Hi

I'm currently with a reseller on a shared server and I must say that they have been excellent as far as resellers go but there's been a total lack of interest from my customers in my hosting plans and I usually do a pretty good business with my other products and services so I'm not so sure this is going to be a success. I've been told my plans are good and reasonable and all the parts and pieces are there. I've been in business for over 5 years (not too long of it hosting) so no problem with getting visitors, advertising, etc. Still, I'm not smelling any money coming my way.

Anway, so I've been lurking around on the boards for several days now...reading...watching...learning and doing my homework and I've heard a lot of talk about how the reseller market is where you make the real money. It seems the regular hosting market is so saturated that it's pretty difficult to make a living at it. I do ok with my other services (not getting rich though!) so I'm not going to get all excited after waiting a year for some 8 year old to get a hosting account with me just so I can make $5.00. How does that pay the bills in the real world?. It does'nt.

Bottom line is, I might be interested in dedicated hosting but I need some facts about it. I need people to make me some (reasonable) offers. I need it cheap and I'd prefer not to have to pay a setup fee and wait 3 days, etc. Finally, I want you to have been in business for at least a year and I want to hear what your customers have to say about you. Basically, I need you to convince me that I should get my own dedicated server and tell me why you think I should use you. I know it sound like I'm being tough and picky but I have to be choosey since there are so many of you out there. Thank you so much:)

- Cheers

I dont even own a hosting company, but you saying I have a dedicated server isnt going to make me jump to your service. Maybe make up some type of contest for discounted hosting, one maybe 5 winners.. If you give good support they will tell others and your contest will also attract vistors. Guess if u have 0 clients you might as well use up some space. Get a dedicated box when you need one, when it is more cost efficient. Its like a pizza shop owner buying a ice cream shop before he can sell pizzas.

With a dedicated server it makes you have much more to worry about that getting clients. If you are happy with your host and they have great uptime stick with them.

Derrick

I would post this in the web hosting request forum. If you don't have any experience in administration of a server or are not willing to pay someone to do it. Don't go dedicated.

Jim,

Although I am not a reseller or in the web hosting market, I understand where you are coming from.

At the offset, I would not say that going dedicated would boost your sales levels in any ways. True to say that if you count dollar for dollar per feature, the dedicated would be deemed cheaper by virtue of the sheer hardware capacity. But that is not the only cost factor, in fact, you would be moving from a 'managed' solution to a 'limited or unmanaged' server. It is a whole new territory with new challenges and probably new opportunities.

The benefits I can see is that you get more control over what you sell and how you want to sell the packages. I believe in most reseller's packages you are restricted to a certain harddisk space, bandwidth and/or even the number of accounts you can host. On the dedicated, you can alter the hardware setup and if you get an unlimited control panel license, you can host as little as 1 customer per server to as much as the server can support.

You have less restriction but also more headaches. True that a control panel would definitely help a lot and could do most of the things you need to do but there are times in which you need to tweak the account and that requires certain Linux skills. The 'drop an email to the system admin to fix the problem' may no longer work since you are the system admin, the support guy and the sales guy all rolled in one.

There are several tests here. Is the number of web hosting clientele sufficient or growing that your current reseller's account cannot handle ? Is there any software (self written or bought) which you need to install to the server which is not permitted in a shared environment which would give you the competitive edge in your web hosting business ? Are you paying more now by using the virtual hosting accounts (both your own business and personal) ?

If the answer is yes to any of these and if you are confident to take the plunge into the unknown world of server administration then you are ready. If not, then shared reseller's account would be good enough for you now.

For me, I started really small. When I did, I did not even have a domain name and wasn't even consumping over 1 to 2gb per month. Then a couple years after, it went to 10gb, I consolidated my sites and went dedicated with a RaQ 3i + 60gb bandwidth. Then I hit a snag in my business because when I was on vacation the server went haywire and files got trashed. I went back to share hosting. Then subsequently regrouped cost it was too costly and I was taking the shared account too much in terms of bandwidth and that was to another RaQ 4i + 400gb on Rackshack at which time, i was doing 2 to 4gb/day in bandwidth consumption. Now am with Nocster and doing about that range although just after christmas to two days back, it spiked to between 8 to 10gb per day.

In my case, I needed a dedicated hosting.

It all depends on your circumstances. You are the best judge in this matter. Think hard and think well.

LOL you have been in the hosting business for what? 2 weeks now?

Already you have decided that hosting sign-ups are too slow and that you are going to make it rich selling to resellers instead.
I suggest you do a little market research, getting a dedicated server is not going to make you an overnight success either.

I have a shared hosting business I started in 1999 I then started resell hosting a little over a year ago and believe me it took me more than 2 weeks to get my first reseller on board. I spent an average of $500.00 to $1000.00 a month in advertising to get where I am today.

What makes you think that you are going to do it in less time for less money because you have a server?

I am sorry Jim you ask some good questions and have gotten plenty of good advice here but web hosting is not an overnight get rich scheme where you hang a web site out and the world beats a path to your door. It is a business you build over time with long hours extra effort and money. Just like any other business.

My suggestion is you spend a little time talking to your current host and using the forum he has provided picking the brain of the other resellers get some tips and learn ways to market what you have. Then you can grow into your own server.

Besides once you start resell hosting, realize you better know your stuff as far as server admin goes because allot of your customers will know as much or more than you do about hosting they will need your expertise when the crap really hits the fan.

I am sorry Jim I do not mean to sound so critical but you have not even given your business time to get off the ground yet.

Hi Jim,
Moving to dedicated servers was a big step for a young company like mine. So far, it has been a good step for us. We have mostly used word of mouth, combined with personalized service. We now have two dedicated servers. I am so happy to have control over our machines, and to be away from the shared environement.

We started as a reseller for Versehost (after various other shared hosting arrangements)... had a glitch along the way, solved that, then got a dedicated server through David at versehost. We got tired of Cogent, and moved to another datacenter ( the DC at 56 Marietta was completely unresponsive... so we pulled out and moved, still buying through versehost). Not long after, we had another server brought on line. Performance has been good, as well as price. David sells the dedicated service as "semi-managed" IIRC, and has been responsive.

Our two servers are in the staminus.net facility, yet buying through versehost, we managed to get a break on the standard prices.

A happy customer here, just wanted to pass that along for your consideration. We still have a few things to work out yet, but service has been great. Machines perform as expected. Looking forward to versehost launching their own DC in the future. :)

Glenn

Yep...it's me again. (Get away from the computer!!)

The decision to move to dedicated should be driven by cost effectiveness, not because it may look more attractive to potential clients. Do you bring in enough profit each month to cover the costs of a dedicated server? Will the support team backing you be quick and responsive to your requests (those that you can't fix yourself), so that you in turn can be quick and responsive to your clients' tickets? And it sounds as if you're making your decision to move to selling reseller accounts based on overheard / over-read comments, the same way you decided to get into regular hosting. Am I wrong in that supposition?

There's money to be made anywhere, as long as you market yourself effectively. Marketing yourself effectively means different things, depending on what your niche is; but it takes longer than two weeks. Not to sound as if I'm picking on you, but how did you conclude that selling reseller accounts would bring you clients any faster - or more surely - than selling hosting to end users?

Either wait until you're at the three-month mark and not getting any hits to worry, or pitch in the towel now.

The Internet rush has cooled: online businesses now fall under the same rules-of-thumb that RL businesses do, despite our not having a physical storefront. Most businesses will not break even in their first year, and of those that do, most will take five years to have an appreciable profit and client base. Starting out as a reseller actually means that you can shave those numbers a little bit, since you're not paying a few hundred dollars a month for server resources that you're not yet using. (Think JIT inventorying.) Once you've got a good idea that, yes, you'll get people to sign on; and yes, they're serious; and yes, you have a market outside of WHT visitors; then maybe it will be time to change.