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  #1  
01-01-2014, 02:34 AM
microbiz microbiz is offline
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There is a wealth of info here and I'm glad to have stumbled onto this forum!

I've reviewed the Top List of resellers and believe I have narrowed my choices down to Stablehost, Site5 and Crocweb.
I am hoping to have some more knowledgeable members weigh in on which host might be better suited to my needs.

I've been with DH for a few years and have a number of client sites on my account.
Up until recently, I've been satisfied with their service although have been noticing problems with too much downtime/slow loading sites.
I think I'm ready to move into a reseller account.
  • I'm fairly web/tech savvy but would need good support for more technical matters
  • Majority of sites are WordPress
  • Currently have about 10 sites but have more sites scheduled
  • Sites are typically small business websites with less than 10 pgs
  • Not certain if it matters that the servers be located in Canada (which Site5 + Crocweb have)
  • Need better way to manage billing/client access which I assume I could achieve with cpanel/clientexec

frankly I'm not sure if 20Gb is enough or if I would need to go higher
I've been looking at these plans...
- Stablehost has $20/20Gb
- Crocweb offers $20/40Gb
- Site5 offers $25/50Gb...

Most of my clients rely on me to manage/help them with their websites once they are built so if I can streamline/better manage the process of getting them from buying the domain, to signing up for hosting and managing billing/logins then it will make things smoother for me as well.

I've learned a lot on my own but if there are things I haven't considered please don't hesitate to share

Thanks, in advance, for any advice!
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  #2  
01-01-2014, 08:36 AM
Brent Brent is offline
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Hi there - in regards to the space, how much are you currently using?

All three choices you've listed are great companies & I can't see you going wrong with any of them.

Could you give any more details about the sites? Are they image heavy, high traffic etc?
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  #3  
01-01-2014, 04:28 PM
microbiz microbiz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent View Post
Hi there - in regards to the space, how much are you currently using?

All three choices you've listed are great companies & I can't see you going wrong with any of them.

Could you give any more details about the sites? Are they image heavy, high traffic etc?
Thanks for responding Brent!

In looking at my DH panel I see the disk usage and bandwidth usage is less than 1 GB for each site.
They are all WordPress sites using premium themes, limited plugins, mostly small business sites except for a few of my personal sites. These are all new sites so traffic is limited, at the moment. I do auto backups of each site. So I'm thinking I'd be good with a 20GB account to start yeah?

Since my focus is WordPress do you think it's necessary to consider those special WordPress hosting accounts like WPEngine?

Does it matter that if my clients are Canadian I should focus on canadian based servers?

Thanks!
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  #4  
01-02-2014, 09:09 AM
Brent Brent is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by microbiz View Post
Thanks for responding Brent!

In looking at my DH panel I see the disk usage and bandwidth usage is less than 1 GB for each site.
They are all WordPress sites using premium themes, limited plugins, mostly small business sites except for a few of my personal sites. These are all new sites so traffic is limited, at the moment. I do auto backups of each site. So I'm thinking I'd be good with a 20GB account to start yeah?

Since my focus is WordPress do you think it's necessary to consider those special WordPress hosting accounts like WPEngine?

Does it matter that if my clients are Canadian I should focus on canadian based servers?

Thanks!
Hi there,

Sorry for the late reply. I think you'd be ok with 20GB, as long as you're not going to hit that cap with all of your sites combined. Generally, I'd recommend a quality provider with lower specs than a shoddy one offering a ton of storage/bandwidth; both your experience and your users' experience would be much better.

Regarding location, it depends. Depending on the locations of your visitors it could be higher latency depending on the path taken to get to the datacenter, even if it's right next door. Quality trumps location as a good quality provider will have good quality connections.

I'm sure @kpmedia will be here shortly to give you some pointers as well.
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  #5  
01-02-2014, 02:18 PM
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kpmedia kpmedia is offline
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Is DH supposed to be Dreamhost or Downtownhost? (Or some other hosts that is abbreviated by DH?)

If you need an included billing panel, I'd eliminate Stablehost -- unless you're comfortable with buying a billing panel separately, and installing it yourself. You can always use LicensePal, and you have the choice of using WHMCS, Blesta or ClientExec.

I was hoping Brent would discuss the reselling of domains. However, in my opinion, clients should NEVER get domains from hosts, and instead get them directly from a registrar like Namecheap. Less issues for everybody that way.

Hosts have been spreading misinformation/FUD/BS about "location" for a few years now. But "North America" is really the location. The idea that one city is better than the other is rather silly. The ONLY reason that exact location matters is for low-latency applications, such as online stock trading tools on dedicated servers -- not web sites. From your description, you'll be fine anywhere in North America.

As mentioned, quality of a host matters most.

Most sites use less than 1GB total. Don't pay more for more space "just in case". Upgrade when needed, not before. The trap you'll fall into is either (A) you buy something you don't use, or (B) you sign up with a lesser-quality host that promised more resource. And all because you wanted something you didn't actually need. That's why the "unlimited" hosting market suckers so many people into signing up with their lower-grade (Walmart-quality) service. Be smarter than that!

For hosts with billing panels, Veerotech and Site5 are really the winners. Stream101 is a close runner-up, with the panel as an optional add-on. All 3 of the hosts are currently ones I use, and are all hosts that are currently reviewed by thus site on an ongoing basis.

As of today, looking at the past 2 weeks:
- zero issues with Veerotech
- micro-downtimes (1 min max) were detected for Site5 on 1/2 and 12/25
- there's a rare PHP issue at Stream101, which causes HUGE bandwidth use, and we're looking into it on our side first
- a DNS-based spam filter issue at Stablehost
- minor downtimes at Crocweb on 12/19 and /12/22

That's what our logs show.

@Brent: Not really a late reply. The post isn't even 24 hours old yet.

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  #6  
01-02-2014, 10:59 PM
microbiz microbiz is offline
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Thanks again Brett! Appreciate the feedback
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  #7  
01-02-2014, 11:40 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post
Is DH supposed to be Dreamhost or Downtownhost? (Or some other hosts that is abbreviated by DH?)
Yes, sorry. Dreamhost.

Quote:
Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post
I was hoping Brent would discuss the reselling of domains. However, in my opinion, clients should NEVER get domains from hosts, and instead get them directly from a registrar like Namecheap. Less issues for everybody that way.
I have always encouraged (and educated) my clients about purchasing their own hosting/domains so they have the control. I don't want to purchase domains for my clients but I thought a reseller account would be easier. I noticed that Site5 has a "domain reseller" account and was hoping to make it easier for clients to keep it all in one area instead of sending them to different registrar and host accounts. So are you suggesting that it would be better to have them purchase from a registrar like Namecheap instead of a using a host's domain reseller account?


Thanks @kpmedia for clarifying about the host location and space issues. That's very helpful and part of the reason why I am doing this research - hoping to avoid making mistakes. If I do go the reseller route then I want to be sure that I am providing the best solution for my clients (while avoiding EIG hosts – big eyeopener that article!). I want to provide quality management/service for my clients and their websites.

I had eliminated Veerotech because I thought having the Canadian servers would be best so now I can add them back in.... so now I guess it's between Site5 and Veerotech... hmm, it's hard to choose

Any comments about the WordPress specific hosting or would that be more of a concern for a high traffic WordPress site – which I don't have any... yet
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  #8  
01-03-2014, 06:09 PM
Brent Brent is offline
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Hi there,

As for "Wordpress" specific hosts, if I'm not mistaken, most provide you with Wordpress itself. I'm not certain if they provide any sort of standard hosting control panel account or not. I believe most charge for, or up to a certain number of "visitors" per month. I do know that most "Wordpress" specific hosting companies, and by that I don't mean by what what DreamHost has as "Dreampress" - to be completely honest, it seems more like lipstick on a pig as just another "met too" (as kpmedia calls it) offering to compete with the other Wordpress only hosts.

A domain reseller account would allow you, to basically "re-sell" domains. It's not much different from a regular registrar account however, it goes hand in hand with integrating into a billing system for automation & management for a reseller. You don't "have" to resell them if you don't want to. For example, I use Dynadot for personal domains outside of VeeroTech - they don't have a reseller option, so it wouldn't integrate with any billing systems. Hope that makes sense.

I would personally recommend the reseller hosting account route for multiple sites - it's better for both security & performance.

In regards to keeping domains separate from the host, absolutely. While we register domains for our customers too, when we have a general inquiry about a hosting plan and domain, I always recommend to the potential customer that it's a good idea to register the domain & hosting separate. We're not a registrar, it's more of a convenience to register through us directly.

You'll also find out (hopefully you never experience it) that some hosting companies have and will hold domains hostage - it's such a shady practice, but there's companies out there that do. These are usually fly-by-night "kiddies" that do this, which is another good reason to keep your domains & hosting at separate companies.

Hope some of that helps, and if you have more questions/concerns, certainly post them up here.
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  #9  
01-04-2014, 08:38 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent View Post
As for "Wordpress" specific hosts, if I'm not mistaken, most provide you with Wordpress itself. I'm not certain if they provide any sort of standard hosting control panel account or not. I believe most charge for, or up to a certain number of "visitors" per month. I do know that most "Wordpress" specific hosting companies, and by that I don't mean by what what DreamHost has as "Dreampress" - to be completely honest, it seems more like lipstick on a pig as just another "met too" (as kpmedia calls it) offering to compete with the other Wordpress only hosts.
I wondered if it wasn't just hype or something. Thanks for weighing in Brent!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent View Post
A domain reseller account would allow you, to basically "re-sell" domains. It's not much different from a regular registrar account however, it goes hand in hand with integrating into a billing system for automation & management for a reseller. You don't "have" to resell them if you don't want to. For example, I use Dynadot for personal domains outside of VeeroTech - they don't have a reseller option, so it wouldn't integrate with any billing systems. Hope that makes sense.
So if I went with Veerotech then I would have to recommend clients to purchase from a domain registrar directly... is that correct?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent View Post
I would personally recommend the reseller hosting account route for multiple sites - it's better for both security & performance.
I'm thinking that would be easier than what I am having to manage right now... 2/3 of my clients are on my DH account and the other 1/3 are using their own DH accounts. If I do switch to a formal reseller account then I may have to consider recommending the clients with their own DH accounts move. Especially, if they start complaining their sites are slow too.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brent View Post
You'll also find out (hopefully you never experience it) that some hosting companies have and will hold domains hostage - it's such a shady practice, but there's companies out there that do. These are usually fly-by-night "kiddies" that do this, which is another good reason to keep your domains & hosting at separate companies.
My clients have experienced this, and it sucks because it leaves a bad taste in their mouth. I have one "lifetime" domain with DH but I assume I will have to switch that when/if I move accounts.


I do have one final question... @kpmedia mentioned checking logs... is that something I am able to source for myself? I wonder if there is a way to tell how many sites each host has. I suspect at DH I am on an overloaded server which is why everything has gotten so slow. Is there anyway for me to know that the new host I am considering will not also have this issue? I'm not entirely ensure that is the main problem but based on my research it seems the likely reason. Just want to avoid getting into the same scenario that I am in now.
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  #10  
01-04-2014, 08:46 PM
Brent Brent is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by microbiz View Post
I wondered if it wasn't just hype or something. Thanks for weighing in Brent!


So if I went with Veerotech then I would have to recommend clients to purchase from a domain registrar directly... is that correct?


I'm thinking that would be easier than what I am having to manage right now... 2/3 of my clients are on my DH account and the other 1/3 are using their own DH accounts. If I do switch to a formal reseller account then I may have to consider recommending the clients with their own DH accounts move. Especially, if they start complaining their sites are slow too.



My clients have experienced this, and it sucks because it leaves a bad taste in their mouth. I have one "lifetime" domain with DH but I assume I will have to switch that when/if I move accounts.
You don't have to register directly with another registrar. You have 3 options:

1. Register with a registrar or your choice.

2. Register "through" us - manage the domain from our account management portal - same place you manage hosting/billing etc.

3. Use a domain reseller account - we provide "Enom" reseller accounts for our resellers. You then have full control over any domains you register, can connect it to your billing software as well.

--

I'd recommend combining those accounts all into 1 reseller account. It would make managing them much easier.

--

I'll let @kpmedia touch on the other issues, as you've specifically requested. Don't want to give any biased opinions!
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  #11  
01-05-2014, 02:47 AM
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We keep logs of hosts we use and/or review. It's actually multiple logs per host, and not something we can share yet. It's too messy right now.

We can only monitor servers we use, but we offset that so it represents the whole host:

(1) The server we're on is fine.
That's great! But we keep tabs on how others are fairing at that host. That's why you see us using other sites -- kpmedia on WHT and Warrior Forum, for example. After the nightmares of years past (2002-2006), we monitor our hosts for even the slightest hint of issues. (EIG almost destroyed www.tvpast.org and www.digitalFAQ.com, the SOBs.) If we're "fine" and dozens/hundreds more have issues, there's a problem!

(2) The server we're on has downtime, errors, etc.
And it does not matter if that's 1 of 1 servers, or 1 of 1,234,567,890 servers. Some hosts may brush off problems as "only one server" with issues, but we don't care. (In fact, that attitude sucks, and hosts are downgraded on our reviews as a result!) I would want my sites up, and don't care about others. Wouldn't you? The fact that others are up isn't comforting at all.

That's essentially how it works.

The hosts being recommended to you are known to NOT have overloaded servers. And if ever anything does get overloaded, it fixed ASAP by the host. Unlike Dreamhost, somebody like Stablehost or Veerotech doesn't overload, and such a scenario would be unacceptable to them.

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  #12  
01-06-2014, 01:15 PM
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We keep logs of hosts we use and/or review. It's actually multiple logs per host, and not something we can share yet. It's too messy right now.....

.....The hosts being recommended to you are known to NOT have overloaded servers. And if ever anything does get overloaded, it fixed ASAP by the host. Unlike Dreamhost, somebody like Stablehost or Veerotech doesn't overload, and such a scenario would be unacceptable to them.
Thank you for your response @lordsmurf and that makes sense – I appreciate the input. Well, I'm glad I at least found this forum which has helped in learning about these issues and knowing what to avoid.

So I guess I just now have to make the decision.
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  #13  
01-07-2014, 07:38 PM
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I have a few billing panels right now, and honestly trying to decide which is best. Even several months later, I'm not really sure. WHMCS is the worst one, in terms of being a "needy" panel. It had constant updates and lots of security flaws. So the choice is really between ClientExec and Blesta. Last night, I noticed a new Namecheap plugin in Blesta -- or at least, I'd not seen it before, and I'd bought the Blesta promo last year. I'm wondering if that handles domains.

Even though we're not "a host", we do have hosting clients that we've taken on over the years. (Some have been with us for at least 8 years now.)

As of last year, I'm tired of manually invoicing quite a few things. This will help to automate it.

So if you're still wanting to handle domains, see what that does. Blesta has a number of plugins for various domain-related tasks, judging by the plugin names. It was the Namecheap one that got my attention, as that's easily the best registrar out there. (And a pretty good host, too!)

Even if Brent wasn't here, I'd have to say that Veerotech is probably best for your exact needs. To me, the biggest advantage is Brent is easier to work with than larger companies with "policies" in place. (And he's not the only one there, he just owns it and is its public face.) Veerotech is really the same as Stablehost, Crocweb and MDD Hosting, in terms of reputation and services offered. But for reseller hosting, it has a definite edge.

If not them, then definitely Site5.

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  #14  
01-08-2014, 11:22 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post
I have a few billing panels right now, and honestly trying to decide which is best. Even several months later, I'm not really sure. WHMCS is the worst one, in terms of being a "needy" panel. It had constant updates and lots of security flaws. So the choice is really between ClientExec and Blesta. Last night, I noticed a new Namecheap plugin in Blesta -- or at least, I'd not seen it before, and I'd bought the Blesta promo last year. I'm wondering if that handles domains.
Thanks @kpmedia I'll keep this info in mind when getting setup.


Quote:
Originally Posted by kpmedia View Post
Even if Brent wasn't here, I'd have to say that Veerotech is probably best for your exact needs. To me, the biggest advantage is Brent is easier to work with than larger companies with "policies" in place. (And he's not the only one there, he just owns it and is its public face.) Veerotech is really the same as Stablehost, Crocweb and MDD Hosting, in terms of reputation and services offered. But for reseller hosting, it has a definite edge. If not them, then definitely Site5.
I appreciate that and definitely would prefer to work with a smaller hands-on company anyways.
I'll need that support during the transition and until I get settled and setup.
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