Ok well I have been considering starting a web hosting company for as long as I have been doing web development, but have only just biten the bullet and launched the hosting site for my company.

I think I have done everything right I have researched and took the time to do everything how I beleive it should have been done. But I figure what better way to find out where I have gone wrong then to ask a forum of experts.

My new hosting site can be found at xd2s.com

I have my own high end dedicated UK server to start.
I am running WHM/cPanel
I am using WHMCS
Payment Processors: Paypal, Google, Moneybookers
Secure SSL from GoDaddy
Custom Design and CMS developed by myself
I will be doing daily back-ups via BQBackups (was recommended)

The only things I am yet to do is promote and try get some affiliates on board. You know the important things :)

I would appreciate any advice and opinions (on what I have done and my website) at this point as I really want to do this right or as close to right as possible, the first time round.

Also as this is my first post I would like to introduce myself (David) and say thanks in advance to any one who replies and also for all the great info I have already read on here.

Thanks
David

Frist of all Welcome to the UK Market.

First impressions are good, the website i clean and clear. I spotted a spelling mistake within a few seconds though which you may want to correct - found at https://xd2s.com/sys/cart.php?gid=0000000004 - on line "**This product is for shard hosting packages only** "

You look like you have taken the right steps towards providing a good starter hosting company. Remember that above all reliability,uptime and support are most important to keep a good "brand" name going.

Regarding Advertising, its a tough call really as i guess different people have different views on what works and what doesnt. Start with the simply things like SEO and getting listed on search pages.

Word of mouth is the biggest and fastest form of advertising there is, so speak to people let them know what you offer and if they become customers - treat them right and provide the service they require.

Also look at offering short opening deals or limited numbers. It brings in more people to look and increases the possibility of a sale.

As i am also a fairly new public trader (been private for a few years) one thing i found out quite quickly is people have to find trust in your company, that being your website always online, try and provide as much infomation in the KB / Support forums etc. Once people visit a few times and notice that your still there their level of trust with you increases.

I think a major key point aswell is to start small and expand only when the business allows it. there is no point jumping in offering everything under the sun if you cant back it up with support etc. And within this trade word spreads very fast about who not to use if there is a problem.

I wish you all the best of luck and hope to see much more of xd2s in the future.

Hey, thanks for the reply. I have changed the word "Shared". I have been building the site later on at night so it obviously slipped my attention.

I am still toying with what advertising methods to use, although I am trying to get the word out and I have many development clients that will be on-board from the start so at least I am starting with something, so to speak.

Thanks again for your inpute I would also be interested to hear from people with regards to my package prices. I think they are low enough but I notice a lot of companies offering (what I would consider) stupid prices.

David

Regarding other peoples prices:

I guess it really depends on what kind of market you are aiming for, you can offer really cheap hosting where the profit margin is very low even when you have sold many accounts meaning less funds for upgrades, expansion and your time.

Or you can go down to route of offering fairly priced hosting where you are not struggling to break even on that product/service and invest the money into growing etc.

We chose the second one, and that was our company choice due to planning for the long term. We still pay attention to what other companys offer dont get me wrong but we fairly mark up our services at a charge that is fair for the level of support/uptime we provide.

Again its another tricky situation to try and balance. But remember dont cut yourself short and dont create a situation where you need a shed load of customers just to be able to survive the next month. We spent alot of time talking to local business's, current customers and most was more than happy paying a extra £5 for example a month to know that we are planning ahead and will still be around in 12/24/36 months.

I hope you find what we have to say useful, we are not trying to be critical just helpful.

1. When in the whmcs system there isnt any navigation options to take you back to the main website.
2. There seem to be a lot of layout issues, attached thumbnails, im guessing the box to login is meant to be on the left of the content, it is below. shot attached.
3. All your pages are the same! ok they arent but when i was looking through you clicked on one link and nothing changed so i kept clicking and still nothing changed. It took me a while to work out why, the content that is changing is below the first page so you have to scroll down, you may want to look at this. Note it may look ok on a standard 4:3 screen but look at it on a widescreen.

Good luck with your venture.

Hey, all the informatio you provided I am aware of unfortunatly, but yes it was helpful :).

1. The logo goes back to the main website though I do want to work on it a bit more to make a more obviouse route back.

**before I address this I presume you are using IE6**

2. The login box is meant to be on the far right. of the page, it is a three column design. The issues come from IE6 not being CSS compliant. and addressing padding and margin wrongly. You will also notice the grey around images and on corners that should be transparent. This is because IE6 also does not handle .PNG files.

I hoped that the majority of people by now would have upgraded as I really wanted to use a nice xhtml compliant design, but this is not a good sign for the future.

3. I have intentions to move or change the domian and package bars on inner pages, but I am half way through development of alternative page bars. and the issue you have is down to the resolution you are using not screen type.

I see it better on mine even though I use a widescreen because I am running a 22inch monitor at 1680x1050.

Again your coments have been helpful and it is a wake up call that the internet still isn't ready for un-hacked compliant CSS (damn microsoft)I will work to resolve these issues as soon as possible.

Thanks again
David

Hey, all the informatio you provided I am aware of unfortunatly, but yes it was helpful :).

1. The logo goes back to the main website though I do want to work on it a bit more to make a more obviouse route back.

**before I address this I presume you are using IE6**

2. The login box is meant to be on the far right. of the page, it is a three column design. The issues come from IE6 not being CSS compliant. and addressing padding and margin wrongly. You will also notice the grey around images and on corners that should be transparent. This is because IE6 also does not handle .PNG files.

I hoped that the majority of people by now would have upgraded as I really wanted to use a nice xhtml compliant design, but this is not a good sign for the future.

3. I have intentions to move or change the domian and package bars on inner pages, but I am half way through development of alternative page bars. and the issue you have is down to the resolution you are using not screen type.

I see it better on mine even though I use a widescreen because I am running a 22inch monitor at 1680x1050.

Again your coments have been helpful and it is a wake up call that the internet still isn't ready for un-hacked compliant CSS (damn microsoft)I will work to resolve these issues as soon as possible.

Thanks again
David

Yes the system i am currently on is IE6, I dont know what the current stats are off the top of my head but i would say percentage wise ie6 is still more common than ie7. I will have a looksee on ie7 when im back in the office tomorrow.

The easy way to have a link back to your home page is to alter the whmcs template so the 'home' link on the left goes to your home page not the whmcs home.

Try not to assume anything when it comes to design, it has to work for everyone :)

I have just checked the stats of browser usage:
Browser Hits %
Msie 8.0 68 0 %
Msie 7.0 177765 30.1 %
Msie 6.0 94598 16 %
Msie 5.5 632 0.1 %
FIREFOX 243031 41.2 %
NETSCAPE 2334 0.3 %
Others 69384 11.7 %

I have to say it is a lot higher then I presumed. I am going to work on a little script that determines browser and uses a custom style sheet dependant on browser type.

Thanks for your help.
David

I like the comparison with cheap hosting & a cheap car

If you are using Google Checkout and WHMCS, you may want to know that your site may be breaking Google Checkout's terms. Some clients have gotten the following letter:

Hello

After a recent review of your account, we found that your website http://www.webresellers.net doesn't display Google Checkout buttons in accordance with the following policies:

- Use standard Google buttons only
You may only use Google-hosted button images. You may not alter the size, shape, color or any other aspect of these images. e.g . Google Checkout should not be listed in a drop-down menu or as a radio button.

- Direct buyers quickly to Google
If you're using Google Checkout buttons, you must ensure that buyers who click the Google Checkout button on your site see the Google Checkout confirmation page within one second, and without seeing any intermediate pages. This will help you avoid shopping cart abandonment. We recommend you consider pre-computing shopping carts, leveraging server to server posting, and other tips in our Developer's Guide.

On your website the buyer has to first click on a radio button after which he has to fill in his personal information.

To comply with our policies please ensure that you remove the radio button and replace it with the Google Checkout button. This button should lead straight to the Secure Checkout page. The buyer should not be asked for any personal information before or after he clicks on the Google Checkout button.

Please let me know when you have made the necessary changes to your website so we can review it and approve your account.

Please feel free to reply to this email if you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,

Nishant

Hopefully this matter is cleared up soon.

Quick update, I think I have sorted out the IE6 compatability and it is working alot better now, I have tested it on my laptop but welcome anyone to verify this. Thanks again to Lewcy

Doggins: Thanks, I hope it gets the point accross to potential clients as I think it is important they are considering what they get rather then how much it cost.

Larwilliams: The terms and conditions you reference are in regards to the google checkout button, for actually checking out. When it comes to payment of invoices, that button is shown and is correct. The logo I have used to say we accept it is not a checkout button it is the google checkout logo and therefore I can not see them having a problem.

How ever if they do want to be petty about it I will drop them from the payment option. As one of the new payment processors with hardly a large percentage of people using them they should be a bit more open minded in my opinion.

Thanks to everyone.
David

Very nice and unique site. Yes, I think you are starting out pretty strong. Keep on working and trying your hardest, it'll pay off. Sometimes you may get stressed out and it may seem like it's to much, but don't give up it'll all pay off.

I like the comparison with cheap hosting & a cheap car

Haha.. btw i own that such car... and i get that very expensive :))

is your hosting site on the same server as your going to put your accounts on? Not a good idea if so, when your server goes down who will they turn too, email,etc....

I am curious (as always) why the need for a high end dedicated?

Yes it is on the same server at the moment, until I build up a few clients. I have my main site xd2.net on seperate hosting which i can be contacted through plus the I have openly provided a telephone number. I need to ammend the welcome email to include contact support methods including an email address as my main website which is on different mail servers.

It is high end because I have some of my websites on it and I want a good fast server. Also because if I am selling hosting I want people to be happy with the performance and load speeds.

Thanks to everyone so far for your comments and help.
David

I am also new, there were some good posts in here, much thanks to all

Have you looked in to registering with hmrc, and also going ltd ?

Grats on the new Business!!!!! site is looking good bro!

Have you looked in to registering with hmrc, and also going ltd ?

I am registered with the Inland Revenue, they know I trade self employed, I am not registered for VAT as I am not yet at the required limits.

I have looked into going LTD but there are no major benefits in my position, I am doing this on my own so would not have another director or secretary. This and VAT is something I will consider when I have built my business up more.

Grats on the new Business!!!!! site is looking good bro!

Thanks, hopefully this will work out as well as the development side of things.

David

I understand about stad vat.

Look up flat vat rate.

Bascly how the system works is for peopel turn over under 64k.

You get a vat number as normal.

Your charge 17.5% as normal.

You only pay hmrc 13% you keep the rest.

But if on flate rate vat scheme you can't claim back purchase vat.

Also not sur if you know from 1st Aprill 2008 under the company act, you no longer need a co sec. Just one director

Pro's it protect you if the company losses money
doanside lot more paper work.

But not sure if the banks have cought up on that fact.

But you then get done for corp tax thats now 22%

Hope this helps.

With regards on LTD in my positions the cons outway the pros as they changed the way drawings work and the company is seen as an entity on it's own, it would require more accounts being done and I would have to pay myself a wage which will be hard at the moment because there isn't guaranteed income.

Thanks for all your advice though and at least i know for in the future :)