, but more searching brought me to resell hosting plans.
I was (and still am) a little confused as to why I can get a reseller plan for (around) 20US/month that has a bunch of space, unlimited domains (ftp, email, etc.) and cool control panels.
Since I just want the extra domains for small silly sites (one or two pages) I figured I could just sell the rest of my space to friends and family (my current site is at about 50 Mb and 400Mb/month bandwidth).
Thinking some more brought me to the conclusion that I could setup a web hosting business and make a little extra money.
My business would be service driven and not hosting driven, so I wouldn't try to be the cheapest kid on the block.
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Basically I figure I could resell space myself and make money on referrals to other companies if someone approached me with something I thought was out of my league.
I apologize for the generalness of the following question: After I've picked out a hosting company, then what? I'm mainly referring to billing and legal things I'd need to prepare (I think since I'm a US citizen out of the country I can dodge the tax man, I'll ask my mom's friend about that one ).
Thanks
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| Posted by A|J, 12-01-2004, 05:43 AM |
| I don't even know where to start... Regardless of whether or not you are in the US, you're most probably going to have to pay taxes!
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| Posted by joshuayip, 12-01-2004, 05:56 AM |
| Starting out an not paying tax? That is a little bit weird. Bcos if you are making profit, giving back to the gov, will make sure they repair the road and public utilities.
Small businesses that has very little revenue is tax exempted, from where i come from. Dont be afraid to pay tax, rather be afraid if you have no tax to pay.
Joshua
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| Posted by miltownkid, 12-01-2004, 06:22 AM |
| I still file my taxes, but I don't have to pay taxes until I make over 80,000US/year (I'm still aways from that) because I live outside of the US (those roads and public utils are pretty useless for me). I'll find out and let you all know if interested (but that's not my main question).
If there were steps what would they be? (A good link would work)
If I go through a reseller do they have TOS's and legal agreements I can use?
What are things I should be aware of when looking for a host (I plan on taking my time to find one that suits me right)?
I guess I'm just looking for any points I should consider from people that started from the ground up. From where I stand now it looks like something that would be fun to do (helping people get personal and small business pages online).
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| Posted by subodhm, 12-01-2004, 06:28 AM |
| you should also figure out if you want linux or windows hosting. You should find a reliable host with good uptime and support, cos once you start hosting other people's sites you need to make sure that you have a reliable provider. Check out www.whreviews.com for a good host and do some searches on this forum for reviews on hosts before you sign up with them.
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| Posted by miltownkid, 12-01-2004, 06:47 AM |
| That's the site I've been looking for and google didn't give. Thanks!
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| Posted by soluhosting, 12-01-2004, 09:57 AM |
| The most important thing here is to find a reliable host with good uptime and support. About the TOS, I let my customers use my TOS, you must check with your host.
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| Posted by bryonhost1, 12-03-2004, 11:02 PM |
| Hi!
I've been on 'net for a long, long time. I think there is more...much more...to being a successful hosting company. A lot of thought and running he numbers needs to go into the when_do_I_get_a_dedicated_server vs shared_host. It is..and will be...very difficult to move even as few as ten serious customers from shared to a different server. Nobody likes downtime...and you may lose much when you move. I have a novel, workable approach to this. Even when I get ready for dedicated, I'll still keep the shared servers. That way...if customers on the shared servers are happy..leave them alone.
Move only the ones that, perhaps, are growing fast or want to move to a faster server...or for whatever reason. This leads me to the primary component: service. I'm not saying you have to be a ubergeek and know everything about everything. Impossible.
I'm just saying if you don't have at least passing knowledge in one major area...say...TCP/IP basics...at least find out whre there might be a board or discussion group about this if you need to ask a expert a question. Today changed my whole attitude of I've_got_to_have_a_host_I_can_call_on_the_phone. Nope.
I've got three I can contact via email and they respond within a reasonable period of time...and that's going to be fine. I think it is a mistake for someone to put themselves in the hosting situation of having to answer questions or do basic troubleshooting without some knowledge of scripting languages like PERL. Once you understand the server paths, it is a breeze.
If you don't..it is a nightmare. At least get to know a geek. We sometimes answer questions for free. Good luck,
Bryon
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| Posted by miltownkid, 12-04-2004, 02:02 AM |
| Thanks Bryon. You bring up a good point. Are there particular sets of skills I should be working on first?
My money's fine, have a job and plan on building this up slowly. I'm just working with a few people to help them build personal pages and I plan on slowly getting clients through word of mouth (it'll be more of a hobby for a while than a business).
My technical and networkings skills are fine (still much to learn, but I can quickly answer my own questions with a book or google.) I recently picked up a book on MySQL and PHP, and planned on moving on to learning Linux basics after that.
You mention knowing PERL would be important, but I can't imagine why (I just know it's a programming language). I'll take your word for it and do some reading, but I don't think it will cause me any trouble not knowing it in the beginning (I just plan on hosting blogs, small business pages, family pictures pages, things like that).
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| Posted by bryonhost1, 12-04-2004, 03:59 AM |
| Hi!
All the scripting languages share a common need: they sometimes cannot "find" system variables...you must provide them. I suggest you start a "toolkit". There are many scripts that can help you with this..I'll even get you started!
Right click on this link: http://www.fixitright.info/testing.php
You may click on it if you like as well...this shows you what you might need to know...and much, much more. This server belongs to Host gator. However, you cannot just assume all servers from host gator are like this. Nope. Host gator uses theplanet.com..and these people have co-lo facilities as well as leasing. It could be very, very different. P4's. dual xeons, Etc.
Different hardware...different software. My knowledgebase grew today greatly. I learned that the dual Xeons are nice..but...they had some serious kernel issues with Red Hat Enterprise 3. It's fixed now..but this got P4's instead. There are no perfect OS's.
Some people make the mistake of offering *.asp on Linux. Bad idea. No...if you need to have Windows stuff...you need to have Windows. I have three different platforms...Linux, Windows 2000 and Windows 2003. Why? Well...I'm familar with them all three...and each brings special things to the party.
If you are going to have customers..you're going to have questions. Even though Fantasico is impressive...and highly automated...you are always going to have people who want to upload their own cgi. Always.
You are going to need to learn to make and test databases. You must either use somebody else's FAQs or make your own. Google can help you with this. I didn't realize it is a geek dictionary as well...just type acronym in there search and see what I mean.
Try a really geeky one like BGB4. This is a router term...and routers are critical to how the 'net works. I myself wouldn't use google..I'd just tell you to go to http://www.cisco.com/univercd/home/home.htm
Ops..almost posted *.html. If you are trying to help someone...always check URLs. This is the motherload of networking info...enjoy. oh..btw...if a router ever offfers you a copy of it's routing table...uhhh..don't take it up on the offer. I did that once...scary. Several hundred MB of ascii dumped into a browser is just plain..scary. I recommend you start with networking basics...go to google and do a search on "traceroute gateways". These are handy tools..esp if you want to learn more about how all this stuff works. I use dnsstuff.com as well..a lot.
Handy for testing connection speeds and whatnot. traceroute is part of a typically unix toolset...although Windows can have it as well. There is a wonderful program called "Megaping". No...it's not a DDOS toolkit....it's a monster utilities-o-rama for Windows.
I have Linux on this computer as well...all my computers are dual-boot. It's just this notebook has a winmodem...and that does not work with Linux. I just have not had the time/money to fix that...yet. Anyways...I'm sorry. My posts are never ever "short".
This will get you started. I'll be updating my "main" website with more...just take a look at my profile. Enjoy!
Bryon
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