Forum Moderators: mack
I've been designing web pages for a little while messing around and I am currently pursuing starting my own little business designing for fun and to make a little extra money. My first question is, does anyone know which hosting company I should use, or does it really matter? I have read a lot of reviews and a lot of different opinions and don't know what to believe anymore. My second question is should I offer to host the sites for my client as a reseller, or setup accounts with different hosting companies, or leave that up to the client? I read in one of the posts here to setup accounts with different companies so you don't have all of your eggs in one basket. If I were to do this, should I set the account up in my customers name or mine?
Thanks in advance.
Great post.
You have raised quite a few very interesting points there.
Generally I tend to use a host that I trust. I have been with the same web host for literally years now and am happy with them. I feel I would be taking a gamble to try different companies.
In terms of account name I generally use the clients name as domain owner, but have myself as billing and admin contact. That way you are billed for the services, and you can either pass on the bill to your client or have them pay in advance. I always think it is best of the client pays in advance for anything related to the hosing or domain name for the entire duration of the contract, or for one full term of domain ownership, (usually 2 years) It is up to you if you mark up the price of the web services, although it makes good business sense to have at least an admin fee for setting these things up. Becoming a reseller may make sense if you can be sure of enough work to make it viable. You may wish to start off using web hosting companies, then as your business grows, start reselling.
The biggest problem you will face, sadly is finding clients. It is a struggle at first, some ideas that work are offering your services locally. It is easier to actively target your local area. Write to local businesses and organisations. They may have though about creating a web presence and you might just be able to convince them to use your service.
As you grow your business word of mouth can be your best marketing tool. For this reason it is important to keep the clients "sweet". If you do good by them they may recommend you to people they know.
Businesses tend to operate in communities, there may be business associations in your area. You may be able to get involved within the "business circle" and that could lead to a lot of business for you.
Getting started as a freelance is not at all easy, but can lead to great things. It all takes time though. Start small but be prepared to grow. Like any other small business you need to show commitment if you wish to succeed. Starting out is always a challenge, but I hope it works out well for you.
Mack.
should I offer to host the sites for my client as a reseller
Can anyone tell me more about the reseller thing. Say I wanted to buy a handful of domains with hosting space, do you generally get them cheaper per month, or is it just the same as if you bought one at a time, as it were?
But in order for this to work well for you you need to be sure of a steady client stream, because in many cases there can be quite a large upfront payment.
Mack.
thanks again for your help.
Say I wanted to buy a handful of domains with hosting space, do you generally get them cheaper per month, or is it just the same as if you bought one at a time, as it were?
From what I have seen and know, there is very little margin in buying/selling domains, unless you are buying and selling hundreds of thousands of them (well, at least a large number of them). One of the least mentioned things (IMHO) is how much of a PITA domains can be, knowing when they have to be renewed, getting clients to pay for them on an annual basis, transferring them in (real PITA sometimes). If the people you are going with give you some control panel to renew/cancel/transfer, then thats a big advantage.
Back with the hosting kick, you might want to consider what features you would like out of your host. For example, you might only be producing static sites at the moment, but sometime in the near future, you might want to introduce forums/database driven features - take the costs of this into account, since you don't want to get badly stung when that big client/site comes up ;) ditto goes for Bandwidth and Disk-Space.
<uber-geek>
I might get jumped on for saying this, but you might also want to consider where you want your sites hosted. There was a little discussion on this a while ago - a host in the USA *might* do better for USA orientated SEO, likewise in other countries. Plus, you might want to find out how difficult it would be for your chosen host to give you multiple IP addresses, to seperate your sites out. YMMV - I'm not sure if this is *really* true anymore..
</uber-geek>
As for unbiased reviews, they are few and far between, since hosting is a rather large subject area. Recommendations go a long way, as does personal experience, I know that I would try and stick with my current hosts (i.e. me, since I resell ;D)
