11 replies
Hi All,

For the last few years I have been building websites for myself but in recent months I have been getting requests to build and host sites for other people. I currently just host my sites on a baby croc hostgator plan ( have been very happy with this ). My question is when I start building sites for other people ( clients ) should I be setting up individual hosting for each client or a seperate hosting for clients. How do any other people out there set up there business when designing sites for paying clients?

Thanks in advance for answers

Peter
#client #hosting #sites
  • Profile picture of the author Mar
    A reseller account is what you need; depending on how you see your business progressing, you could probably upgrade your babycroc - or alternatively set up a new account. If you set up a new account, you will most likely be able to specify your own nameservers - so instead of ns1.hostgator.com you will see ns1.yourdomainname.com - keeping your clients one step away from figuring out where you actually host your sites.

    Mar
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    • Profile picture of the author chimehost
      Originally Posted by Mar View Post

      A reseller account is what you need; depending on how you see your business progressing, you could probably upgrade your babycroc - or alternatively set up a new account. If you set up a new account, you will most likely be able to specify your own nameservers - so instead of ns1.hostgator.com you will see ns1.yourdomainname.com - keeping your clients one step away from figuring out where you actually host your sites.

      Mar
      Clients can still see where the site is hosting by looking up the IP whois. That's why when clients order VPS with us, we setup PTR record for the main VPS Ip address. So, when they lookup IP, they might see host.yourdomain.com
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      • Profile picture of the author Mar
        Originally Posted by chimehost View Post

        Clients can still see where the site is hosting by looking up the IP whois. That's why when clients order VPS with us, we setup PTR record for the main VPS Ip address. So, when they lookup IP, they might see host.yourdomain.com
        My experience of hosting clients' websites suggests that many of them don't know how to turn on their computers :O), some don't understand the concept of website hosting at all - and then there are the folks who are interested in all details and, sometime down the pike, decide they could do it all themselves for less money. A small reseller account will give the OP a good base to start where he can set up a certain number of domains with their own hosting control panels and build from there; nothing wrong with dedicated servers, VPS, setting up individual hosting accounts for individual clients either. If he's building a business out of this, he's got loads of options.

        Mar
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  • Profile picture of the author chimehost
    You have few options. You can get a reseller account with cPanel and this way you can setup individual accounts for your clients and give them cPanel login so they can check stats, setup email accounts, ftp account etc.

    You can also go VPS route where you can get a Virtual private server with cPanel. The only benefit of this is you get full control over your server and you can set up your server any way you want. For example, you can remove services or uninstall software that you don't need. With reseller hosting, you don't really have this option because there are other users on the server. Security is another issue with reseller hosting since there are other users on the server.
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  • Profile picture of the author Andyhenry
    I either get them to buy hosting or create a new hosting just for them.
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    nothing to see here.

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  • Profile picture of the author Terry Crim
    Depends if you want to handle support for the hosting. You may want to use an affiliate id and pass a link to the client telling them that it is an affiliate link and you will be paid.

    If you do want to host your clients yourself then it depends on the traffic the sites are currently getting as to what level of hosting you need. A reseller account as suggested above is the starting point you will need but if the client sites are getting a lot of traffic then you may need to go for a higher level hosting.


    - T
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  • Profile picture of the author Peter Thompson
    Thanks for all the replies.

    Another question I have is that as stated before I have a baby croc hosting plan which I have been more than happy with. I am though about to build a site that could possibly have 1000's of pages of content and in theory a lot of visitors to the site. This will evolve over the next 12 months. Should I from the beginning change this to some seperate hosting or is it an easy enough process once it hits that point it is to big for the current hosting to change it to it's own server or hosting?
    Does any use hostgaotr baby croc plan and how big a site and how large a visitation rate can it handle?

    Thanks in advance

    Peter
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    Peter Thompson
    supa2007
    http://www.pjtwebconcepts.com/
    Your home for building on the web

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    • Profile picture of the author chimehost
      Originally Posted by Peter Thompson View Post

      Thanks for all the replies.

      Another question I have is that as stated before I have a baby croc hosting plan which I have been more than happy with. I am though about to build a site that could possibly have 1000's of pages of content and in theory a lot of visitors to the site. This will evolve over the next 12 months. Should I from the beginning change this to some seperate hosting or is it an easy enough process once it hits that point it is to big for the current hosting to change it to it's own server or hosting?
      Does any use hostgaotr baby croc plan and how big a site and how large a visitation rate can it handle?

      Thanks in advance

      Peter
      Only Hostgator can answer that question. As a web host, I say if you are using cache, you can host 1000's of pages of content without any problem. However, you might encounter problems if you are using php/mysql as backend without cache and those thousands of pages are being accessed a lot. So, optimize your site with cache, image optimization, getting rid of useless codes
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    • Profile picture of the author Mar
      Originally Posted by Peter Thompson View Post

      Thanks for all the replies.

      Another question I have is that as stated before I have a baby croc hosting plan which I have been more than happy with. I am though about to build a site that could possibly have 1000's of pages of content and in theory a lot of visitors to the site.
      Hi, Peter - now that you've given us this information, I'd certainly go with a reseller account. .... Buy a domain specifically for the hosting, create your hosting packages - eg 100Mb with an appropriate bandwidth, up to 1000Mb space and bandwidth - and then you're set to use the first 1000MB package for your new site.

      Mar
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  • Profile picture of the author Terry Crim
    I agree with Mar. Also from a purely logistical standpoint if you plan to move to another host having a reseller account allows this to be done MUCH MUCH MUCH easier than the current level of hosting you are enjoying.

    Also you can setup each site on it's own control panel, which I really like.


    - T
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  • Profile picture of the author NestZone
    Hosting many site in one account may look profitable to you, but a lot of complications have been coming up recently with hosts suggesting you cannot resell their shared "UNLIMITED" plans.

    More to that, clients at one time may decide to go their separate ways and will be demanding full control of their website, in that case you are left with one choice, a RESELLER account which i think is the best plan for web designers.
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