Send Email from a PHP Script Using SMTP Authentication

March 30th, 2011 by admin No comments »

This post about “Sending Mail using SMTP and PHP“. Now you can send emails with SMTP authentication using this script. Every mail needed server authentication, So you have to buy mail server. It’s very useful you can implement this on your web projects.

This tutorial contains three files.

- Index.php //Run Mail Form
- SMTPconfig.php // SMTP Server Cofiguration
- SMTPClass.php // SMTP Mail Sending Class

SMTPconfig.php
You have to change SMTP server details.

<?php
//Server Address

$SmtpServer=”127.0.0.1″;
$SmtpPort=”25″; //default
$SmtpUser=”username”;
$SmtpPass=”password”;
?>

 

SMTPclass.php
SMTP mail sending class.

<?php

class SMTPClient
{

function SMTPClient ($SmtpServer, $SmtpPort, $SmtpUser, $SmtpPass, $from, $to, $subject, $body)
{

$this->SmtpServer = $SmtpServer;
$this->SmtpUser = base64_encode ($SmtpUser);
$this->SmtpPass = base64_encode ($SmtpPass);
$this->from = $from;
$this->to = $to;
$this->subject = $subject;
$this->body = $body;

if ($SmtpPort == “”)
{
$this->PortSMTP = 25;
}

else

{
$this->PortSMTP = $SmtpPort;
}
}

function SendMail ()
{
if ($SMTPIN = fsockopen ($this->SmtpServer, $this->PortSMTP))
{
fputs ($SMTPIN, “EHLO “.$HTTP_HOST.”\r\n”);
$talk["hello"] = fgets ( $SMTPIN, 1024 );
fputs($SMTPIN, “auth login\r\n”);
$talk["res"]=fgets($SMTPIN,1024);
fputs($SMTPIN, $this->SmtpUser.”\r\n”);
$talk["user"]=fgets($SMTPIN,1024);
fputs($SMTPIN, $this->SmtpPass.”\r\n”);
$talk["pass"]=fgets($SMTPIN,256);
fputs ($SMTPIN, “MAIL FROM: <”.$this->from.”>\r\n”);
$talk["From"] = fgets ( $SMTPIN, 1024 );
fputs ($SMTPIN, “RCPT TO: <”.$this->to.”>\r\n”);
$talk["To"] = fgets ($SMTPIN, 1024);
fputs($SMTPIN, “DATA\r\n”);
$talk["data"]=fgets( $SMTPIN,1024 );
fputs($SMTPIN, “To: <”.$this->to.”>\r\nFrom: <”.$this->from.”>\r\nSubject:”.$this->subject.”\r\n\r\n\r\n”.$this->body.”\r\n.\r\n”);
$talk["send"]=fgets($SMTPIN,256);
//CLOSE CONNECTION AND EXIT …
fputs ($SMTPIN, “QUIT\r\n”);
fclose($SMTPIN);

//

}
return $talk;
}
}
?>

 

index.php

<?php

include(‘SMTPconfig.php’);
include(‘SMTPClass.php’);
if($_SERVER["REQUEST_METHOD"] == “POST”)
{
$to = $_POST['to'];
$from = $_POST['from'];
$subject = $_POST['sub'];
$body = $_POST['message'];
$SMTPMail = new SMTPClient ($SmtpServer, $SmtpPort, $SmtpUser, $SmtpPass, $from, $to, $subject, $body);
$SMTPChat = $SMTPMail->SendMail();
}

?>
<form method=”post” action=”">

To:<input type=”text” name=”to” />
From :<input type=’text’ name=”from” />
Subject :<input type=’text’ name=”sub” />
Message :<textarea name=”message”></textarea>
<input type=”submit” value=” Send ” />
</form>

 

Download Source Code

 

Mobile as marketing tool.

March 28th, 2011 by admin No comments »

With its interactive, measurable, and direct features, mobile marketing represents an enormous opportunity and is fast becoming the marketing channel of choice for organizations of all types. With all of the attention on social media sweeping the globe, people are also now talking about the power of SMS marketing. What can it do for your business and how does it work?

SMS stands for short messaging service and is synonymously known as texting. Mobile marketing is highly interactive and personalized and has a powerful and immediate impact. By integrating mobile technology into existing communication campaigns, businesses enable their customers to take advantage of special offers, cash in mobile coupons, obtain additional, relevant information and receive alerts about events. Mobile marketing enables advertisers to send out custom-made and personalized multimedia campaigns to lists of targeted audiences—enabling customers to respond directly.

Some of the benefits include new customer acquisition, brand awareness, decreased no-shows, and more money in your pocket! SMS marketing is the most affordable and the highest converting form of marketing you can be involved with.

What can you do with Mobile Marketing?

Create short-codes and mobile keywords. An example is texting a certain number to a specific word like PIZZA. You’ll start to heard this on the radio and TV if you’re paying attention. Text message marketing is really in the early adopter stage.

You can build a list with your mobile short-code and keyword. The great thing is that mobile has conversions / action rates from 11-30% on average! This is an easy way to flood your business with traffic.

You can post your mobile keyword and short-code on your website, your Facebook page, or posters in your office, billboards, TV, etc.

Send appointment reminders. This will decrease no-shows between 50-75%! That equals more money for you and your business. Reminders should be sent before each appointment for maximum effectiveness.

Send bulk SMS blasts. This will allow you to make offers to your text database. The average open rate for text messages is a whopping 97%! In fact, over 90% open their messages within 30 minutes. That’s crazy.

Utilize mobile voting. American Idol made this method extremely popular and mainstream. You can use voting to poll your database or list to get valuable feedback. It’s another tool to make your more money.

Send coupons. You can use mobile coupons to get people through your doors fast. Everyone likes a deal so give people what they want, a special hook-up. It’s such a simple way to drum up business literally on-demand if you’re having a slow day in the office.

Get in the game! If you’re not using mobile SMS marketing, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity and goldmine. There are more than 4 times as many mobile phone users as those that have computers. Cell phones are extensions of people today, so take advantage.

Anytime, anywhere communication that is direct and immediate, can be targeted to particular audience groups based on age, profession or gender, cost effective, huge potential for viral marketing as customers tend to forward messages in groups, can be easily integrated in cross-media including TV, print and radio.

Mobile marketing is the ONLY medium that reaches customers on the go.

Web hosting review.

March 28th, 2011 by admin No comments »

We don’t want to blame any one; we want to give you an honest web host review, that makes sense to you before choosing a web host provider that is right for your business.

All web host are formed equal in our view, with the intention of or that used to be providing good hosting, until we got shut down without warning. It was very hard for anyone to understand how I might start a new website from scratch and eat up 40 Gigs of bandwidth in that short span of time (3 months, and I was shut down).

You should do a web host review, before you make a choice. The problem online today is, how can you make a sound web host review with all the thousands out there.

It is impossible to review the thousands of web host out there, but it is in your best interest if you base your web host review on high in demand providers. Many of the top marketers have their own server, and you can’t afford to pay $200 or more monthly for your own server.

For you to prevent web host shut down, you will have to learn how to use the forums to find recommendation for choosing your web hosting provider. We didn’t do our own research and that is why our web host shut us down without notice.

After being shut down, We went to forums, blogs etc. read a couple of post regarding on hosting companies, and realize that no one had any great experiences with that companies. They gave poor web host review grades for that host, well life is a learning process, and I know what not to do when choosing a web hosting provider.

Here are four tips you should follow to get a web host review:

1) Don’t ever go for unlimited domain names.

One other point worth mentioning, don’t ever go for unlimited domain names, whenever you create a new account they automatically divide up your hosting bandwidth. That means that if you have just 40 Gigs of bandwidth and you divide it up by four domain names, you have used up all your bandwidth.

So, any other new domain name you add will make you go over your bandwidth, please understand I am just showing you the rip offs that takes place with some low cost web hosting providers. They say that they will warn you when your exceeding your bandwidth, but they just never do. They make you pay extra for unlimited domain names, but you being new to the Internet, you won’t ever need more than three to six domain names to get you started.

2) Don’t go with any web hosting provider that requires the full amount in advance.

They offer low cost web hosting if you pay the yearly price in advance. Well, once you have paid for the year, you are tied to this company, should their service be not worthy, you will loose your primary yearly payment. Go with a company that has a 3 month or monthly payment plan, with a money back guarantee.

3) Test by sending a simple email to your web host first.

Just send off a simple email telling your web host that your interested in their hosting, this is a must for you to review web host that are unknown. The response time to your email will let you know what type of service they offer.

4) Ask for a charge back.

As you know, the client is supposed to be king, keep all your receipts in place, and should you ever be shut down by your web host after paying a yearly plan, just go to your credit card provider and file a complaint for a refund. Don’t let anyone scam you out of your money.

The final conclusion, your the one to blame if you get scammed, so make sure you follow these web host review tips before handing out your credit card.

http://www.version-next.com

Email Hosting.

March 24th, 2011 by admin 3 comments »

Every business knows the importance of email as the fastest and cost effective way of communication. Since most small businesses cannot afford expensive means of communications like overseas phone calls, fax etc, communicating through emails is definitely a bonus.  Email marketing is obviously very popular, and you have no doubt been sent a large number of emails since opening your first email address online. Although there are many genuine email marketing campaigns that are sent out on a daily basis from online retailers such as Amazon, there are unfortunately a lot of bogus ones containing potential phishing attacks and harmful data.

1)   Protection from virus, spam and phishing: Nothing spoils the functionality of your mailbox as a virus or a spam does. In addition, phishing endangers your business mails by stealing your identity, thereby causing huge loss. Setup an anti-virus – Although this may sound like a very simplistic one that you are likely to see on any security checklist, an anti-virus is incredibly important, especially if you are using a desktop email client such as Microsoft Outlook or Thunderbird (online email providers such as Gmail and Hotmail tend to have built-in virus protection software).

2)   Improved business position: Look out for a email hosting provider who holds vast expertise in picking and implementing the right messaging systems aligning with your business. Also, ensure the features like high availability and high scalability of email solutions offered. They must be customized to cater to your specific email needs.

3)   Best in class communications: Check that your email hosting provider has cutting-edge infrastructure to be able to lessen all your email hosting worries.

4)   Reliable, Customizable Offerings: Find out if your email hosting services include exclusive features like email back-up, data recovery, disaster recovery, 24×7 technical and customer support to ensure that you make the most out of your emails.

5)   Cost efficiency: The key reason for outsourcing the email hosting services to an external vendor is to reduce the unexpected expenditures and get the maximum output without increasing costs. A good email hosting provider will not only meet these needs, but also suggest you the ways to increase the efficiency of your messaging applications in every required way.

6)   Improved availability: Check out if your email hosting provider employs professionals to host and manage your messaging applications, ensuring high-availability of your applications as well as optimal performance.

7)   Be careful when clicking: Once you’ve received an email it can be tempting to click straight through to a website if you see an interesting deal or image – but that’s exactly what you have to be careful of doing. Hover over or copy the link to your clipboard if possible, allowing you the opportunity to examine the destination URL before you proceed.

8) Avoid entering details:   Some potentially harmful emails will encourage you to enter your personal details (credit card/address) directly into a form embedded into an email – and this should be avoided at all costs. Forms that are embedded into emails are done so for a reason, and that is because the destination in which the information is sent is often hidden.

9) If it’s true good to be true, it usually is: If you receive any emails containing promises of fantastic deals that you believe seem too good to be true, then be very wary. Use your favourite search engine to run a quick search to see if anybody else has mentioned the promotion anywhere, and the chances are you will be given an answer one way or another.

10) Be wary of forgotten password emails: Unless you know you have specifically requested your password to be reset on a website, you should delete any emails you receive that claim to be resetting your ‘forgotten password’. These types of emails are often looking for you to enter personal details in unsecure locations.

11)  Ignore unsolicited emails: If you receive an email out of the blue from somebody you have absolutely no connection with, be immediately wary. There is the chance your email address could have been picked up online by a potentially harmful sender, meaning you may receive unsolicited emails relating to various topics. Do not reply, and do not open any containing attachments.

12)  Avoid providing any private details: A final but yet hugely important tip is to avoid providing any personal details via email at all costs. Don’t send credit card or PayPal login details to anybody via email no matter what the circumstance, and if you have to provide somebody with a password or piece of secure information, provide this in person or over the phone where possible.

With the above tips in mind, you should be relatively free of would-be phishing attacks via email marketing campaigns online. One thing to remember is always is wary – always. There are unfortunately a lot of people who make their money online by scamming others, so it’s important to stay on your toes and report and doubtful activity.

Green web hosting.

March 24th, 2011 by admin 1 comment »

There is a recent rise in the popularity of Green Web Hosting because of the concern for the nature. Many industries have taken action and play their part in helping by reducing energy consumption and recycling. The same goes for the web hosting industry.

Recently even industries in highly commercialized countries have held meetings regarding the impact of Global Warming. The harmful gases produced from industries in clouds of dark black gases and ashes have caused a lot of ecological disasters. Therefore, industries have been asked to take measures in order to reduce the destruction caused by heavy industrialization worldwide. Similarly some web hosting companies have decided to play their part in preserving the ecosystem. When they join this cause – they are called “Green Web Hosts”. Firstly, let get a better idea about green web hosting. This type of hosting is a kind that uses nature-friendly power source for their daily activities. As we all know, servers are like appliances that requires electricity.

Not all companies have the resources to generate their own renewable energy. Therefore, those companies can turn to supplied energy by choosing to buy Renewable Energy Certificates. By doing this, they can get energy generated by wind, solar or even biogas. Companies that generate their own energy also use energy generated by either solar power, wind turbines or other methods. This gives them ability to power their machines with this renewable energy.
So, what does this entire means? It means that web hosting companies are saving the planet by reducing carbon emission. It also allows companies to purchase offsets enabling them to mitigate their own greenhouse emissions. So, this can ease the hosting company from starting their own wind farm or solar power generator.

Another added value that the green web hosting has is their special offers on packages to non-profit organizations. It is their act to not only encourages organizations to use web hosting but also encouraging the use of renewable energy and paperless working environment. Some web host with green hosting also provides web host services to companies that have telecommuting being used by their staff and workers.

However, does green hosting cost more? Well, this is a question that we all need to think deep about. Green we hosting companies may run at a higher daily operation cost compared to other web host provider companies but the idea of having a paperless company using renewable energy is something that is encouraging. With a single company operating in this way, it can reduce a whole lot of waste and reduce a lot on energy consumption which will directly help in preserving the nature. So, saving the earth does come with a price and it is not a big one to pay if you’re supporting a green web hosting company. Not only do you play your part in saving nature, you also get you web hosting needs.

There are several misconceptions on green hosting among the consumers. One of the mistaken beliefs that are prevalent among people today is that green hosting does not offer stable solutions. This however is far from the truth. You can confidently choose these services without having to worry about the stability or about the reliability of the services. Today the hosting services offered by green hosting companies are in par with companies that use conventional energy.

So go green put your hands together to preserve plant earth.

Reseller web hosting.

March 19th, 2011 by admin No comments »

In reseller web hosting, real hosts are able to generate bulk businesses and hand over individual clients to reseller servers. In turn, reseller web hosting businesses look after some individual client needs. This is a win-win situation for both, since real hosts will have an intermediary in the form of reseller web hosting to individual customers without having to attend to them one by one. The reseller is also able to put up a business and earn income without having to shell out capital expense. Although in some instances they do compete with each other for a fair share of the web hosting market, the real hosts can still benefit from this set-up considering they do charge a certain amount from resellers.

The services offered by a reseller web hosting service do not really differ from a real host. As a matter of fact, reseller web hosting offers more features to the customers. Due to the added value services, reseller web hosting can offer web design and programming services to each customer that are often times not possible from real hosts. Real hosts tend to focus on bulk accounts and corporate clients. Reseller web hosting offers value added services to customers in order to maintain a competitive edge against bigger web hosting services.

Reseller web hosting is also better able to establish friendly relationship with their customers that go beyond the contract terms. This is the secret for those successful reseller web-hosting services. They fill the need that bigger hosting servers cannot provide.

Benefits of reseller web hosting

The reseller web hosting concept is useful in its own way.  The usual hand out of resources for a reseller hosting option is possible through a partition of storage and bandwidth.  Of course some of the modern options make it possible to have “unlimited” resources but this can be limited in some ways and may cost much more to implement and have available.  The reseller hosting makes it possible to have several websites with separate IP addresses on a single hosting plan.

The other benefit that is available with reseller web hosting is the possibility of reselling the resources in the plan. A client using the reseller hosting that will not be using the entirety of the hosting can actually partition it and sell the hosting to a client underneath them. This makes it possible to have access to a possibility of making money as a small hosting company.  This makes the hosting economical in a way that it can be paid for by reselling the hosting to other clients.

In case the needs of the individual’s website(s) are the main concern whenever they are choosing reseller web hosting options. For sites that do not need to have as much dedicated resources available for them the use of reseller web hosting may be the best choice. Others which will require more performance and stability will want to be hosted through a dedicated option.  Budget may be a concern and a deciding factor for the client as well so choosing the option which is most affordable may be the course of action to take.

Bulk SMS

March 15th, 2011 by admin 1 comment »

In this highly competitive business environment, a lot of innovation and creativity can work wonders for the company. Mobile phones have become indispensable part of our lives and taking advantage of this fact. One of the newer ways to market your business is using SMS. Many business owners are skeptical about using SMS as a marketing tool because it may seem intrusive or only reserved for certain businesses like the ringtone market. However, there are many benefits of using this marketing channel and it may be worth using it for your business. Bulk SMS in India has gained wide popularity as it smoothen the work and message can be send to lakhs of consumers at large within no time.

The first benefit of using bulk SMS is keeping touch with your customers. If you already have the customer’s contact information, you should use it to its full advantage. The fact of the matter is that many businesses don’t contact their customers enough. Using SMS is a great way to do so and an effective way to let customers know about special events and offers.

The second benefit of using bulk SMS is that it can be quite cost effective. This strategy is far cheaper than using direct marketing to let your customers know about your promotion. If you feel that you can’t afford to use direct mailing because of the costs involved, you should consider using SMS as an alternative. You may be surprised with the kind of results you get.

Purchase in bulk if you’re a regular

Buying bulk quantities of SMS Messages can save you big cash; I guess this is obvious, but a look at the prices on your favorite bulk SMS provider will confirm how true this is — so think before you buy…
If you’re going to be sending SMS messages to small groups, but regularly, buy in bulk. Think of your overall SMS needs for, say, 3 or 6 months or maybe even a year, if you’re serious about SMS marketing, in order to cut costs dramatically.

Be careful about the encoding

The SMS protocol has support for different SMS message encodings. The most common is GSM , but there is also UCS-2 support.. In short, GSM contains only a number of characters, while UCS-2 supports practically every language out there.
If GSM doesn’t cover your needs, beware because the character limit drops in UCS-2 from 160 characters per SMS to 70 characters per SMS!
So make sure you’re informed – or you might end up getting charged for double the amount of SMS messages you meant to send!

Did you know what ‘concatenation’ is?

Concatenation is an option some Bulk sms providers offer — others don’t, and others have it set as default.

Without it, if you send an SMS that’s over 160 chars (if it’s on the GSM encoding) your ‘one’ SMS will get delivered as two separate SMS messages on the consumers mobile phone. Be sure your bulk SMS provider offers this option, if you will often be sending messages that exceed the limit.

Remember to include contact details

Given the nature of my profession, I register my mobile phone number in all sorts of places. As a result I get sent loads of texts from various SMS marketing campaigns. Once in a while there’s a text that I find interesting, so at that point I need a way to participate, either by sending an SMS, or by calling a number.

The problem is I have seen too many of these texts without full contact details so I can choose what suits me best.  This is really important when the SMS being sent is a call-to-action, or if the consumer might have a question or require clarifications.

For example, restaurants often send me promotional SMS messages, but in case I want to participate I want more than just the phone number they usually give me. Why not also have the website, so I can visit it directly from my phone, or also have the ability to text back to participate/book a table/etc?

Run your SMS text through a spell checker

This is, again, simple, yet sometimes overlooked. Quickly pass your text through a spell checker to ensure you don’t get any embarrassing comments, because this sort of thing can hurt your campaign and your own (or your business) image. Do you really want a politician who either can’t spell or just isn’t bothered to pass the SMS through a spell checker? (The second’s far worse for me cause it shows poor professionalism, while making spelling mistakes isn’t that big a deal for me)

Send a test SMS

Once you’ve prepared your SMS in your favorite Bulk sms software, or website, and you’re ready to press that big red ‘SEND’ button… STOP!

Now is the time to take a second and send the message to your own mobile phone first, to make sure it comes up ok. Then, because, to be honest, we’re not very fair judges of our own work, send it to a friend or colleague who hasn’t seen it yet, and see how they react / ask them what they think.

When you get the green light from them, you’re good to go!

Choose your realm (domain names)

March 4th, 2011 by admin 1 comment »

According to some studies, there are more than 40-50 domain names being registered worldwide per second. No hesitation it is very important to be creative and choosy in case of domain name selection. Being short, logical and accurate does make the domain name catchy and memorable.

During the process of domain registration, it is very important to register a name that logically matches the theme or purpose of the website. For example, if a site is all about web hosting, one should register besthosting.com. One can even use the name of the enterprise as a domain name. For instance, if the name of the company is XYZ, one should register as xyz.com.

Lean to use ‘.com’

Always prefer to use .com extension to your website name because people most commonly search a website with ending on .COM, although if you prefer any specific country’s traffic then use respective country’s extension i.e. .uk for UK or .us for USA.

Do not use Slang language

Avoid using shortcut words in your domain name i.e. “u” instead of “you”.  Because it can confuse the website users. So try to use proper language which can be easy to remember too.

Always give short name to your domain

The long domain names can be forgotten by people easily. They don’t prefer to tell other people as well and may be they do not try to visit the website again. Short domain names are easy to remember and overcome the chances of typing errors when you enter the URL as well.

Do not use the numbers

If you use the numbers in your website name, it will not get popularized and known by the people and marketers. Versionnext.com is the best example in which numbers or digits are not being used instead of “versionnext7463.com”.

Try to Use Plural forms

The plural domain is mush recognized instead of singular form words. E.g.”debtloans.com” has more reliability on “debtloan.com”.

Try to use more keywords

Try to use more and meaningful keywords by using the Google Keywords or Word tracker to have success. Keep your domain name in long lasting Strategy of Search Engine Optimization.

Sometimes one may not be enough

You must make sure not to loose your site’s identity so get registered with other domain names as well. Such as “Google” has also registered www.gogle.com, so that people get linked with the Google if by mistake, they type gogle.

Besides, it is essential to know the different aspects of domain registration to acquire a new domain name. A good knowledge about the domain name registrar is important, which is an organization that acts as middleman between the registry and the client website. Your domain name registration service provider helps you by offering the right options for selecting a suitable web address or host name.

Being accurate with domain name is crucial, especially if the domain name registrar has a minimum qualified period for refund. One should always spell check before the domain name registration process. However, registrars refund within 5 days of registration if there is something wrong.

These are the few tips which you can apply to your domain name and promote your website which will lead to a successful business track.

Be a reseller web hosting provider.

March 2nd, 2011 by admin No comments »

Just as people have to have a place to call home, websites also must have a “residence.” As individuals seek housing, internet entrepreneurs seek hosting for their websites. These days there is an enormous demand for web hosting services and becoming a web hosting reseller to try to help meet that demand can be an easy business to operate from home.

Opening a web hosting reseller business is one of the wisest ways to put up or expand your internet based business. However, do not take this step just by deciding overnight and getting into the web hosting reseller market, the very next morning. Whenever you start a new web hosting reseller business you must be aware of the inside and the outside of it. The various points that you should work on, before you start a web hosting reseller business is as follows:

Market research and planning: The first important point to be considered in a business is that you must do a proper market research. Planning is also one of the primary factors for the success towards your new web hosting reseller business. There is little scope for people who start their business without setting specific goals and objectives.

Marketing research: Don’t fall in the race. Just try to be a good service provider. Research how other companies provide good services to their customers. Take from advice that is in that business; because experience is always a good teacher.  If you want to get ahead in your web hosting reseller business, you must get to know which companies are more successful and which are the ones who have achieved least success in their business. This information will act as a feedback and it will guide you to decide what to do and what to avoid with regard to your own web hosting reseller business.

Have a market plan: You can develop a successful business plan for your new web hosting reseller business by collecting the required information from your initial research. Also, you need to be aware of the fact that just by having a sound business plan does not mean that you will definitely achieve success in your web hosting reseller business. Writing a business plan will only act as a guide and it will help you tackle the challenges and obstacles that come on your way towards starting your web hosting reseller business.

After starting service:

Give your customers better service. As a reseller provider, your number one priority should be customer service. This is where you can shine above the larger companies, since they likely have many customer service representatives who are likely not monitored regularly. Even more, they may even hire overseas representatives to keep their overhead low. By providing excellent customer services, you have the best chance at building a strong customer base. The number one rule a reseller should live by is MAKE SURE YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE HAPPY.

Know how to grow. As a reseller, you will be responsible for growing your own customer base. For this reason, it is important to know where to market and who to market to. Small business owners are a good start. You can advertise that you, the owner, will work directly with them whenever they have any questions, concerns, or need technical help. This is give them the comfort of knowing that they will not have to deal with a customer service representative if something happens with their account.

Customize your hosting plans. If you are able to split your ‘plans’ up how you want them, advertise that you can make a customized plan specific to the customer’s individuals needs. You can also let them know that, as their business or website grows, their plan can grow with them. You may also want to split up some very tiny plans and sell them for $1-2 a month. These would have just enough space for a 5-10 page basic personal website and include no extras. To someone who needs a very small amount of space, such as a parent whose child wants a website, $1 a month will look much better that $5-$10. If you are able to gain enough customers via this method, it may be much more profitable that selling larger plans.

Offer discounts for current customers who refer new customers. To make sure you come out ahead, you can always specify that the new customers must remain a customer for so many months before the discount is given to the current customer. A good idea is to offer 1-3 months worth of free service in exchange for a customer that buys a 6-12 month plan. Remember ‘honesty is the best policy’, please doesn’t full your customer by offering something unmanageable that you can’t manage. It will hurt your customers & they won’t trust you after that.

Choose a reliable service. As a web hosting reseller, you have a responsibility to your customers if you want to keep them around. This responsibility includes making sure that you are reselling services from a reliable company. If you choose a bad company that has significant downtime and does not have enough resources to support all of the customers that they have taken on, you are liable to lose most of the customers that you bring in.

Do your homework. Lastly, if want to run a reselling business, it is always a good idea to know something about servers, scripting languages, and other issues that may arise with your customers. This will allow you to respond to their questions and concerns quicker than if you have to look up the answers yourself.

Reselling is a great business to start and offers a lot of profit opportunity if you know how to market your business correctly. You have the potential to grow a booming business quickly with very little overhead and everything is done online. No building maintenance, employees (unless you choose).

After hiring a dedicated server.

February 28th, 2011 by admin 2 comments »

Once you have a dedicated server, you will find out how little time you have to read complex tutorials and documentation. This is especially true if you are offering hosting services to one or more customers. You will have real-world issues that need fixing right away. There are some shortcuts you can take to fix problems, but it is better to prevent them in the first place. The following are some steps you should take to make sure your server runs smoothly and securely.

  • Always keep current backups of all data. Backup:  Regular backups are necessary as we do not know when a failure can occur. It is a good practice to take backups of all documents, images and database and make sure it is stored in the right place.
  • To perform regular kernel security updates and keep all software’s up-to-date and secure.
  • Easy script installations such as Fantastico or Softacolous can be useful in daily installation requirements and keeps you safe from unwanted server errors and bugs.
  • Control Panels can make your life easier when you are about to manage their sites.
  • Frequent update of passwords is important to increase security of your dedicated servers.
  • Monitoring is a good habit which helps you to understand your dedicated server better. This mainly can be through monitoring software or a remote panel offered by your hosting provider.
  • Use only that is required. You should leave more space for your CPU, RAM and disks to carry better.
  • Do not max out your servers with more users and websites than it can comfortably hold. Leave a little room so that you’re CPU, RAM, and disks are not overtaxed.
  • Give users plenty of time to get ready for any maintenance down time, software upgrades, migrations, or other possible service interruptions.
  • Maintenance should be taken seriously as this increases your dedicated server lifespan and mainly include software updates, software upgrades, migrations, service checks, security monitoring.
  • Offer your clients a script installation service to make simpler the installation of many popular web applications. This will minimize support requests for “Internal Server Error” and other problems. It will also help clients keep their scripts up-to-date.
  • Encourage users to regularly update their passwords and enforce strong passwords to prevent security breaches.
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