Am I losing out by not offering hosted mobi sites?

Creativegirl · 15th Apr 2012, 12:45 PM

I see many sites selling the hosted mobi sites using the various site builders that are available. I myself am interested in reselling duda.com sites for various reasons. BUT, crossing the line to a product I don't own and will pay for year after year is a hard sell for myself and thus a challenge for me to get behind and offer to businesses.

Is it me and I'm losing out by not using this as a mobile business model?

WillR · 15th Apr 2012, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by Creativegirl

I see many sites selling the hosted mobi sites using the various site builders that are available. I myself am interested in reselling duda.com sites for various reasons. BUT, crossing the line to a product I don't own and will pay for year after year is a hard sell for myself and thus a challenge for me to get behind and offer to businesses.

Is it me and I'm losing out by not using this as a mobile business model?

There is no need to use 3rd party services for things like this. You are right in being concerned with handing over a whole chunk of your business to a third party provider.

I would much rather have control of things myself. It might take a little longer to set up in the first place but it's going to save you a ton of time and hassles in the long run.

Creativegirl · 15th Apr 2012, 09:32 PM

I don't think so either except for better analytics than google but that won't apply to all businesses. But I can't help wondering if it's my limitation when most of what I see are sites reselling these services/using these platforms - if that model really fits the small biz owner better -- even though they don't own anything and are paying XXX more in the long run.

payment proof · 15th Apr 2012, 09:53 PM

Having mobile friendly apps, sites, etc. could be very beneficial. The mobile market is a growing market. But I agree with WillR. I would not want to hand over control of a large chunk of my business to a 3rd party provider.

BrianFL · 16th Apr 2012, 12:53 AM

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, you're referring to using a separate system that designs the mobile site and hosts it, then charging your clients for this? If so, I agree, I wouldn't let them host the site themselves. What if they went down or disappeared, I'd have no way to get the files onto a backup.

I had a bad experience like this once with a mobile designing tool. They disappeared during the middle of the night when I was designing a last minute client's site. I ended up having to pay someone else to design something that looked how I promised it would look. Frustrating.

On the plus side because of that I was able to find better solutions and now I host the sites myself. I get my clients to sign for separate mobile hosting which I provide. My reasoning is that if their mobile site goes down I'll be notified and can switch over to my back up server, which will keep their main traffic (Google Places and mobile SEO) coming to their site even if their main website is down. They like the sense of security and occasionally I host their main site too.

15th Apr 2012, 12:45 PM	#1
Creativegirl HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2010 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 413 Thanks: 98 Thanked 55 Times in 49 Posts	Am I losing out by not offering hosted mobi sites? Share on: I see many sites selling the hosted mobi sites using the various site builders that are available. I myself am interested in reselling duda.com sites for various reasons. BUT, crossing the line to a product I don't own and will pay for year after year is a hard sell for myself and thus a challenge for me to get behind and offer to businesses. Is it me and I'm losing out by not using this as a mobile business model?

15th Apr 2012, 09:32 PM	#3
Creativegirl HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2010 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 413 Thanks: 98 Thanked 55 Times in 49 Posts	Re: Am I losing out by not offering hosted mobi sites? Share on: I don't think so either except for better analytics than google but that won't apply to all businesses. But I can't help wondering if it's my limitation when most of what I see are sites reselling these services/using these platforms - if that model really fits the small biz owner better -- even though they don't own anything and are paying XXX more in the long run.

15th Apr 2012, 09:53 PM	#4
payment proof HyperActive Warrior Join Date: 2007 Location: , , USA. Posts: 387 Thanks: 84 Thanked 56 Times in 54 Posts	Re: Am I losing out by not offering hosted mobi sites? Share on: Having mobile friendly apps, sites, etc. could be very beneficial. The mobile market is a growing market. But I agree with WillR. I would not want to hand over control of a large chunk of my business to a 3rd party provider.

16th Apr 2012, 12:53 AM	#5
BrianFL Active Warrior Join Date: 2010 Location: Florida Posts: 33 Thanks: 21 Thanked 19 Times in 16 Posts	Re: Am I losing out by not offering hosted mobi sites? Share on: Maybe I'm misunderstanding, you're referring to using a separate system that designs the mobile site and hosts it, then charging your clients for this? If so, I agree, I wouldn't let them host the site themselves. What if they went down or disappeared, I'd have no way to get the files onto a backup. I had a bad experience like this once with a mobile designing tool. They disappeared during the middle of the night when I was designing a last minute client's site. I ended up having to pay someone else to design something that looked how I promised it would look. Frustrating. On the plus side because of that I was able to find better solutions and now I host the sites myself. I get my clients to sign for separate mobile hosting which I provide. My reasoning is that if their mobile site goes down I'll be notified and can switch over to my back up server, which will keep their main traffic (Google Places and mobile SEO) coming to their site even if their main website is down. They like the sense of security and occasionally I host their main site too.