Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Web Hosting : Starting a web development business... Which hosting service & model should I choose?

[perpetual_dream]

Hello,

I am about to start my web development business. I would like to offer a web hosting service for my clients. I am not sure whether I should be reseller, rent a VPS and sell packages for my clients or go with a shared hosting plan with multiple domains? What company do you recommend?

Thanks.

[APX]

I suggest to do the reseller. Start off there. You can find yourself a reseller with end user support as well to take care of the technical issues.

[AeonCube]

I would agree with 'APX' as reseller hosting comes with a lower risk factor and lower costs. Once you feel happy with your reseller account and need to upgrade then moce to a VPS or even a dedicated server.

What sort of features would you be after in your hosting? PHP, ASP.NET (Linux or Windows)

[perpetual_dream]

Linux Hosting.... Does a reseller account offer the possibility of recurring billing? Do I charge my customers on a yearly basis.... ?

[AeonCube]

Originally Posted by perpetual_dream

Linux Hosting.... Does a reseller account offer the possibility of recurring billing? Do I charge my customers on a yearly basis.... ?

Linux reseller hosting should be easy enough to get your hand on, many companies offer reseller hosting for Linux. With charging clients I would recommend getting a script to handle this, such as WHMCS (whmcs.com) which could handle billing for your clients and auto systems for setting up accounts etc. You would charge your clients based on the profite levels you would like.

Hope this helps

[include]

We started with a reseller account, but moved quickly to a managed dedicated environment as soon as we could.

During the time we used a reseller account, another customer on the server starting spamming, the ip got blacklisted, our clients email's stopped working etc etc.

I know it is an additional expense, but having complete control over our hosting environment is very important to us.

Nowadays a VPS offers a similar sort of control, but at a smaller cost.

Not saying reseller accounts are not a good place to start, but just letting you know my experience!

C.

[perpetual_dream]

What hosting reseller company would you recommend?

[njoker555]

Billing is handled by a billing software, not the reseller account. And the way you charge depends on how you want to do it. You can set up monthly, quaterly, or charge up to 10 years if you want.

For billing software, I'd recommend WHMCS or clientexec.

You should do plenty of research before choosing a host since it is your business and you will be held responsible by your clients if anything happens.

Good luck!

[AeonCube]

Originally Posted by perpetual_dream

What hosting reseller company would you recommend?

Thats the hard part picking a company to host with, I normally say try the offers area on WHT or do some searches on google. I would still recommend using WHT offers section to see for any really good offers or even a month free reseller hosting so you can be 100% risk free

[tim2718281]

Originally Posted by Carl Bembridge

We started with a reseller account, but moved quickly to a managed dedicated environment as soon as we could.

During the time we used a reseller account, another customer on the server starting spamming, the ip got blacklisted, our clients email's stopped working etc etc.

Good point; if there is any kind of business dependency, it's probably better to get a web hosting service with your own dedicated IP address, to avoid the problems you outlined.

[perpetual_dream]

Ok... A few other questions...

1- Does the location of the hosting server really matter ? I am located in Jerusalem and most of my clients are going to be from here as well .... Is it OK to go for a server that is located in the US?

2- With a VPS or reseller account... Can I provide each client with his own cpanel account?

Thanks.
2-

[njoker555]

1. location doesn't really matter because you are not likely to see high load times on a website as you would on a VoIP or Game Server. Ask for an IP to ping or a test download file and see what the speed is like.

2. Yes for both VPS and Reseller. With a VPS you'd have to get a cPanel license which costs about $15/month on average.

[perpetual_dream]

$15/month per customer?

[SphereWebHosting]

For starting out, a Reseller account would work fine. A Reseller account would allow you to host your customer's sites and let you focus on development and building your business.

[njoker555]

$15/month per VPS IP. Not per account - that would make hosting crazy expensive you just need one license pointed to your main shared server and you can set up as many accounts as you want on the same VPS

The average dedicated server license is $35/mo.