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  1. #1
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    Combining Hosting with Web Design services: Pro or Con?

    Hello guys!

    I'm getting ready to start a hosting business in a certain niche. I'm a graphic designer currently providing design in one niche, I'm trying to expand and want to add website design/hosting services, I'd have one site for general graphic design services and then another one for web design/hosting.

    Question is - is it a Pro or Con to do so if one of the goals is to be able to sell a company after 5 years?

    Does having two services on the same website cause troubles? Selling purely a hosting company seems to be easier. But web design adds some revenue to a company..

    Does anyone have experience with this?

  2. #2
    Question is - is it a Pro or Con to do so if one of the goals is to be able to sell a company after 5 years?
    It is simple at first look - It is easier to sell something which does not limit your buyers in anyway. What I mean is that less people will be interested in buying hosting + web designing business than buying these two separated. However that does not mean no one will be interested in buying it 2 in 1 like you would like to sell it.

    I would rather keep them separated.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by GreenHornet View Post
    It is simple at first look - It is easier to sell something which does not limit your buyers in anyway. What I mean is that less people will be interested in buying hosting + web designing business than buying these two separated. However that does not mean no one will be interested in buying it 2 in 1 like you would like to sell it.

    I would rather keep them separated.
    Yeah, that's the thing, business-wise it's better to do separate.. for customer it's more convenient to have both in the same place and pay at the same time for both (if it's possible to set up billing that way).

    Dilemma dilemma!

  4. #4
    Hello,
    If you are we web designer it make sense to also offer hosting services. If you don't offer hosting then once you are done designing the site the client is just going to take your wonderful design to someone else and pay them to host it. So, why would you want to turn away future recurring business you could get with hosting?

    Good Luck!
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  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by HiVelocityKB View Post
    Hello,
    If you are we web designer it make sense to also offer hosting services. If you don't offer hosting then once you are done designing the site the client is just going to take your wonderful design to someone else and pay them to host it. So, why would you want to turn away future recurring business you could get with hosting?

    Good Luck!
    I do want to host, but I'm not sure should I do it under one brand or should I create to separate brands - one for designing and one for hosting.

  6. #6
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    I feel it best to offer both services under the same company name, but make sure it is clear to them that you do not have to purchase web hosting from you if they buy a design from you. They can buy one or the other, or both together. I host almost all of my web design clients simply because I offer it to them when I initially quote them/show them preliminary mockups, and for most of them it's just easier to have an all-in-one solution through me.

    However, for some of my clients I refer them to other hosts, simply because I don't want the responsibility of hosting their website on my servers. For example, large corporations, or insurance/healthcare companies that have to meet certain server compliance criteria for their services. Not to mention that e-mail is absolutely mission-critical for these types of companies, so I don't want the added stress if for some reason my hosting solution couldn't cope with their needs.

    I usually refer them to FireHost, and make quite a lovely commission from their affiliate program. This is key, because even though I'm not directly hosting them, I am still making a little bit of supplemental income off referrals.

    -nick

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by RCKG View Post
    Hello guys!

    I'm getting ready to start a hosting business in a certain niche. I'm a graphic designer currently providing design in one niche, I'm trying to expand and want to add website design/hosting services, I'd have one site for general graphic design services and then another one for web design/hosting.

    Question is - is it a Pro or Con to do so if one of the goals is to be able to sell a company after 5 years?

    Does having two services on the same website cause troubles? Selling purely a hosting company seems to be easier. But web design adds some revenue to a company..

    Does anyone have experience with this?


    It is possible, that is what I do, but it depends on what your designing.

    If it's just html sites, then a client could go anywhere, BUT if your designing WordPress or something as technical, then it's better to keep everything under one roof. You can keep an eye on things and know what's needed to make your work work.

    Many times with a WordPress site, if left to the customer, they might find a "bad" host, which you will then have to take more time to go and fix. But also as mentioned, offering hosting, if set up properly, can lead to residual income.

    In terms of a designing site sharing space with a hosting site...in essence, the designing site is a customer of the hosting site, meaning it's just another site like any other. What you will need to do is focus on a good design for the hosting site and incorporate a section about designing...or vice versa. Along the way you may have customers who just need hosting,or clients that just need a site but already paid for hosting elsewhere, or clients that like the one-stop-shop solution for their needs.

    Time to do some homework.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by nickpse View Post
    I feel it best to offer both services under the same company name, but make sure it is clear to them that you do not have to purchase web hosting from you if they buy a design from you. They can buy one or the other, or both together. I host almost all of my web design clients simply because I offer it to them when I initially quote them/show them preliminary mockups, and for most of them it's just easier to have an all-in-one solution through me.

    However, for some of my clients I refer them to other hosts, simply because I don't want the responsibility of hosting their website on my servers. For example, large corporations, or insurance/healthcare companies that have to meet certain server compliance criteria for their services. Not to mention that e-mail is absolutely mission-critical for these types of companies, so I don't want the added stress if for some reason my hosting solution couldn't cope with their needs.

    I usually refer them to FireHost, and make quite a lovely commission from their affiliate program. This is key, because even though I'm not directly hosting them, I am still making a little bit of supplemental income off referrals.

    -nick
    It's best for customer, so I'll probably end up doing this under one brand.

    And yeah, I'll do simple websites since most of my customers will need only simple ones. Maybe few ecommerce-enabled....maybe..

    P.s can I ask how much is hosting doing for ya. Not in real number, but is it 4 figures or 5 figures a year etc. is doing support taking a lot of time? Cool to see someone already doing similar thing!

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by 48-14 View Post
    It is possible, that is what I do, but it depends on what your designing.

    If it's just html sites, then a client could go anywhere, BUT if your designing WordPress or something as technical, then it's better to keep everything under one roof. You can keep an eye on things and know what's needed to make your work work.

    Many times with a WordPress site, if left to the customer, they might find a "bad" host, which you will then have to take more time to go and fix. But also as mentioned, offering hosting, if set up properly, can lead to residual income.

    In terms of a designing site sharing space with a hosting site...in essence, the designing site is a customer of the hosting site, meaning it's just another site like any other. What you will need to do is focus on a good design for the hosting site and incorporate a section about designing...or vice versa. Along the way you may have customers who just need hosting,or clients that just need a site but already paid for hosting elsewhere, or clients that like the one-stop-shop solution for their needs.

    Time to do some homework.
    Yeah, it's gonna be Wordpress websites mostly. I'll be developing those and selling them.

    I already have a website ready for web design service so I'd add section for hosting.

    By the way, is it possible to charge for additional services on WHMCS or just hosting? I wonder can I sell design package and hosting as the same transaction there. I wouldn't want clients doing two separate transactions...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by RCKG View Post
    By the way, is it possible to charge for additional services on WHMCS or just hosting? I wonder can I sell design package and hosting as the same transaction there. I wouldn't want clients doing two separate transactions...

    Anything your doing as a service can be setup through WHMCS (hosting, designing, support, etc).

    Hosting and support tends to be set prices. Design prices will depend on your business practices (upfront payments, scheduled payments, etc), and those options can be set up as well.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by RCKG View Post
    P.s can I ask how much is hosting doing for ya. Not in real number, but is it 4 figures or 5 figures a year etc.

    Life lesson...never talk numbers

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by 48-14 View Post
    Anything your doing as a service can be setup through WHMCS (hosting, designing, support, etc).

    Hosting and support tends to be set prices. Design prices will depend on your business practices (upfront payments, scheduled payments, etc), and those options can be set up as well.
    BALLER!!!! That makes it very convenient for all parties. I'll need a deposit for design and then hosting/support recurring billing.

    I'm getting more and more excited about this opportunity!

    Thank you for answers guys!

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by 48-14 View Post
    Life lesson...never talk numbers

    Never brag numbers I'd say. You need to plan/think/strategize in numbers!

    Just asking a ballpark to see how others are doing. haha No pressure tho, I understand if someone doesn't want to share!

  14. #14
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    Indeed, I'd prefer not to share specific numbers nor a ballpark range.

    I will say however that when I began I only had a small reseller package and slowly upgraded my way up the ladder going with a VPS, I continued to upgrade that but also ran out of room/resources and now I have my own dedicated server which I resell hosting from. I turn a substantial profit, but design work still comprises most of my income.

    Make sure you have a clean, user-friendly website, and if you're using WHMCS put your design skills to work and make a custom skin for it that really works with your website. People love to have the same look and feel across an entire website, including the billing portal.

    Best of luck!

  15. #15
    I am a big fan of disputes as I do believe the truth is born this way. You have all expressed good benefits in favor of keeping it under 1 brand, so let me give a different viewpoint of that scenario.

    Using 1 brand for various services is a tricky one. Another thing that makes it trickier is that one of your services is already established and gathered a client base, and the other one is pre-launch. Failing to incorporate both perfectly may seriously harm your existing business. Especially as I understand that hosting isn't something you deeply specialize in, what is to stop clients that don't like your hosting to completely abandon your design services also? Knowing your products and capabilities in-depth is the only way that you can control their quality.

    I don't think that this is applicable only to the combination design/hosting - the examples I've see with companies I know personally also include hosting/development and hosting/hardware. In all those businesses the two brands are separate. Sure, you can link them to each other, have them advertize one another, but at the end of the day the brand is your image - if you are 100% confident in your design skills and not so sure in your hosting competence, do not risk your existing brand. This way, even if one fails, the other will be sure to continue operating.

    I have to mention tho, that all my suggestions are based on companies with long-term plans and you are looking for a quick revenue and sell afterwards. So those might not be all accurate, however the base logic is still in tact
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  16. #16
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rado_Ch View Post
    I am a big fan of disputes as I do believe the truth is born this way. You have all expressed good benefits in favor of keeping it under 1 brand, so let me give a different viewpoint of that scenario.

    Using 1 brand for various services is a tricky one. Another thing that makes it trickier is that one of your services is already established and gathered a client base, and the other one is pre-launch. Failing to incorporate both perfectly may seriously harm your existing business. Especially as I understand that hosting isn't something you deeply specialize in, what is to stop clients that don't like your hosting to completely abandon your design services also? Knowing your products and capabilities in-depth is the only way that you can control their quality.

    I don't think that this is applicable only to the combination design/hosting - the examples I've see with companies I know personally also include hosting/development and hosting/hardware. In all those businesses the two brands are separate. Sure, you can link them to each other, have them advertize one another, but at the end of the day the brand is your image - if you are 100% confident in your design skills and not so sure in your hosting competence, do not risk your existing brand. This way, even if one fails, the other will be sure to continue operating.

    I have to mention tho, that all my suggestions are based on companies with long-term plans and you are looking for a quick revenue and sell afterwards. So those might not be all accurate, however the base logic is still in tact
    Appreciate the feedback. I see your point but I don't think sale after 5 years is looking for quick revenue. Just doing designs would be quicker revenue.

    I see your point about protecting good name too, it's def something that I need to do but I'm confident I can learn anything needed for hosting to provide a great service.

  17. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by nickpse View Post
    Indeed, I'd prefer not to share specific numbers nor a ballpark range.

    I will say however that when I began I only had a small reseller package and slowly upgraded my way up the ladder going with a VPS, I continued to upgrade that but also ran out of room/resources and now I have my own dedicated server which I resell hosting from. I turn a substantial profit, but design work still comprises most of my income.

    Make sure you have a clean, user-friendly website, and if you're using WHMCS put your design skills to work and make a custom skin for it that really works with your website. People love to have the same look and feel across an entire website, including the billing portal.

    Best of luck!
    Yeah, def want to match back-end with front-end.

    No worries about numbers. I appreciate the help already!

    Is it normal to expect 100-200 clients in first year? I'm thinking setting that as a goal for start.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by RCKG View Post
    Yeah, def want to match back-end with front-end.

    No worries about numbers. I appreciate the help already!

    Is it normal to expect 100-200 clients in first year? I'm thinking setting that as a goal for start.
    Depends on your approach - if you are going for a local or global one. Target group, Marketing and SEO practices, range of hosting services/packages, all those can determine your expected results.

    If you put work and timee into it and follow simple directions, i would say that 100-200 clients for 1 year is a completely achievable goal, you can exceed it several times with the right moves
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  19. #19
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    It's possible both services will do equally well, like say domain registration + hosting @Namecheap.
    But if any of the services isn't as good as your clients expect it to be, I'd do different brands.
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  20. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rado_Ch View Post
    Depends on your approach - if you are going for a local or global one. Target group, Marketing and SEO practices, range of hosting services/packages, all those can determine your expected results.

    If you put work and timee into it and follow simple directions, i would say that 100-200 clients for 1 year is a completely achievable goal, you can exceed it several times with the right moves
    Approach global pretty much, just I will specialize into certain profession and do services for them.

  21. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Natcoweb View Post
    It's possible both services will do equally well, like say domain registration + hosting @Namecheap.
    But if any of the services isn't as good as your clients expect it to be, I'd do different brands.
    Yeah, but if it works then it seems better for clients get them from one place, with one billing etc. I'll go with convenience for customer this time. If it bites me in the a.s.s I will have to own up to it!

  22. #22
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    We provide web design and hosting. In the beginning (like 1998) we has separate companies for each one but quickly realized it was more complicated and did not really see any benefits. I suppose there is a concern that you could lose a design client if you have hosting related problems but it has never been a problem for us. I would suggest choosing the right host to start. By that I mean make sure you find one who is reputable and provides the level of support you will need. I would also recommend asking about their options to grow since you have a goal of 100 - 200 new hosting clients in the first year. Be sure to update us after you get started and Good Luck!
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  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Web Host View Post
    We provide web design and hosting. In the beginning (like 1998) we has separate companies for each one but quickly realized it was more complicated and did not really see any benefits. I suppose there is a concern that you could lose a design client if you have hosting related problems but it has never been a problem for us. I would suggest choosing the right host to start. By that I mean make sure you find one who is reputable and provides the level of support you will need. I would also recommend asking about their options to grow since you have a goal of 100 - 200 new hosting clients in the first year. Be sure to update us after you get started and Good Luck!
    Hey Mike, thanks for contributing. This is good to hear. I've heard 'don't do hosting' advice from one buddy who has Wordpress support and backup business after this thread started.

    I'm looking at CrocWeb or BigScoot as hosts for reseller, they seemed to recommended here a lot. Do need to ask about growth options.

    P.S. How do you deal with support. Do you employ people or outsource it to some agency?

  24. #24
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    I don't see it as bad at all.
    If you've got a site, you won't need design services, ok
    What's to say though that offering design services is bad?

    Let's say customer opens up a ticket at nickel and dime hosting company, asking about their layout, why it's off. What do you do? Fixing it isn't the hosts's job, or responsibility, but you can tell them
    Hey, this is a design issue, which we can happily fix for a nominal fee
    OR you can just tell them
    Hey, this is a design issue, we can't fix it for you
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  25. #25

    Web Design

    I would like to imagine that that would be a pro for a web hosting business. Although it would also be ideal to be able to register domains as well so people could set up an entire website using your service/website.

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