Web Design Forums

pagey · 29-05-2007, 15:03

Hi there,

I have a question. So lets say you've bagged yourself a customer. They want you to build a website, and you've agreed the price etc.

Now onto the domain name and hosting. You've found a suitable domain name, and a company with which you'd like to host the website with.

How do you go about sorting out the hosting?

Presumably, you don't pay for it yourselves and have the customer pay you the monthly subscription. Do you get the pay details of the customer and use those?

Its most probably a stupid question. But I'd appreciate it answered

Cheers

DrBurkstrom · 29-05-2007, 17:37

A lot of hosting companies offer a reseller package allowing you to host X number of sites yourself. I use one of these and charge my clients an annual fee for hosting and domain registration. Yes, it is more work for me but it makes a lot of things much easier, like when they phone up 6 months down the line with a change that can't be handled by the CMS and needs me to do it. As for hosting companies, I recommend Prime Hosting Ltd: Homepage

bluesage · 29-05-2007, 19:50

I have a similar problem. hope someone can shed some light..

Snowshiro · 29-05-2007, 23:16

The Doc pretty much nailed it. Do some research and look for a host with a good reputation. Presumably you're going to go down the Linux route - to make your life easier, CPanel and shell access are highly desirable.

You can buy a cheap reseller account and charge multiple clients for annual server rental. Unless you have a huge customer with a high traffic site, you'll be able to host a large number of clients on a single machine, and make back many times what you're paying (assuming you have the technical skills to be able to actually do it.).

Asking the customer to pay directly is both inconvenient for them and losing you one of your easy and highly profitable areas of business.

freelancr · 30-05-2007, 03:55

Since you are just starting out hosting people, this could be right down your alley.

Web Hosting by DreamHost Web Hosting: Web Sites, Domain Registration, WordPress, Ruby on Rails, all on Debian Linux!

There is an offer on today giving you a coupon code... but you can google $96 coupons too. So for $20 you have practically unlimited reseller hosting for a year.

Then hit the random number generator on your calculator, and charge the client that every month/year.

pagey · 30-05-2007, 04:10

Looks interesting..........and highly complicated!

I suppose the more business you get, and hence the more sites you host, the more money you'd be making?

pgo · 30-05-2007, 10:34

Of course, you don't make much with reselling to clients unless you have lots of them or overcharge them. The money's in maintenance contracts.

Plus, is it worth the hassle of being responsible for all those websites' uptime?

Snowshiro · 31-05-2007, 02:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgo

Plus, is it worth the hassle of being responsible for all those websites' uptime?

Dunno. Is it worth the hassle of working to get money? That seems to be the way life works.

Seriously though, that's the point of choosing a good hosting company. Go with a bunch of idiots, and you may end up carrying the can for their fuckups. Speaking of which, Dreamhost have had several fairly high profile fuckups in recent times. They're reasonably well liked by a lot of people, but beware of things that look too cheap to be true.

Recently I've been using a company called Priority Colo (PriorityColo.com -). They're based in Canada, but that's never been an issue so far, speed-wise. So far, after about 8 months, I can't fault them. Probably the only host I wouldn't use again (for now anyway) is UK2. I got burned too many times by their unscheduled downtimes.

Blue Ire · 31-05-2007, 04:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by pgo

Of course, you don't make much with reselling to clients unless you have lots of them or overcharge them. The money's in maintenance contracts.

Plus, is it worth the hassle of being responsible for all those websites' uptime?

Seriously, just give them a referral link to http://hostgator.com or some such, they pay out at like $50-$120 per referral... hassle free cash.

freelancr · 31-05-2007, 06:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue Ire

Seriously, just give them a referral link to http://hostgator.com or some such, they pay out at like $50-$120 per referral... hassle free cash.

Most of my clients have trouble turning a computer on, nevermind sorting out their own hosting. I see it as part of the service, and a profitable part at that.

29-05-2007, 15:03	#1 (permalink)
pagey Resident Cheese Expert Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: South Wales Posts: 702	Hosting for customers Hi there, I have a question. So lets say you've bagged yourself a customer. They want you to build a website, and you've agreed the price etc. Now onto the domain name and hosting. You've found a suitable domain name, and a company with which you'd like to host the website with. How do you go about sorting out the hosting? Presumably, you don't pay for it yourselves and have the customer pay you the monthly subscription. Do you get the pay details of the customer and use those? Its most probably a stupid question. But I'd appreciate it answered Cheers

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version Email this Page	Search this Thread: Advanced Search

29-05-2007, 17:37	#2 (permalink)
DrBurkstrom Registered User Join Date: Jan 2007 Posts: 32	A lot of hosting companies offer a reseller package allowing you to host X number of sites yourself. I use one of these and charge my clients an annual fee for hosting and domain registration. Yes, it is more work for me but it makes a lot of things much easier, like when they phone up 6 months down the line with a change that can't be handled by the CMS and needs me to do it. As for hosting companies, I recommend Prime Hosting Ltd: Homepage

29-05-2007, 19:50	#3 (permalink)
bluesage Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Switzerland Posts: 356	I have a similar problem. hope someone can shed some light..

29-05-2007, 23:16	#4 (permalink)
Snowshiro Will work for Marmite Join Date: May 2007 Location: Sapporo, Japan Posts: 574	The Doc pretty much nailed it. Do some research and look for a host with a good reputation. Presumably you're going to go down the Linux route - to make your life easier, CPanel and shell access are highly desirable. You can buy a cheap reseller account and charge multiple clients for annual server rental. Unless you have a huge customer with a high traffic site, you'll be able to host a large number of clients on a single machine, and make back many times what you're paying (assuming you have the technical skills to be able to actually do it.). Asking the customer to pay directly is both inconvenient for them and losing you one of your easy and highly profitable areas of business.

30-05-2007, 03:55	#5 (permalink)
freelancr Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 2,152	Since you are just starting out hosting people, this could be right down your alley. Web Hosting by DreamHost Web Hosting: Web Sites, Domain Registration, WordPress, Ruby on Rails, all on Debian Linux! There is an offer on today giving you a coupon code... but you can google $96 coupons too. So for $20 you have practically unlimited reseller hosting for a year. Then hit the random number generator on your calculator, and charge the client that every month/year.

30-05-2007, 04:10	#6 (permalink)
pagey Resident Cheese Expert Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: South Wales Posts: 702	Looks interesting..........and highly complicated! I suppose the more business you get, and hence the more sites you host, the more money you'd be making?

30-05-2007, 10:34	#7 (permalink)
pgo Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 12,358	Of course, you don't make much with reselling to clients unless you have lots of them or overcharge them. The money's in maintenance contracts. Plus, is it worth the hassle of being responsible for all those websites' uptime?

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)