Hi, I have currently set up a reseller account however it isn't like the normal reseller account most people think of the main thing I see that could put people off would be the downside that it will have no cPanel. However it will still allow people to have great bandwidth usage our Max package offering UNLIMITED bandwidth and web space usage obvious it will be subject to a fair usage policy and TOS. It will come with email and POP3 access in fact it will come with practically EVERYTHING the major downfall being it will not have cPanel access so people will have to get around that and get used to working with our control center for there account however it will be VERY EASY to use. Something our customer will also benefit from IF required is our FREE Dial Up internet service IF required. Thus meaning if they ever have issues with broadband they can connect via our dial up service we will also be offering a free/cheap broadband service to our customer in the future. We are doing this to hopefully put a new breakthrough in internet service offering cheap hosting with internet access at the same time. So this should attract those with a business head on. In the future we also hope to be offering a phone service etc so in essence we will be offering some great services in communications. Question is the downfall is we don't have cPanel but would you still be interested?? Rick
The problem is for with hosting providers like HostGator, people would rather go with them since 1) they're established 2) they have a good reputation 3) they offer huge packages for the sake of a couple of dollars. What you need to do is build a reputation of your own, because size really doesn't mean nothing when it comes to web hosting, people prefer quality and performance and they don't mind paying more for a hosting account. I would advice you enter a different field of business, or at least start in a different niche and then offer hosting, since current customers will then try your hosting (since most people like to keep their hosting in-house if they have any other services with a company - at least I do anyway). Hope this helps.
Also just add to what has already been said think of the advantages your Control Center has over cpanel, ie..loads faster/simpler to to use etc instead of just saying it doesnt have cpanel. On a personal note if i was going for hosting and it didnt have cpanel it woldnt put me off although i would like to see an online demo of the features the alternative offered.
I think your possibly asking the question to the wrong people When i was starting out with a website i was given a free small hosting by websiteunited (does anyone remember them? ) amd that had cpanel. They then went bust and i managed to get another free hosting account with someone else but they didnt have cpanel - they had something else. I couldnt get to grips with it (quite possibly because i was a beginner) so i then went to paid hosting and havnt looked back. But i think if your going after people who are new then you need cpanel if your going after experienced people then i dont think cpanel matters so long as their is something for stats/mail/mysql etc
Just as Tony84 says - if your marketing towards non-technical people then they wont care about cpanel ... I would say that you should try and supply a webmail option tho as most of my (non-technical) customers request this...
I'd rather suggest you to offer other services like blog and forum hosting which will help people who are not technically sound to start their own blog and forum without installing anything.