Is it effective to have a email adress with somehting like info@companyname.com instead of something like companyname@gmail.com?

Also i was htinking of getting one. My domain is registerd at namecheap but im not sure how to setup my email adress... anybody know?

Yes it is effective and looks more professional then having a free email address.

In order to have your own email address you will need to find a provider that has email plans. These are usually around $3-4 a month.

Ok, who do most people use as a provider?

On your own server...?

Unless you have total DNS control (think MX entry) over your hosting (which is possible to get it from another supplier, but you practically wouldnt), you'll get domain level email and webhosting from the same place.

What is the nature of your business?

I have a manged.com linux server

It is a hosting business.

You run a hosting business and you dont know how to setup your own email?

A you@yourname.com is must!

np, i am GOING to start one AND i am asking for help.

Were you born knowing how to set one up?

I am asking.

Originally posted by emzec
You run a hosting business and you dont know how to setup your own email?

And he has a linux dedicated box.

Most questions which you will recieve from customers will be along the lines of these simple questions, if you can't even set up your own e-mail, I do think you are not suited to this line of work untill you research the industry better.

Setting up e-mails for clients will possibly become a daily routine for you. That's if clients stay with you long enough. I am not try to flame you at all, don't worry, I am telling you though, that you can find yourself in problems with lots of people if you don't research the hosting industry (or any industry for that matter) before venturing into it.

No, we weren't born knowing how to use it, but we didn't rush to start our business/company like you have.

Just because i dont know how to set up a email doesnt mean i dont know alot of things.

Please can somebody just answer my question.

Originally posted by AnteB
Just because i dont know how to set up a email doesnt mean i dont know alot of things.

Please can somebody just answer my question.

Did you read my post? You will not have any clients if you don't listen/read what they are saying.

Originally posted by AnteB
Just because i dont know how to set up a email doesnt mean i dont know alot of things.

Please can somebody just answer my question.
uh yah it does, considering it is one of the more basic questions you will recieve. Does your box have cpanel?

sorry echo i read the first part of you post somehow missed the second.

Originally posted by AnteB
sorry echo i read the first part of you post somehow missed the second.

Hm, I did have to edit out a few problems with it, that is probably why.

Try taking the initiative. If you don't know, use google; there's a ton of resources out there that can help amatuer server admins such as yourself.

I agree with R Echo if you can't setup an email account than you cannot run a hosting business. Man you are gonna get sued for doing something stupid. Unless you are planning on employing a sysadmin and support staff. Which defies the purppose of you being a hosting provider. I would seriously consider starting a hosting biz if I were you. Try hosting a personal site on your server. Mess around with some of the features. Learn, observe, adapt. Then host some of your friends sites. And then go into a commercial business. You need experiance to be succesful and by the look of your post you are a complete noob to technology.

AnteB, try to take the sage advice being offered to you in this thread rather than just getting defensive.

Honestly, if you have to ask how to set up a simple email account, you are clearly not ready to hang a shingle and call yourself a web hosting business.

A domain name, a TM template and a server do not a web host make.

As a web host, you have a responsibility to your paying customers. This is not a game. This is real business. You will no doubt affect the survival of other people's businesses and livelihood. Take it seriously!

WHT is a tremendous resource. Spend a few months reading, learning, asking questions, learning more. At some point, you will then be ready to launch your own. Until then, you are being patently irresponsible if you take on the role of a web host before you are ready and able.

Vito

I suggest trashing the dedicated server after the first month, and just going with a reseller account to begin with. Since you're apparently very new to servers, you'll be putting your clients at risk by getting an unmanaged server. What operating system and control panel (if any) are on your server?

I have hired, sales reps, alot of support people that know what there doing AND now i have just hired a system admin.

Until i can learn. But i cant put this month to waste.

I have found godaddy.com and am going to order off them probebly.
Any other pop1 email providers?

Originally posted by AnteB
I have hired, sales reps, alot of support people that know what there doing AND now i have just hired a system admin.

Until i can learn. But i cant put this month to waste.

I have found godaddy.com and am going to order off them probebly.
Any other pop1 email providers? Why don't you host your email address on your server, as you'll have an account setup for your domain, after all...

This thread was fun to read. I really enjoyed it.
AnteB: Not trying to be harsh, but please don't go scuba diving in the middle of the ocean before playing in the baby pool.

I have hired, sales reps, alot of support people that know what there doing AND now i have just hired a system admin.

Why don't you have one of your new support people or system admin tell you how to setup your email.

Originally posted by vito
AnteB, try to take the sage advice being offered to you in this thread rather than just getting defensive.

Honestly, if you have to ask how to set up a simple email account, you are clearly not ready to hang a shingle and call yourself a web hosting business.

A domain name, a TM template and a server do not a web host make.

As a web host, you have a responsibility to your paying customers. This is not a game. This is real business. You will no doubt affect the survival of other people's businesses and livelihood. Take it seriously!

WHT is a tremendous resource. Spend a few months reading, learning, asking questions, learning more. At some point, you will then be ready to launch your own. Until then, you are being patently irresponsible if you take on the role of a web host before you are ready and able.

Vito

DING DING DING
we got a winner, vito said what I was thinking. I am not saying you should never be a host, I am just saying it would be a very poor move right now.

emzec and everyone else here is right. Your not ready.

Originally posted by Anacrusis
Why don't you have one of your new support people or system admin tell you how to setup your email.

lol. i was thinking the same.

Umm.... some people are very ignortant. Read Vito's post, it sums everything up perfectly.

Anyway, thanks for the laugh!

AnteB

By now I hope you can see you're playing with fire here.
It's my opinion you dump the dedicated hosting and get a reseller account setup "BEFORE" taking any clients.

I have serious reservations regarding your ability to administrer much less secure a server.

Regarding your newly hired ADMIN this seems kind of quick, I'm assuming you reviewd his resume, contacted past employers, etc, etc rather than posting "In need of hiring a system administrator" on the first forum you came across.

Think before you leap. I'm sure you've heard nighmare stories regarding terrible hosts, many if not all of them were ran by people like yourself. People (usually kids/teens) trying to make a quick buck without knowing the first thing about the industry they've entered.

This not only effects the end user, but everybody in the industry, because we all have to work harder to put to rest any "doubt" created by a bad experience.

Wow! Look! Just like NOCTroll in another thread, a guy who asks a question, gets negative answers, then leaves the forums! Seems to be getting commonplace round here lately...

please don't go scuba diving in the middle of the ocean before playing in the baby pool.

Great analogy

Seems to be getting commonplace round here lately...

Almost as commonplace as people trying to do something they have no business doing.

I didnt leave but im not dumping my ded server.

Thanks for the answers i aksed my sys admin.

Personally, i'd say use your money in another business AnteB - but if you think you can make a go of it knowing very little about how this tough industry operates then I wish youi the best of luck.

I want to get to know the industry.

thanks for al lthose who replied you did make me stop and think alittle bit and iwll be taking your reply into consideration!

Originally posted by AnteB
I want to get to know the industry.

thanks for al lthose who replied you did make me stop and think alittle bit and iwll be taking your reply into consideration!

Hey AnteB ,

It's not that you won't be able to run your hosting company.If you have the chance to hire good sys admin and sales representatives they'll do most of the work which is needed to be done.But have you done a plan for your hosting company.Expenses vs. Income - You should know that a sys.admin (a good one) is expensive to hire ,you should pay for advertising and you should pay a lot, at least at the begining, and at last you should pay your dedicated monthly bill.Will your hosting company be able to make that much ?

OMG im soo stupid lol i knew how to setup a email!

I just got confused because of people offering pop1 accounts.

It can me easily done through any software like plesk or cpane.

Pff whata stupid question.

Sorry waste of time.

What about using a third-party email provider for the purpose of the most reliable support?
For instance, if you have a server, and it goes down, so does all of your email, contact pages, etc. if you had an email account on gmail or something, it would always be online.

That's what I do at least... And I had catch-all emails set up to dirrect to my Gmail account.

Good idea, ill do that aswell

IT looks like you have thought about it more than everyone here suspected. You have a sysadmin, sales rep, support. Just a question. What do you actually do? Are you just the boss who collects money and pays bills or do you actually do something?

AnteB - First of all, I will say that entering any business venture is a risk and adventure that should be applauded....when that person is ready. I would be one of the first to say "Welcome to the Club" if it appeared you were serious, knowledgable and ready to enter the business.

Unfortunately, this is not the case. I think the reason that so many people here are against you starting up, isn't because they are your competition. It is because the irresponsible hosting companies give the rest of us a bad name. People get burned once. They don't often get burned twice. What I mean, is that if a web host takes a client for a ride and the client ends up jumping ship, they are less likely to trust the next host they sign on with.

My suggestion, would be to read everything you can about the web hosting industry for a month straight and then join an affiliate program with an existing web hosting company. You will be able to take the small amount of knowledge you learned over the previous month of studying and start to sell. You won't know everything, but continue to read and you'll get there.

At any rate, I wish you the best of luck. But if you decide to go ahead with your hosting company, I wish your customers the best of luck.

Where's your business plan? Obviously, from the fact that you bought a server and THEN hired a systems admin, that you don't have one. Without a solid business plan, you are doomed to fail.

--Tina

As VanHost said, spend alot of time on these forums and especially in the running a web hosting forum. After you feel that you know enough to answer questions from your future clients about how to setup a subdomain, email, or make a directory password protect, check their mysql login problems, etc. go make a business plan and consider buying a reseller account to start and learn. After you become more knowledgeable/experienced try switching to a dedicated server.

I agree with what has been said. And also agree with the off-server contact abilities. But your jumping into a deep pool here with deds. We don't know how well you know the industry, but a keen insight into whats going on is a must anyone working in the industry. Technical insight, yes you can hire a system admin, but how you've approched things does seem like you havent fully investigated, researched and planned how you are going to do things.

AnteB please read this and don't take this the wrong way. I think someone already said this but we arent trying to discourage you from starting a business because we are competition. So far the consensus is that you need to:

1. Get more knowledge of the industry
2. Make a business plan
3. Start off slow (affiliate)
4. Move up a step (reseller)
5. Go get a dedicated server

We all want to get to the final step and have a million dollars but it takes time and you can't just jump into it. Follow the steps above an you'll get there maybe in a year or two.

I see over and over again people complaining of the high costs of maintaining a dedicated server. Especially when they are just starting. Many people loose half a year of profit because they can't break even from depts that they incured when their business was just starting. They always say that if they started with a reseller account they could have saved hundreds if not thousands of dollars.

People,

AnteB might just be one of those who have the extra $$$ and decided to have some fun, so cut him/her some slack but then again, if you are confused about pop-emails etc...then you shouldn't even get a dedicated server, maybe a reseller account first.

"decided to have some fun"....at his customers' expense, because he doesn't know the first thing about business or the hosting industry? Not fair.

--Tina

Running a business and having fun with a dedicated server shouldn't ever mix. A hosting provider should have their customer's success in mind when hosting them, not having "fun".

Yeah, 'having fun' playing with the livelyhood of your clientel is... wrong at the most basic level.
Suggestion:
Get a small reseller account. Take some classes at your community college (or something) on networking, business, and server administration. Then test the waters a bit. Build a good business plan, then set it in action. Through all this, you can get your legs as a hosting reseller to learn the business...

of course, that's just what I'm doing to a certain degree XD

That's the advise I have.

Sorry, what I meant by having fun is not 'having fun' but more like, I've a couple of thousand to spare, I'll rent a dedi server, hire a couple of tech/admin people and basically they run/manage the server and I collect payment. And if thats the case then I don't think its as bad as we think it is. But if he/she was to really 'have fun' eg rent a server, collect payment and not provide service, then I guess its wrong. But then again, if he/she was having problem creating a pop email, doubt he/she can setup payment gateway etc.

[I've a couple of thousand to spare, I'll rent a dedi server, hire a couple of tech/admin people and basically they run/manage the server and I collect payment.]

forget that people like that are dangerous, but going into any business without a fundamental undestanding of it is just bad business.

In regards to a comment made about not having fun hosting as time should be focused on the customer.

I have fun every min of every day, You have enjoy (have fun)
anything you do, otherwise it'll too much like work ;)

But this guy needs to take a field trip to barns-n-noble before getting too wrapped up in hosting

wow!

I don't scare easily,

[starting BS]
I have looked in to the belly of the beast
Head held high, and yelled
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH
[ending BS]

This kid is either going to get sued out of existance (literly)
AnteB if you're reading this you may want to stock up on a few very large cardboard boxes

I decided to do a search on our little question asker:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=3236093&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending
and was very frightened at what I found.

AnteB: seriously, do your prospetive customers a favor, go to school, take up macrame, anything but jumping into hosting as blind as you certainly are.

Hehe, hang out in the back of Sears ;) Get the big boxes from the floor-models of the stoves and iceboxes :D Those things are plush :)

He's getting an education, and he's learning, but no from credible sources, and at the time and expense of the good people of WHT :)

I really know nothing about server administration at this point, which sucks, because I'm not spending money on a dedicated till I do. I'm going to college for it. I'll have a cert. in systems administration by the start of next school year.
Though, I didn't come into this business totally blind. I read books, read articles on the net, researched, learned how to program some php and do so-so WebPages, and I know somewhat about business. Not extremely much, but enough.

As soon as I typed that last sentence, I though "Hosting is based off of supply and demand as much as every other business". Which explains why buying a dedicated to start is asinine. Who cares if you have a nice server all to yourself, a TB of bandwidth you're not using, 80GBs of free space on your server for whatever. If no one wants it, why get it??

What I noticed at first read that AnteB can't allow himself to not use his dedicated for getting customers and income in the upcoming 30 days, OTOH he has been able to hire support and sysadmin staff. Are those his classmates from 3rd class, working for a Mars bar a week? :eek: