I am currently not offering any kind of control panel to my clients. I would say probably 5 % of my clients have asked about it. The other 95% don't even know what that is.

How important do you think a control panel is to your business?

With my niche, its really not used that much. But I do like to ease of WHM to do simple tasks. So for the backend its awesome. For my users 99% don't even know its there.

It all depends on your niche I'm guessing. Its nice to offer a panel if you have one.

From Admin Side
--------------------

1. easy to add customer
2. properly manage the clients
3. lesser support time per customer

From Client Side
--------------------

1. satisfaction
2. newbie can manage their own website.


1. easily maintain the account.

Since we offer reseller hosting, a control panel is necessary to our business.

Almost all clients that I have worked with (support for another hosting company) have loved our control panel (DirectAdmin) and we do get quite a few questions about "Do you offer CPanel?". Our target is resellers as well though.

Everyone enquires about a control panel, do you offer one, which one is it, will I be able to use it?

cPanel lets any, excuse the phrase, layman grab their hosting by the horns and tame it to their wishes.

i agree with jsw about cpanel. I offer it to my clients, but most are afraid they will mess someting up.

The only problem I have had is with the html editor converting PHP code when I tested uptating using the file manager.

~Anyone else have problems editing php files through the file manager in Cpanel?

Cpanel is great for newbies and veterans alike. It makes things very easy to access (stats, bandwith etc) and with fantastico realy adds alot to a basic hosting package. Worth the cost in my eyes.

edit woot woot guess I git 1k posts didnt even realize it (at 1001 now heh) :blush:

I'd say for the end user, a control panel is very important. Then of course you must decide which one to go for, whether it be Plesk, cPanel, InterWorx or DirectAdmin.

IMO, I think the majority of clients prefer the ease of cPanel - It allows them to do whatever they want, without much hassle at all. For some odd reason, a lot seem to have problems with Direct Admin, Plesk or InterWorx - So you also must take this into account when you choose which control panel to offer.


The worst thing though IMO is the layout of cPanel, and how it looks. I think if say you had the features of cPanel however with the looks of InterWorx then you'd have a great control panel - Although when InterWorx 1.10 comes out I think it'd be a great contender with cPanel.

Interworx O_o
I've never even heard of that.......

my one customer never uses Cpanel. My other one did at times, but only for things like blocking direct linking.
no one used fantastico :s

If you set Logwatch to high detail (10), you can see every morning whether anyone on the server used cPanel in the last 24 hours and what modules, every command cPanel calls is recorded in the logs and can be displayed in the Logwatch e-mail.

Depending on your clients, control panels can be useful. If you are offering design services with maintenance, no need to offer them any control panel.

Stand alone hosting customers do generally ask what control panel is offered. It also helps reduce support requests as most functions can be done by the client.

Our clients love Cpanel/WHM for Linux and Plesk has been a hit with the Windows crowd :)

I would say around about a third of my clients have used a fantastico script. Most however don't continue to use them, they've just installed to see if they like the look of things.

it is a nice option and it gives the users some from of independence...

it also will save everyone time... it especially saves you the time of doing many small things for them

CP's are common place... if a handful are asking, think of how many might pass you right by if they don't see one

InterWorx O_o
I've never even heard of that.......
http://interworx.info/

It's pretty decent - It's a lot better looking and easier to use than cPanel, however it does lack a few features. The biggest feature it lacks IMO would have to be a reseller panel; other than that it's great if you only offer shared web hosting.

Cpanel helps out alot of newer people, as all they have to his is 'upload' and select files. I've had people email me asking 'what does unlimited ftp accounts mean?' Having that question asked it is hard to explain to someone who doesn't even know what ftp is. So Cpanel helps out alot of people and less support is needed.

Originally posted by dollah
From Admin Side
--------------------

1. easy to add customer
2. properly manage the clients
3. lesser support time per customer

From Client Side
--------------------

1. satisfaction
2. newbie can manage their own website.


1. easily maintain the account.

Well said! Same reason i would be inclined to pay the $20/mth (on most servers) to offer CPANEL - even if only for the 5% that ask for it, since I believe CPANEL brings in most customers on it's own.