Hello all!

New to the site but have already found a lot of usefull info. Thanks to the forum hosts and members.

Not that anyone asked but I thought I would start out and tell ya' my story! :D

I have been working in IT for a little over 6 years. For the past 2 years, I have been doing some website work in my spare time and have really enjoyed it.

After looking at some of the websites of some of the local businesses in my area, I thought I would try and start my own web design business for some extra income. The sites for these businesses look like they've been done by their owner's teenage son with MS Frontpage. I thought I would be able to find a nitch by offering more professional looking site designs at a more affordable price than most "professional" designers. In my research, I came across info on host reselling and thought it seemed like a great idea.

The hosts in my area charge around $20-25 a month for hosting and I would guess that most don't even come close to using the total disk space and bandwidth that comes with these packages.

My idea would be to offer space through reselling at half the price.

So, I could offer webhosting along with my design services. What a deal! :D

Looking forward to getting more info from this forum. Count on my bothering all of you for info in the future!

Later!

welcome aboard,
you will find a ton of good info here, and some very helpful and knowledgable people.....
good luck

It's not the "designed by teenage son using frontpage" look that's so bad, it's when you get fully grown adults touting themselves to small businesses as 'their internet future', despite the fact that they do all their work in Netscape Composer or Microsoft Word heh THATS when it's real bad... :D

Best of luck with your venture, sounds like you've got good ideas!

Thanks for the welcomes!

First questions. Do most of the resellers here target their local markets? Or do you shoot for a wider range of customers.

Personally, as I said in my first post, I am initially looking to tap into the local market but won't limit myself to doing only local hosting.

Another thread mentioned forum software. Anyone have any opinions or preferences in the different forms of software? I know this site uses VBulletin and I like it fairly well. It seems to be a popular package and is reasonably priced. Any other suggestions?

Final question. Search engine submission. What are some good packages out there? I know BCentral.com offers website submission for $50 bucks a year for each URL. But that seems kind of pricely to me. It would be cheaper to buy a software package so that I can offer web site submission along with my hosting/ web design.

(Sorry if these questions don't really fit the topic or the forum! :D )

Thanks for all your help. This has been a great resource.

First questions. Do most of the resellers here target their local markets? Or do you shoot for a wider range of customers.
I think local is a great way to start and to establish yourself and learn the ropes. Once you're confident enough in your knowledge of the industry then you can take it to a wider and wider market.
I know this site uses VBulletin and I like it fairly well. It seems to be a popular package and is reasonably priced. Any other suggestions?
phpBB seems a popular alternative and it's free. See phpBB2 in use at here (http://phpbb.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/) or grab a copy from here (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=7885). Their main site is here (http://www.phpbb.com).
Final question. Search engine submission.
I'll pass on that one.

Thanks HostIt.

I think you're right about the PHPBBS since it's free. The best choice since I'm just startin' out.

Free is always good :D