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Couple Questions - for Hosting, claiming map listings

by mintons
4 replies
Hey there - So I have been on the sidelines reading post after post for the last couple of years trying to find the next product that would make some quick cash. I finally decided that all the "new shiny" stuff really is not up my alley. I enjoy helping others and want to help small business's improve their web marketing. So, I finally decided a few months back that I was blocking everything out, started working on business plan, my marketing plan, designing my company site, setting pricing for my services, and deciding what services that I can do well that will truly bring value to my clients. Been working hard on setting the foundation, and am just about ready to go.....but then I started to see some posts that indicated that I may be going about things the wrong way in a few instances.

For instance, Hosting: I have a host gator account and thought I could set up companies sites using my add-on domains. I think now I am gathering this is the wrong to go about it. So my question is this. I am assuming the route is go sign up for a HostGater reseller account correct? If so, I believe the starting price is 25 or so a month......can you charge whatever you want at that point for hosting each month? Or do you just sign them up under one of the gator hosting plans, but make a commission doing so? Just a little confused on how all of that works.

Secondly, for claiming their google + maps, yahoo maps, bing, etc.......how do you handle that? Do you set them up a google email that you know the password to so that you can get into all of them? Do you ask them for them to give you their email info (highly doubt this). For instance, for google, was just going to create them an email in google, so that I had access to their email account. How do you all go about doing this?

Domain name - If they dont have a domain name currently, are you able to set one up using the host gator reseller account? Or do you instruct them to go out and purchase one, but then you are going to have to point the DNS server information, so you would again need access to their account.

I know these sound like very basic and dumb questions, but I just want to make sure I am going about everything the right way.

Thanks,
Shaun
#claiming #couple #hosting #listings #map #questions
  • Profile picture of the author Kingfish85
    I'll give a little input on the hosting aspect.

    I'd highly suggest moving to a reseller account. DO NOT try to pile a bunch of addon domains onto a shared hosting account, especially if you're charging or they aren't owned by you.

    There are major security & performance concerns with using addon domains with shared accounts. The first is that should one of those websites get compromised, it could affect every site on the plan. If your cPanel account for your main site gets compromised, so does every website you have on the one account since they are all based under 1 user.

    From a performance perspective, should one of those sites start utilizing a higher percentage of resources, the entire account will get shut down taking every site with it since there's no way to differentiate the user; they're all based on one user.

    With a reseller account, you will be able to better organize these websites as well as have better security. If one account goes berserk using CPU, that single account can be dealt with vs shutting the entire account down. As far as security, each cPanel account runs as its own user account, so you have better isolation there.

    Be sure to use strong passwords for all accounts as well as your main cPanel/WHM account and you'll be ok. Always, always, always have backups. Some providers have solutions in place to make it easier on you, and some don't. Make sure you're always keeping local backups as well.

    As far as domains go, keep them with an outside domain registrar. Even as a web host owner myself, I recommend using an outside source for this. Should any issues arise, nameservers can be changed etc. It will also keep from allowing a shady web host from holding the domain hostage.

    Hope that helps!
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    • Profile picture of the author mintons
      Originally Posted by Kingfish85 View Post

      I'll give a little input on the hosting aspect.

      I'd highly suggest moving to a reseller account. DO NOT try to pile a bunch of addon domains onto a shared hosting account, especially if you're charging or they aren't owned by you.

      There are major security & performance concerns with using addon domains with shared accounts. The first is that should one of those websites get compromised, it could affect every site on the plan. If your cPanel account for your main site gets compromised, so does every website you have on the one account since they are all based under 1 user.

      From a performance perspective, should one of those sites start utilizing a higher percentage of resources, the entire account will get shut down taking every site with it since there's no way to differentiate the user; they're all based on one user.

      With a reseller account, you will be able to better organize these websites as well as have better security. If one account goes berserk using CPU, that single account can be dealt with vs shutting the entire account down. As far as security, each cPanel account runs as its own user account, so you have better isolation there.

      Be sure to use strong passwords for all accounts as well as your main cPanel/WHM account and you'll be ok. Always, always, always have backups. Some providers have solutions in place to make it easier on you, and some don't. Make sure you're always keeping local backups as well.

      As far as domains go, keep them with an outside domain registrar. Even as a web host owner myself, I recommend using an outside source for this. Should any issues arise, nameservers can be changed etc. It will also keep from allowing a shady web host from holding the domain hostage.

      Hope that helps!
      Thank you very much for all of that information!! I think I am set on the hosting and will be switching over to the reseller account. Did you have any feedback on how to handle the client using an outside company for the domain name, ie., how do you edit their account and point the DNS servers, do you have them do it, or do you ask them to set up the domain and then change the DNS servers themselves?
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  • Profile picture of the author blacky123321
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    • Profile picture of the author Falkonator
      I buy all of my domains with my namecheap.com account. If a client does not have a name yet, I will put them on my account. That way renewals are in my control. Costs are included in the hosting.

      I had one client that I set up his own account for his domain and then he lost the domain because he didn't renew it and I had no way of getting into his account. I will not do that again.

      If they have a domain, just ask for the login info for their account. They should be happy to give it to you. I have not had problems so far.

      For Google Places I usually set up a new gmail account for the client. I also use the same account for webmaster tools and analytics. So if the client ever wants to transfer, it is easy to do.
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  • Profile picture of the author OolongMedia
    For your hosting concern, you can directly ask it via their live chat.
    For domains, I'm happy with Namecheap.
    For Google Places, each client should have a corresponding gmail account named after their business name.
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