Hostgator - Baby? Business? Reseller?

[Michael in CT]

Hi gang,

I'm trying to weave my way through the web hosting jargon and figure out what is best for me.

I basically want to put up 1 ebook sales letter to begin, but within a month or two I might want to have 3 or 4 seperate ebook sales letters (each under a seperate domain name) up and running.

I plan to use PayPal as my merchant account to begin.

And of course, like everyone I have "big plans" in the future, but this is my early goal.


What hosting level should I get from Hostgator?

Baby, Business, or Reseller?
Can anyone offer me some guidance?


Much Appreciated,
Michael

[CurtisN]

Baby plan is good because you get unlimited domains on a single account.

Don't forget to use a coupon code to get your first month for 1 cent. One that I can remember off the top of my head is 404page. You can do a simple google search for more coupons

Curtis

[Ouroboros]

Michael,

You can get by for a long time on the 9.95 account. Plenty of bandwidth and unlimited domains.

You can always upgrade later if you need to. I've got a squidoo lens that goes into more detail but I'll let you PM me if you want the address since it does have affiliate links on it.

Steve

(Curtis beat me to it!)

[howudoin]

HI Micheal,
Welcome to the warrior forum!

Regarding your question, there are several possibilities:

1. In case you simply want to put up a one page sales letter on a single domain then a Baby account would be far more than enough to do the job. Even if you want to have 4 or 5 such ebooks to sell through different domains then baby Will do just fine. More over its a better strategy to start small since it will cost around $10/month.

2. In case you want to FLIP these websites later considering that you have "Big" Plans then it will be better to get a reseller account since it will allow you to set up different username and password for the new User with absolutely NO headache and the entire transfer will be very smooth.

3. I don't think that there's any need for a Business account since you can always upgrade from baby or reseller. Business would be recommended once you have "Made it" and getting atleast 5000 uniques/day for all of your websites.

The only exception to this would be if you are utilizing "PROSPER202" for all your tracking needs on a dedicated domain name. This script needs MYSQL 5.1 which is not available on any of the three options (All have MYSQL 5.0). But with hostgator, you can upgrade to this version only with dedicated hosting.

Hope this helps
Bhupinder

[ECS Dave]

I just transferred a large chunk of my web presence to hostgator,
and with the support that they gave, can (so far) recommend them highly.

The "baby" account sounds like something that will work for you, to start...

One more thing, have you given any thought to how you will be "selling"
your product? What "system" you will be using to process your sales, and
protecting your downloads? Also, how will you manage affiliates?

I recommend you read my series on Rapid Action Profits,
I'm certain you will find that it answers the above questions very well...

Be Well!
ECS Dave

[Michael in CT]

Ok... I now see that I can just do Baby month by month and upgrade later. I thought they might lock me into a contract. I will just give Baby a shot for now.


Last question. Why do I need to give them a domain name right away?

I don't understand. Why don't they let you buy a hosting plan and then set up several domain names under the account?

Is it critical that I give them the domain name that I will primarily use.
As someone who believes in testing... I'm not even sure if I'll be using the same domain name in 2 months from now.

Does my question make sense to you guys?

When I go to order, the first thing they want to know is which domain name I am going to use.

[Swastik]

Why do I need to give them a domain name right away?

I don't understand. Why don't they let you buy a hosting plan and then set up several domain names under the account?

Is it critical that I give them the domain name that I will primarily use.
As someone who believes in testing... I'm not even sure if I'll be using the same domain name in 2 months from now.

Does my question make sense to you guys?

When I go to order, the first thing they want to know is which domain name I am going to use.

They need to know which domain you'd use as a primary one for your hosting account. Then, you can addon domains according to the plan you choose.

They setup the hosting account based on the primary domain, that's why they need it.

[howudoin]

Ok... I now see that I can just do Baby month by month and upgrade later. I thought they might lock me into a contract. I will just give Baby a shot for now.


Last question. Why do I need to give them a domain name right away?

I don't understand. Why don't they let you buy a hosting plan and then set up several domain names under the account?

Is it critical that I give them the domain name that I will primarily use.
As someone who believes in testing... I'm not even sure if I'll be using the same domain name in 2 months from now.

Does my question make sense to you guys?

When I go to order, the first thing they want to know is which domain name I am going to use.

Just add a domain name that you want to, for now.

Simply adding a domain name does NOT mean that you have transfered the domain name.
Lats say you filled the form with the domain name "abc.com". Now you have to update the Nameservers at your domain registrar. For example if your domain registrar is Namecheap.com then you need to login to your namecheap account and update the nameservers of abc.com

If later you decide on NOT using the same domain name (abc.com)then all you need to do (2 months from now) is to update the name servers of some other domain name which you want to use in its place.

Hope this helps
Bhupinder

[Kay King]

Also, important to mention perhaps that with the baby plan you are adding other domains as "add ons".

If you plan to use only one page sales page sites you could use a very generic domain and set the various sales pages up as subdomains if you wanted as a sudomain is viewed as a standalone site. Just another alternative for you.

kay

Edit - Admit I use the reseller plan myself because of separate cpanel for each site and WHM management - though I don't resell hosting.

[Sid Hale]

Anarchy is right.

I find this to be a very narrow viewpoint, and could mis-lead a "newbie".

Originally Posted by AnarchyAds

THE ONLY REASON to begin a business (website) is to sell it.

Only if that is your business model, and most businesses are NOT formed with the primary objective of eventually selling them. It's a "fallback" strategy, and it's good to have one, but it's not the primary business strategy.

A reseller account also allows you to help others you may
wish to help at some point.

A reseler account will pay for itself what you have 4 websites.

It is twice the price at first, but GO FOR IT.

True enough - but you can always transfer a domain to a new reseller account down the road if you want (even on a different hosting company if that's your desire) - so there is no reason to go for a reseller account until you're comfortable with it.

BUT ... do yourself a good deed ...
Get a domain like cthosting
or michaelshosting
or mikehost
or SOMETHING with the wort host in it to look like a real hosting company

If you don't get good service with a single domain (even a baby account), regardless of your domain name... switch hosting!

Any hosting company worth doing business with will give you good support whether you have a single "baby" account, a reseller account (regardless of the primary domain name), or a dedicated server.

If they don't - switch.

You're the customer. You'll have enough customer issues of your own, so don't waste your time haggling with an uncooperative web hosting company.

[BlueSquares]

Doesn't matter. Anything can be transferred anywhere whenever you want. Nothing is set in stone in the world of hosting.

[David Hawke]

For now the baby plan will work fine. No sense in spending the extra money until you need to.

[benzbaby]

I see godaddy being pushed as a domain seller but i was advised NOT to use them because they are known for taking over the name if you get any complaints (spam) and then they try to resell it back to you for big bucks...is this just a myth?

[BlueSquares]

Fact. I've experienced it first hand. I'll never use Godaddy for anything ever again. They think they're the Internet Police.

Originally Posted by benzbaby

I see godaddy being pushed as a domain seller but i was advised NOT to use them because they are known for taking over the name if you get any complaints (spam) and then they try to resell it back to you for big bucks...is this just a myth?

[ECS Dave]

Originally Posted by benzbaby

I see godaddy being pushed as a domain seller but i was advised NOT to use them because they are known for taking over the name if you get any complaints (spam) and then they try to resell it back to you for big bucks...is this just a myth?

Originally Posted by BlueSquares

Fact. I've experienced it first hand. I'll never use Godaddy for anything ever again. They think they're the Internet Police.

I've not yet had this problem with GoDaddy... (knock on wood)
In fact, I've had fairly good customer service with them as well...
Of course, to avoid spam complaints, ummm, "don't spam".

Be Well!
ECS Dave

P.S. Good customer service from Sid Hale too...
The Rapid Action Profits guy...

[braver55b]

I second that notion,

I use hostgator and godaddy for my sites and I'm thinking of transferring all my sites to hostgator as I have the baby package (that's one big baby as in unlimited domains-some hosts want to charge an additional 10 bucks just to add another domain.that's 10 bucks per additional domain,) I highly recommend hostgator.

[twannahiga]

If you're looking at Hostgator, I think a baby plan would be great because you can get unlimited domains available on a single account. Always use a coupon code to save some money on your first month, try code: 404page. More coupons are available through the google search engine!

[p2y]

You should always start off with the smallest plan and then move up from there, besides from my experience with hostgator they will make the "unlimited" claim up and down but once you start getting 10,000 hits a day they close you down because wordpress is using too much of the CPU.

[robertstr]

Hi, I buy the domains at mad dog domains..cheap 6 bucks and use the baby gator..
works great, and you can always upgrade. hint..the extras at hostgator are expensive in my opinion..10buck domains..10private regs..etc. Buy them separate..anywhere.

[jrianto]

Hi Michael,
Do you plan to use different domain names for your ebook? if you are just going to use one domain name to sell all of your ebook, then go with their Hatcling package. No need to go for Baby.

Go for baby, only if you want to have different domain names to setup many websites.

Good luck!

[WinsonYeung]

Baby plan is enough for you, unlimited domain name, unlimited brandwidth and unlimited storage space.

[laurelwachtel]

I think that hostgator has a new hatchling option available that enables you to receive a great range basic of options and host several domains under the one host for a bargain price of under $10 a month. Check it out if your after a cheaper alternative!

[zampire]

I concur the baby plan would be best for your needs. Hostgator is awesome by the way.

Also, I have to disagree with the post saying the only purpose to creating a website is to sell it. Maybe that is THAT poster's business model, but it is not the model of the vast, vast majority of Internet marketers.

On the other hand, if you have something that makes money hold on to it for dear life.

[plexpert]

I'd go with baby plan which will let you have unlimited domains. I also love the free template packages you get, it takes some time but I've been able to use some of the designs to really make some professional looking sites.

[Nathan Hangen]

Baby plan is good, but I don't like that you need a subdomain under the main domain for every addon.

For that reason alone, I might consider going with the reseller unless you know how to handle .htaccess files.

[gerrihabib]

Would agree with other posters on the baby plan, and also signing up with hostgator is terrific because they have such an incredibly supportive help network to assist you every step of the way. And it you ever need help setting up your domain, they have great step by step tutorials in creating your own webpages via a client, and links to external web page building services too! Check it out!

[judyrey]

I echo the advice to get an Baby account to begin with. You can always upgrade.
Host Gator Tech help is always wonderful and helpful.
They have helped me in many ways. I recommendHost Gator freely and I am not an affiliate (it would be off purpose/brand for now).
Judy Rey

[MarkCue]

Baby plan is also my recommendation for you simply because the baby plan allows you to host unlimited domains. Hatchling plan doesn't really make sense because you want to have more than one domain within the next couple of months.

Anyway, Hostgator is an excellent choice.

[lumcc]

As for beginners, go for the Baby!
(anyway you can upgrade anytime in the future when there is more sites, more traffic etc)

[Phil Hosemans]

I concur with the general masses here - go the Baby plan, its a no-brainer.

Once you start getting more products and traffic you just simply upgrade... and later when you get *even more* traffic you can switch to a dedicated :-)

-Phil