ive been owning a reseller for about 1 month now.. and i have only recieve 1 customer.. i am really unhappy as i wanted to make it really successfull.. i am wondering if anyone of you people would be kind to help me achieve in this business as i am really keen on reseller..

now i am owning a reseller which has a POOR! uptime and am trying to get my money back as they have a 7 day money back policy.. i have paid 20pound for the actual reseller so i will be getting it by tommorow..

i am wondering if you would help me advertise my company..

by the way, do you think i should sick on a reseller or move to a VPS ive been thinking moving to a VPS will help me sell better and more as i get to hosted/sell more softwares..

am actually counting on you guy because am really unhappy at the moment..

Thanks
Taii

Hosting is not a get rich quick industry. It takes time and money, your going to need to spend more then 20 pounds to have a successful hosting company.

You got a customer, which is probably better than many, so pat yourself on the back for that. You should look around in the "Running a Web Hosting Business" forum, read some of the tutorials, etc. and get a feel for what others are doing.

You should also pick up some basic books that talk about starting a business - web hosting isn't all that different from any business at all when you look at the big picture.

When I started out it took two months to get a customer, and it was someone I gave hosting to - just to say I had a customer. They quit the next month. Within two years we had a big stack of them and about 25 servers though. That was before the market was saturated. I wouldn't want to be starting out now, but it takes thousands of 16-20 hour days to be successfull.

The hosting company you use as a reseller account has to have good uptime or you'll end up in the mental ward. We started out at McHost many years ago. Haven't heard much about them around these parts in a while though. There were a lot of opinions on them though :)

thanks for the advice.. well am currently looking for a cheap reseller plans with a billing system with it i need around 10gb-20gb web space.. any recommand?

do you know any possible place to advertise your businesss by any chance?

thank for the help

thanks for the advice.. well am currently looking for a cheap reseller plans with a billing system with it i need around 10gb-20gb web space.. any recommand?

do you know any possible place to advertise your businesss by any chance?

thank for the help

My advice on billing systems isn't "the norm" but after trying them all, we just got a standard merchant account and run charges manually. In three years none of the automatic third party solutions ever got it right - and since we had to double check every charge anyway I figured we might as well just run it ourselves.

Our billing system is a box of 3x5 cards and a safe. 31 dividers for the days, with a card in each day it needs to be billed. Then there's a box with month dividers for 3, 6, and 12 month billing intervals. Primitive and simple but I can't take credit for figuring it out.

so you think i should not worry about the billing system and do your own billing system at home using card..

Thats what I found. With a third party they usually have the card number in their posession. That gives them all the power, and when they screw up (and they will) you can't leave because you don't have the card number to run the charges. You can ask the customer to re-enter their information somewhere else but it is a total pain to get them to do that.

On top of that, if the customer needs adjustments, partial credits or additional services, you just change the recurring billing amount, and it isn't easy to do with a third party involved.
Plus a few other things I can't remember.

We had a customer get double billed once by 2checkout. It caused about 5 other checks to get bounced in their bank account, and we had to reimburse them for their bounced checks. Thats just one of a hundred things that went wrong. Usually they forget to bill, or drop the customer from recurring billing, and we lose all the days from the time they were dropped to the time they would restart a recurring billing cycle. Running them yourself you charge them "to the day" what they owe no matter how long the lapse was.

ive been owning a reseller for about 1 month now.. and i have only recieve 1 customer


Well done, you did better than many !
Now, compare that to your detailed business plan, adjust your extensive marketing plans and by this time next month you may have doubled your client-base :p


i am wondering if anyone of you people would be kind to help me achieve in this business


Ask yourself the Very Important Question - *WHY* woudl someone host with you rather than an existing established host ?


now i am owning a reseller which has a POOR! uptime


That always helps instill client confidence in a major way, nothing like a lot of downtime to impress people.

Let me guess - you selected the reseller account based on in depth research of the providers and an exhaustive requirements list which consisted of ... CHEAP ?

Sounds like you think you need to advertise, yet it seems you may be missing much more. A reseller account is fine, but you've got to look at more than resources and price. Uptime and good support costs more, but it's worth it.

You can start by adding a link to your site in forum/email signatures.

Refer to the Marketing section of your business plan.

i am thinking of making fyler/cards and post them though people letter box? do you think that a good idea?

i am thinking of making fyler/cards and post them though people letter box? do you think that a good idea?

No! Unless you have shares in the printing company you wish to use.

I was one here. What i did was find my own clients. I gave them hosting dirt cheap and made sure there uptime was 99%. They then started to tell the friends about me and business is now starting to turn even. Also one thing that i have learn't is that tell your customers the truth. Dont promise them something you cant give. EG 300gb hard disk space.

Thanks,

"Summer Slowdown" is also in effect. :)

A large decrease in sales/activity is experienced over the summer months.

SHORT Advise - find a steady daily job. It's all help you need.

No! Unless you have shares in the printing company you wish to use.

okies but do you have any ideas?

I was one here. What i did was find my own clients. I gave them hosting dirt cheap and made sure there uptime was 99%. They then started to tell the friends about me and business is now starting to turn even. Also one thing that i have learn't is that tell your customers the truth. Dont promise them something you cant give. EG 300gb hard disk space.

Thanks,

Where did you find your client from?

I went around asking people around my local village. There were alot of companies and people who needed hosting. They were using 1and1 and they required alot of support. They didnt get any support from 1and1 so i took them on and now they recommend me.

Thanks,

You really should have figured much of this out before getting this far, though it doesn't hurt much to get your feet wet with a small hole in your pocket. Tenacious & meticulously researching, planning, calculating, and cross-checking has been the key to any of my business successes.

You shouldn't be surprised when, and should expect to be at a loss initially. That's likely the case for many businesses, though the opposite is possible.

Congrats on the startup as you'll learn more now with "on the job training", but if you are truly serious about hosting I suggest reviewing these forums religiously.

Sometimes business plans/goals need to be reevaluated, this can be done whenever. Whether it's annually, quarterly, or 2 weeks after you launch. It's important to define the soul and foundation of your business starting with why it exists. "To make money" isn't a good enough answer.

My first "web host tryout" took 3 months to support itself, then the roller coaster started. Signups and profits went up and down as we learned what people wanted, and what worked well for us. What works for you may take a while to figure out, but if you're prepared to burn some capital learning hands on then you've taken the first step.

Majority of self made millionaires started and lost 3 businesses before they "made it". Don't feel bad if you have a few to loose, just think of it like you're that much closer. Best of luck.

When I started out it took two months to get a customer, and it was someone I gave hosting to - just to say I had a customer. They quit the next month. Within two years we had a big stack of them and about 25 servers though. That was before the market was saturated. I wouldn't want to be starting out now, but it takes thousands of 16-20 hour days to be successfull.
Yeah, it's a lot more difficult now to drive growth, than it was back in 2001-2002. Back when I built HTTPme, new accounts were coming in pretty quick, and the name of the game was managing growth, rather than focussing on obtaining growth. There's still growth there, but it's harder to come by than those days, and maintain sensible plan/pricing allocations.

Try banner advertising. You'll have to get at least 100 clicks a day to generate 1 customer ;-)

who should i give my banner to?

who should i give my banner to?

Have you searched for any of these questions?

I am envious. I have been a reseller for a year. I actively promote my hosting venture. I have great plans with no long term contracts. I also offer free business listings and a free blogger calendar for those clients with blogs.

I have not even had an inquiry. You have a client within a month? Are you your own client? I host my software consulting site [qisoftware.com]-- which I do not count.

I need help too...

Q...

1gb for $25 is a bit much QiSoftware in this day and time of web hosting unless your going after a specific niche. Your site is decent though not popping or unique (server images are redundant) which might cause people to turn away.

1) Up your plans and lower your pricing
2) Do some research on your sites hot spots. Determine how long people are on your site, where they click the most, and what seems to work. This is key on keeping people around.
3) Make sure you have someone available to answer any questions they might have. Many host don't have live chat and I think they loose several clients because there is no one to answer simple sales questions. AND NO - a FAQ section does not always do the trick. People like real people.
4) You have to tell people and get them excited. Throwing a host online and hoping it grows won't work. No business of such will work that way. You have to draw people to it. The best way for host these days to do that is by WOM (word of mouth). Get some clients, offer them some reward system for bringing you clients. People will talk if they are excited about your service.
5) Get on some design forums and signature your hosting company. Offer up helpful advise and people will begin to consider hosting with you.
6) Stay at it. Don't give up. Hit, Miss, Hit, Miss.

Good luck.

I actively promote my hosting venture.
I have not even had an inquiry.


Change where you promote it then ;)


I host my software consulting site

Woudl you not do better concentrating on promoting/marketing that and quitting hosting if you've got zero clients after a year ?

I tried that once but incurred more losses than gains, never did i even look in that direction after that day, lol so i just rely on the presently thriving business that provide good honest value for money :) , well most of them do lol :P

cheers
Scan :)

Thanks-- I did do extensive research on pricing. My plans are in keeping with others offering the same. As a matter of fact the pricing is a bit low.

My issue is actually an FBI matter. My response to this thread was an attempt at being funny. My issues are criminal. Thanks for the advice...

Q...

Getting customers isn't easy, when I started off I wasn't even a reseller. I had a friend who had a reseller account through another company and we co-branded our services. He allowed me access to his reseller control panel and we split some of the money. My first customers were long time friends I knew who had websites, I gave them deals and a lot of them didn't really have good hosts at the time. Most would host with me for a year and they would tell their friends. Many were from chat programs I used as well, they resold pharmacy drugs and stuff like that and would need a website. My business partner would do the website designs for them. Over time, it was just word of mouth sales and advertisement in the newspaper and magazines. You have to spend money to make money.