| Posted by stlouislouis, 07-23-2002, 04:43 PM | | Hi,
OK, lets say a person wants to become a reseller offering hosting to the public. What do they need to be operational and open for business?
Especially back end web site wise? Are there any free scripts or "web hosting in a box" type stuff available for a new reseller?
Also, what skills will the new reseller need? I'm guessing primarily knowledge of the control panel, but wondering how much web site development or web site management skill is required to be successful and grow over time.
Besides:
1) the back end web site stuff for accepting business from customers;
2) the legal stuff like a business license and tax number;
3) an account at some place like 2checkout for processing credit card payments;
what else is needed?
What's required...and how much is out there one can grab and deploy to be operational as a reseller offering web hosting to the public?
How important (and which ones) are web development skills?
Thanks,
Louis
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| Posted by ubergeek22, 07-23-2002, 05:01 PM | | I think that the most profitable area is by offering design services to local businesses, and selling them hosting at the same time. People may disagree, but there are literally millions of small businesses willing to pay a reasonable amount for a web presence, and compared with other fields of hosting (i.e. providing dedicated servers, or at the other end of the spectrum those "unlimited" $2 accounts that everyman and his dog is offering), there is plenty of room for competition and more than enough work to go round.
So, for that, web development skills are important, but if you're a solely-hosting company I guess they're less important.
Regarding software, try phpmanager.com, which is the most basic and popular solution for most people.
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| Posted by dsainternet, 07-23-2002, 06:50 PM | | I completely agree. I have no hosting clients except those I designed sites for. By creating a site for a small business you create the need- and then supply it. Offered as a part of a package-type deal, hosting/design can be very profitable, even if done at very low costs.
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| Posted by peachtreewebworks, 07-23-2002, 07:41 PM | | Unfortunately in my area I'm seeing fewer and fewer small businesses! Most new shops opening up for instance are all chains, who have their corporate office handling all the marketing.
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| Posted by dsainternet, 07-23-2002, 11:49 PM | | Small business don't necessarily have to be next door to you. I work with a small design company in the suburbs, but we work with clients from all over the city and surrounding towns as well.
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| Posted by stlouislouis, 07-24-2002, 09:38 AM | | Thank you all for your advice. However, I'm asking about a business operation that's primarily a hosting company, not a company that does site development for people.
Regarding my original questions, how would you answer for a pure hosting company rather than a web site design and development company?
Thank you very much for sharing,
Louis
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| Posted by StevenG, 07-24-2002, 10:13 AM | | Firstly, you need something like CPanel in order to resell (Control panel with reseller priveledges - Then you may need a credit card processor and maybe billing software - such as perlbill, modernbill etc. (Modernbill + perlbill include both - As far as I am aware perlbill does, but modernbill definitely does.)
You need strong server admin skills (Although CPanel will do most of the work for you if needed - You still need to know the command line commands.)
There are heaps of scripts at http://www.hotscripts.com to help server administrators.
If you design nice websites, then all good, if not - Outsource that to a designer.
Hope that answered some of your questions.
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| Posted by Aussie Bob, 07-24-2002, 10:28 AM | | 1). A simple website
(2). A Reseller account [$20/mth]
(3). Credit card processing from http://Revecom
(4). Heaps of patience, courage and determination.
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| Posted by iveka, 07-24-2002, 11:25 AM | | If you do not know some of the back-end programming, find someone you trust that does. Offer them some sort of compensation - free hosting or something like that. Then when a problem or question arises, send them an email or call, and get them to see if they can work their magic.
That's what I do and it works great. I am a designer, not a programmer, but I know enough not to try and mess up suff myself!
Hope that helps
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| Posted by stlouislouis, 07-24-2002, 12:57 PM | | Are there any free or low cost "web hosting turn-key" software or script packages aimed at resellers?
And will the scripts aimed at those administering servers be applicable for those resellers who are doing things with the control panel their host provides, rather than administering a dedicated server?
Thanks again to all for sharing!
Louis
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| Posted by jazz, 07-24-2002, 09:36 PM | | Yeah, chain stores are a bitch. It's ruining local culture and homoginizing the world into nothing but McDonalds and Wal-Mart. What americans have feared would happen under communism is happening under capitalism. Support independent Business!!!
p.s.
Sorry for the offtopic
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| Posted by intraweb, 07-24-2002, 10:10 PM | | Whatever you do - do something original, or you will not succeed.
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| Posted by Aussie Bob, 07-24-2002, 11:47 PM | | and finding something original is next to impossible too.
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| Posted by saltlakejohn, 07-25-2002, 01:02 AM | | To stlouislouis reguarding scripts, WebHostMnager (WHM) is what I think you're asking about, or asking for. It is part and parcel of almost every webhosting account you can sign up for. It's is free, so to speak, and it is YOUR control panel, not accessible to the sites you sell. With WHM you can creat an account, assign a domain name (your customer's) to it and set parameters like how much space and how much transfer they get.
Now, if you want to add automatic billing and/or customer accounting you would use Modernbill (costly) or phpManager ($30-$50). IF (note: IF) you wanted to automatically setup a website in the WebHostManager whenever a customer first sends you a payment, something like whmManager (open source) will read the payment info from PayPal or 2click and set the site up presto! without you even being on hand.
Automatic account creation is however not all good (spammers and scammers) and you will find many good people here at WHTalk that prefer to setup accounts manually. Me personally (I'm the littlest of the tiny guys) I use PayPal Subscriptions and let them collect for me monthly or annually, they email me, I set the website up accordingly.
First, I would say look at the thread called "top five hosts" and check out aussie bob's list -- it's dead on. Sign up for a month at splashhost (shameless plug, I know) for $30 and play with it... see what you got. Turn it off if you want... nothing ventured, nothing gained.
--John Sinclair
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| Posted by stlouislouis, 07-26-2002, 09:56 AM | | Thanks all for the great advice and sharing!
Any other "turn-key" solutions out there to also take a look at?
And is anybody using the type of automated setup for taking hosting orders mentioned above? If so, how's it working out?
Thanks a bunch, everyone!
Louis
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| Posted by saltlakejohn, 07-26-2002, 02:12 PM | | I installed phpManager and later on I hacked and used WHMManager. I was hot for "instant account setup" like the Big Boys until I read some commentary on letting an automaton poke around inside your WHM while your back is turned:
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=28992
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=59451
http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=59863
Positively Asimov-ian, letting one computer update another, I think. The last word is this considered summation by iseletsk: http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showth...threadid=37952
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| Posted by stlouislouis, 07-26-2002, 04:19 PM | | SaltLakeJohn,
Thank you very much for sharing! It really helps.
Lots of things to consider, that's for sure!
Take care,
Louis
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