Lost on hosting! What option is best for me?

[WebDizzy777]

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this!

I do web design for myself and a few other small businesses. I have always just used a separate GoDaddy account for each website, had the customer buy their own hosting and domain name and I made the website.

However, I am now going to do this for people I don’t know and start my own web design firm. After reading so many reviews it sounds like everyone has negative reviews about GoDaddy, and their email service is not good, and their bandwidth, cpu etc. is limited. So when I start creating websites for money I will be purchasing their hosting and domain name (charge them a fee up front and monthly maintenance fee) and am wondering what the best option is now for price AND most importantly performance.

I also am confused (u can call it an ammeter question) do all of my customers need a separate hosting account, or as the web master do I have a bulk hosting account for all of the domain names and files together? In the past (because I wasn’t commercial it was small businesses I know and did as a courtesy) they all just bought their own go daddy accounts and had their own customer numbers etc.

Thanks, any advice on hosting is appreciated!

Also please if you design multiple web sites for customers and take care of their hosting what do you use, how do you do it (i.e. separate accounts) and do you like it?

The sites I make will have like 10,000 traffic per month and some have lots of videos/media and most have credit card processing. Also most include JavaScript and of course, css and html.

Also, if it matters, I am in the US (I think I saw a lot on here might be in UK, but I am not sure if that matters)

[happy_man]

Hi WebDizzy777,

I think its a smart move your making... more and more webdesigners are realising that the hosting side of websites isn't too tricky and they can do it themselves instead of giving that business away to another company.

Your current way of doing things is probably using Shared Hosting, right? I'd say do a little research about Reseller Hosting and VPS and (for the future) Dedicated Server. This will give you an idea of what is involved and which may be suitable for your own business service. There are loads of great deals on these because it is becoming more popular - but quality and performance will vary so before jumping in check the network that they run on.

The same companies offering the hosting should also provide some software for managing your own clients, but again it will vary what they offer plus there is no 'one-size-fits-all' when it comes to running businesses.

Reseller is a good way to 'try it out' and you can start small and grow easily if all goes well - good luck!

[HTMLBasicTutor]

I had a Reseller account a long time ago. A lot of work for how little you can charge and be competitive with the web hosting firms. Gave it up. Way more time involved than what it was worth.

[Tedel]

Hi there,

If you are looking for web hosting and quality, I think you should go...

...if you can afford it, for cloud hosting; or,
...if you know how to manage a web server, a VPS.

If you asked me to choose, I'd rather go for a shared hosting package than for a VPS, but I guess it is a matter of taste.

I wrote an article for beginners some time ago. Perhaps you will find it useful. Here you are:

To have your own website

Best,
Tedel

[ScriptMan]

Originally Posted by WebDizzy777

I also am confused (u can call it an ammeter question) do all of my customers need a separate hosting account, or as the web master do I have a bulk hosting account for all of the domain names and files together? In the past (because I wasn’t commercial it was small businesses I know and did as a courtesy) they all just bought their own go daddy accounts and had their own customer numbers etc.

In order to meet the TOS of most hosts, you will need a reseller account if you host domains/sites you do not own. Hosting them as add on account in a shared account is generally against the rules. Whether you have a different control panel for each account or not depends on how you want to manage the business.

[phpscripts]

You can try HostGator,they are best.

[HTMLBasicTutor]

Originally Posted by phpscripts

You can try HostGator,they are best.

Why?

[ServerIntellect]

You can go with a reseller account for small hosting applications. With your clients with larger sites and applications you should separate them from your reseller account and provide them with a managed dedicated vps or server.

[ionut82]

I recommend you a vps from Wiredtree, I'm using them from few years and i'm very happy with their support.

[SolidShellSecurity]

Originally Posted by WebDizzy777

Hello and thank you for taking the time to read this!

I do web design for myself and a few other small businesses. I have always just used a separate GoDaddy account for each website, had the customer buy their own hosting and domain name and I made the website.

However, I am now going to do this for people I don’t know and start my own web design firm. After reading so many reviews it sounds like everyone has negative reviews about GoDaddy, and their email service is not good, and their bandwidth, cpu etc. is limited. So when I start creating websites for money I will be purchasing their hosting and domain name (charge them a fee up front and monthly maintenance fee) and am wondering what the best option is now for price AND most importantly performance.

I also am confused (u can call it an ammeter question) do all of my customers need a separate hosting account, or as the web master do I have a bulk hosting account for all of the domain names and files together? In the past (because I wasn’t commercial it was small businesses I know and did as a courtesy) they all just bought their own go daddy accounts and had their own customer numbers etc.

Thanks, any advice on hosting is appreciated!

Also please if you design multiple web sites for customers and take care of their hosting what do you use, how do you do it (i.e. separate accounts) and do you like it?

The sites I make will have like 10,000 traffic per month and some have lots of videos/media and most have credit card processing. Also most include JavaScript and of course, css and html.

Also, if it matters, I am in the US (I think I saw a lot on here might be in UK, but I am not sure if that matters)

Consider a reseller account. We recommend them to our all customers who do what you do.

[GeniusStartup]

This is a good idea but something to bear in mind is the time you'll need to spend on support. As someone said before, you could spend so much time answering emails from customers about why they can't get their emails (they have a problem with outlook...), etc. that it's not worth your while.

There is a way you can make revenue from the hosting your clients need without having the hassle of support and that's by referring them to a web hosting company via an affiliate link. Make sure it's a program that pays you a monthly referral and you'll be collecting revenue for as long as they stay with that host, without having to do any further work.

[alemcherry]

Yes, reseller account - if you have time to support your customers. I guess you will be doing it and probably charging for website maintenance. It should work.

In case you dont want to support them, let them buy from a host of your choice via your affiliate link / coupon. I recommend hostgator, Godaddy isn't good.

[technol]

There are hosts that offer reseller accounts that include access to that hosting company online support.

You set the site, and you have a reseller cPanel that keeps track of individual sites whilst each individual customer of yours also has access to their own individual cPanel.

You set up and sell the hosting, but the support link is a 24/7 support link to the host company that also has access to your reseller cPanel.

[ScriptMan]

It looks like webdizzy was a one shot wonder or a set up guy. Since he has not been back for close to a month, I am going to close this thread.