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Reselling WITHOUT Fancy Control Panels
| Posted by iSew, 12-01-2004, 01:23 PM |
| H-Sphere is awesome. cPanel is awesome. Ensim is awesome. Plesk is awesome. All the control panels are awesome! I'm beginning to feel like they are too awesome!
None of my web design clients need anything special. If they do, I refer them to various other hosts who can do a better job at providing fancy service. All I need is a way to support the clients who just want a reliable site where they can get access FTP, use email and be happy. Unfortunately all the fancy control panels each have their own annoying problems. H-Sphere is hard to migrate if I need to swich hosts. cPanel is too complex to handle and I will break it too often. etc etc etc.
What options are there for new resellers who just want something completely reliable and completely easy to use for both reseller and client. All I need is too handle basic monthly billing, charge for any overages, and set up simple accounts.
Honestly I've searched on Google over and over again, but every time I look for honest reviews I get 10 pages of nothing but Web Hosts selling services. WHT search is great, but searching for "simple control panel" and etc doesn't get results for what I'm looking for.
Cheers.
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| Posted by iSew, 12-01-2004, 03:50 PM |
| That looks quite nice. Reminds me of the DirectAdmin control panel. Only problem is that I definitely can't handle billing by myself/manually. I'm a web designer. I don't want spend any more time than I have to dealing with hosting. I just want happy clients
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| Posted by Zoren, 12-01-2004, 04:23 PM |
| Welcome to WHT iGabe,
I think you're in a good position with H-Sphere. It isn't the easiest cp to use, but I think it's the most powerful and flexible. Some of your difficulties could be overcome with a new approach to technical support. Do you need to give your customers access to the control panel? If your customers don't need/want to bother with the cp you can handle all of those tasks through your tech support & billing support. It's easy enough to setup email accounts on a customer's behalf. You can also set your plans to limit the features available in the control panel.
Hsphere has had some minor bugs like most control panels, but I have found it to be very stable. This will also depend upon the network you're on and the staff supporting it.
I would say customer "happiness" is more of a customer service issue. Proactive support and tools like documentation, tutorials & a welcome/ setup guide will ease people into any new control panel. A good knowledge base is helpful too.
Migration from a host using h-sphere is easiest to another host using h-sphere. There aren't that many hosts using it but they are on the rise. Psoft or your new host should be able to assist with this. You can also use the file manager to backup and download customer sites.
Cpanel is nice & an industry standard. I don't know how you can "break" it as a user or reseller, but I don't think that is common. It is considered user-friendly, and it's relatively easy to move between hosts. That said, it lacks the billing feature of h-sphere. You'd have to add a 3rd part tool like WHM autopilot or modern bill.
I would suggest taking some time to get to know h-sphere a little better and review customer access to the cp.
Good luck with your business venture.
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| Posted by iSew, 12-01-2004, 04:51 PM |
| Hi and thanks :) Really appreciate your detailed reply. Definitely going to need some time to sit back and let your comments sink in. You made quite a few solid good point.
Anyhow, the whole complete-package H-Sphere is very appealing. Then again, the WHMAutoPilot's integration into cPanel seems very well done. Decisions are never easy. :)
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| Posted by Captian_Spike, 12-02-2004, 07:13 PM |
| But then again H-Sphere is a mutliserver and multiplatform control panel. Meaning you can sell off windows and linux hosting, and even distribute the load over several servers (ie mysql on one and apache on another). It is very appealing from an admin point of view, although the end user control panel didn't seem as good as other products.
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| Posted by VanHost, 12-02-2004, 07:24 PM |
| While I certainly acknowledge the desire for value-added services, perhaps looking for a decent affiliate program is the way to go for you. Partner up with a quality hosting program that will offer you a nice commission in return for your referrals and let them take care of the headache...regardless of the control panel.
There is a lot more to maintaining hosting than just fixing the control panel. Security, upgrades, etc., etc.
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| Posted by CrazyTech, 12-02-2004, 11:10 PM |
| Advice well said. Part of being a host is taking on the responsibilities. Just like you are in search of a more simple reseller situation, people are in search of a more simple control panel where they can do everything at the click(or two) of a mouse.
It's the evolution of hosting; people don't just want to be able to upload files anymore - they want email, one click scripts, and other devices that reduce the work that they must do. The role of being a host has changed with it - including the software we use.
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| Posted by iSew, 12-03-2004, 12:58 AM |
| We currently refer people to both DreamHost or LunarPages. Big fan of both. Clients seem to love them too
Completely understand. Not aiming to compete with other hosts in any way. If we feel that a client would be better served elsewhere, wouldn't hesitate for a second before referring them to someone else. My goal is simply to provide reliable no-frills hosting to our web design clients who don't want/need a fancy control panel and just want their site to be reliably up, be able to maintain it through FTP, and have access to their email.
The 'obvious' benefit to having us host them vs someone else is that we are 1 click away from accessing clients site if they want us to maintain it or fix up any problems they might have had updating it themselves.. for example.
I think we agree All true points. But worth noting that some people may, if given the option, choose to go for a simpler option even if it means less power.
For example: I strongly prefer using SquirrelMail over real email programs(Eudora, Thunderbird, etc) even though it lacks many advanced and powerful options(ignoring the fact that there are tons of plugins available). It just works and is incredibly easy to figure out.
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