Hi, I'm starting up a whole new venture that involves building: 1) My Professional Site (I'm a writer) 2) Several Affiliate Sites. The affiliate sites will be unrelated to my professional site and unrelated to each other. They will most likely use different themes, some will have datafeeds (probably PopShops or GoldenCan). I expect some of these sites to succeed and some to fail. I'll end up keeping some, maybe selling one or two (or at least the domains) and letting the others drop. I recently signed up for a BabyPlan at HostGator. Unlimited Domains (add-ons). My Professional site is the main domain. The affiliate sites will be add-ons. I chose the multi-domain plan rather than a reseller plan because of cost and because I know nothing about reseller hosting plans even if I'm just "reselling" to myself. Problem is, it didn't occur to me that the add-on domains were technically sub-domains. Yes, add-ons have their own registered domain names, but technically it's still domain2.maindomain.tld. I don't want my professional site associated with the affiliate sites. I don't even want some affiliate sites associated with some other affiliate sites. With the tools available, anyone can see the sub-domains associated with main domain. Thus, anyone can know all of my business with one click. So, what do I do? A) Don't worry about it? A lot of people seem to do it this way and are very successful. B) Buy a single plan for the main site and use the add-on domain plan for the affiliates? C) Bite the bullet, spend the money, learn the system and get a reseller plan? I could really use some help with this quickly as I believe I"m still within my cancellation period with HostGator. (I also posted this in the WP forums...My apologies to readers of both.)
The only time most people need a reseller account for themselves is if they want each of their domains to have its own control panel. In your case, you might need it as well, to keep your sites completely separated.
It your case, it would appear that a re-seller account is the best option as you need stand-alone websites. It's what we did and while we don't really use the re-seller account to its full use its there in the background where you could offer cheap hosting to family/friends & possibly subscribers of a membership site you might have. Neil PS. My re-seller account is Hostgator and they provide excellent support if needed.
Another option would be to get a VPS server. You would have a control panel and each domain would be it's own and not a sub domain. Just depends on if you are looking to move from your current host or content staying there.
Actually tough to say based on no specs or stats provided. But if going to go through the process of moving why would one stayed in the shared environment, when a VPS offer more control and security for your site?
He did provide stats and specs. He's currently on a Hostgator Baby Plan and experiencing no issues. Why not move to a VPS? He isn't going to find a VPS with cPanel and management (assuming he would need it) for $8/mo. I'd question a VPS provider with cPanel and management for $20/mo. for that matter. $20-ish will get you a reseller account with almost any reputable provider. I understand you're strictly a VPS and Dedicated provider, hence pushing the VPS, but VPS isn't always the answer, I'm afraid. A good reseller plan will suit him fine.
Yes we got out of the shared hosting years ago. Not worth the hassle. But if you look through my posts on this board, I have not pushed anything on anyone. I would always recommend a VPS over shared in a heartbeat. Get out of the shared enviroment and server. Where any of the other accounts on the server can take yours down without notice, where one site can get hacked and again take yours down. Have your own resources dedicated to you on a VPS. As for the stats, sorry I don't make it a point to go searching other companies to figure out a plan name an OP mentions to assist him. Not to mention under $20 and fully managed is more then do able. Just depends on how greedy the host wants to be.
Oh I understand. I think shared hosting is getting a little old too. VPS is probably the next shared hosting. That said, there's no need to get carried away when all the OP needs is something simple. Heck, he "could" use a dedicated server, but I would never recommend that to him, as he doesn't need it. Really? With cPanel? You're talking about 1 gig of RAM (he wouldn't want his sites running on less than that), plus the cPanel license (the cheapest I have ever seen is around $7.50 for an internal license), so that leaves you $12.50 for the actual VPS itself including management. Not a VPS I would want to be on, with the overselling that would be taking place.
I never said anything about CPanel. I personally think it is a joke with the license fees. For the record I would never have said Dedicated either
That's exactly why a VPS is not always a good alternative for a reseller or shared plan. Most people going from shared/reseller hosting are used to cPanel, and want it to manage their accounts. Moving someone like that to a VPS with no control panel, or some free control panel is just silly, IMO. Hopefully that answers your "Why not just move to a VPS?" question.
No it does not. If you go with a managed provider that does all that for you, then why pay the extra for CPanel? If a control panel is developed correctly, I again don't feel it is "silly" just because it is not CPanel. But you have stated your case and our customer base states mine. I just didn't like the pushing comment.
"Pushing" wasn't meant to be derogatory. Sorry if it came off sounding that way. Recommending is perhaps better. Without a control panel, what are you going to do, contact the managed provider every single time you want to add an email address, modify an FTP account, etc.? Most people request cPanel by name. Been in business as long as you (1996), and have never once had a client request DirectAdmin, Kloxo, or some homemade control panel. Not once in almost 16 years.
We also don't get requests for any of those. We have developed our own control panel inhouse. So the need for CPanel is not there. I never said no control panel, just trying to keep this from turning into a promotion for my company but at the same time I think I have a right to answer your questions you are posting. So yes our clients have the ability to add/remove domains, emails, databases, change passwords, one click word press installs, flush host, and numerous other things. Life does go on without CPanel and that license fee
Hey All, Thanks for all of your input...you've helped me figure out what I need and I've made a decision. I just signed up with HostGator within the last month. I'm going to call them and get them to upgrade my account to a re-seller account. My gut told me to get that plan to begin with, but I got cheap and didn't think it through. My bad. I'm going to pass on VPS for the time being. I'm self-taught tech-wise, or rather, taught by people in forums and tutorials. Everything is a learning curve and though I'm sure VPS is fairly simple once you get in there and start fooling around, it seems like one more thing for me to learn. I promised myself that this time around I would focus on content and seo whereas in the past I had to learn everything related to building and styling a WP site. This time I just want to focus on the sites as much as possible. I'm probably even going to use Fantastico for the first time rather than install WP myself. Plus, I probably will host a few friends. Thanks again for your help. Enjoy the holidays! .