I am curious about those who sell webhosting. What made you decide to sell and are you successful at it? I currently have a reseller account but only use it for myself. I am thinking about expanding up and to a new company but haven't had time to look at the prices and who has the most to offer. What companies do you recommend and what type of packages would you promote? If you are currently with a hosting company aside from hostgator would you recommend staying with them or someone else? I also have started looking into cloud hosting but not sure its for me. What are some of the main specifications that I should look for in reliable hosting? Whats better reseller or dedicated? Or even a VPS? Thanks for any help given.
Well to be honest it depends what type of reseller/account and what space you require which depends on who you go with, I would not suggest hostgator though, just simply look around on the outages forum for example. I would suggest VPS for a start up because it's part of a server as you know and much more better than a reseller,: Dedicated > VPS > Reseller > Shared
Uptime, support response times and knowledge, word of mouth that speaks good of the company, specs you need at a price that fits your budget... just a few things off the top of my head to consider when looking for a new host. A VPS sounds like a perfect fit for you to go with at this point and continue growing your operation. Do you need a managed or unmanaged server? This also is a big decision. Do you want to worry about server updates, security, etc or even have the knowledge to do this? Or would it be easier to let the hosting company do this for you so you can focus on your sites and traffic to them... Lots of options out there. What kind of specs are you currently using? What is your budget?
Well the thought of managing my own dedicated server has pros and cons to me. I know how to setup a dedicated server and keep it updated but I don't know if I will have time to do so. Currently I only have a shared hosting but have had a dedicated server in the past which was way too much space just for myself.
Jumping from a shared reseller to Dedicated would be overkill at this point, I believe. Unless you are pushing the traffic, which you would know and would have started this topic asking about dedicateds. A VPS sounds like the natural move for you to continue growing and keep your budget in line without wasting. Managing a server yourself is a full time job, it adds a bunch to the to do list that can't be skipped or delayed if you want your sites to run smooth. That statement from you alone would have me recommending a fully managed server. Spend what time you have working on your sites and not trying to play catchup on server things.
You don't have the time to set up and update a dedicated server, but you have enough time to run a web hosting "company"? I'd rethink that idea, personally.
If you just need to host a few simple sites then reseller is the way to go. If you require more custom server setup then a vps or dedicated server may be right for you. Make sure you know how to admin a dedicated server or get hosting with managed support. Reseller accounts are nice because you do not need to worry about the more advanced features and the hosting provider is performing all of the administrative tasks. Feel free to PM me if you need help. Good Luck!