ing a successful online business, and this is one form of automation that I would highly recommend. An automated order processing program collects the pertinent data from your customer, directs them through their online payment, and then interacts with your web server to set up the
account and then sends out a welcome email to your customer.
The programs I would recommend are WHMautopilot, Lpanel, and Modernbill. I am certain there are several other equally viable software programs available as well. The risk of automated order processing is the potential for fraud, and abusers such as spammers signing undetected. However, I would say the benefits of automated order processing typically outweigh the risks. If a customer on the other side of the world orders at 3:00AM, they don’t have to wait for you to wake up and check your email. Your program will go to work for you and set up the account. On top of performing all of these tasks, it also creates a nice customer database which can be used for billing and a number of client administration tasks such as suspending accounts, performing server checks, etc. Just make sure you manually review each order after it has been set up. This will help catch fraudulent customers before they have a chance to run their malicious activities (like spamming) on your server.
Support system
Your solution for a support system depends largely on your own aptitude and preference. If you are familiar with the web hosting platform (such as cPanel) and with basic server administration tasks, you may wish to support your customers yourself. This is especially true while
Your business is in the startup phase with only a few customers, or if you intend to keep your customer base small. If you choose not to be your own support tech, there are a few alternatives. The obvious one is you could hire a support tech to work for you. While this is often the most ideal situation, most startups can not afford to hire an additional person initially.
A more affordable solution may be to outsource your technical support to .company who specializes in providing support for web hostin.companies. Many outsourcin.companies are located in technologically advanced areas in low-cost countries such as India. Outsourcing to an oversea.company can be a very cost-efficient solution, but can also result in additional problems and challenges so you want to make sure you adequately research your solution before making an.commitments. Outsourcin.companies typically offer one or more pricing solutions including per-ticket, per-customer, per-server, flat fee per month, or per representative hired.
There are also other creative support solutions available. One solution I’ve seen work with success is creating .community forum where customers can help each other, guided by more experienced moderators and administrators. A host can offer free hosting to moderators in exchange for their help in running the forum. Other forms of bartering have been done successfully as well. For example you could provide free hosting in exchange for 5 hours a month of answering trouble tickets in your helpdesk.
As for the support options themselves, again hopefully you’ve outlined this in
Your business plan (see
howtosellhosting.com). Are you offering email only, or a helpdesk, live chat, or telephone? Email and telephone are self-explanatory, if you’re even considering starting your own business I’m sure you know to use email and the telephone. Live chat is a nice option if you decide to use it, however you need to be diligent in being available or it could be counteractive. Have you ever seen a site that offers live chat, but the operator is never available during business hours? I think it shows a lack of professionalism, and I rarely buy from suc.companies. On the other hand, if you run it properly it can be a valuable tool that helps you get customers problems resolved in one chat session rather than a back-and-forth email or support ticket conversation. To run live chat you could simply post your IM screen name (handle) for one of the popular IM platforms such as AIM, MSN, or Yahoo. The other method would be to use a web-based chat client from a free download, or on a subscription basis from a chat provider.
Regardless of whether you offer any other methods of support, the one method I will strongly suggest is an online helpdesk where customers can submit trouble tickets. There are several free helpdesks available, as well as more powerful applications available for purchase. The helpdesks I would recommend are Kayako or Perldesk, both available on a monthly or yearly subscription. Some client management programs such as Lpanel also have a functional helpdesk integrated into them. It is best to choose a helpdesk that supports email piping. In other words, you can send an email to mailto:
E-mail support>
E-mail support and it automatically opens a helpdesk ticket. Then when you answer the ticket, it also sends an email reply to the client, who can then reply from within their helpdesk account or by replying to the email.
Accounting and recordkeeping
This side of the business can easily be overlooked by enthusiastic startups, and is often the less-favorable task for creative entrepreneurs. However, a solid accounting and recordkeeping system is essential to the long-term survival of
Your business. If you use an automated system such as WHMautopilot, Lpanel, or Modernbill, it will automatically keep track of much of your financial information which is a useful tool and database.
However, regardless of whether you use one of those programs, I would suggest keeping an offline record of your customers and financials. This could be done through an accounting application like Quicken, or with a customized database in Access, or using a simple spreadsheet (which is my preferred method) in a program like Excel. I personally prefer Excel for its simplicity. Your records should include the following information at a minimum: Customer name Domain name Billing Due date Subscription ID number Price Size of plan Email address
In addition to your customer information, it is good to keep track of your overall finances using at a minimum a general ledger and P&L (profit and loss) statement. These documents are much simpler than you may think, in fact if you know how to balance your checkbook you’re almost there. Your general ledger is basically a list of all the expenses and revenues for the month. Again this can be a simple Excel spreadsheet.
Your expenses would include any expense related to the business such as your reseller account, advertising costs, support costs, Paypal or merchant fees, etc.
Your revenues are the money that you receive from your hosting clients.
You can then add up your expenses and revenues for the month, and if your revenues exceed your expenses, you made a profit! A P&L statement simply summarizes the information from your general ledger in a format used by most businesses to gain a good overview of .company’s financials in one page. I’m not going to give you an Accounting 101 class here in this e-course because you can easily find a lot of information about P&L’s and accounting on the web.
If you’ve done your accounting each month, your taxes should be a breeze, especially if you remain a sole proprietor with no employees. All you need to do is take the information from your year-end P&L statement and fill out a schedule C (profit or loss from a business). NOTE: This is NOT official tax advice. I am not an accountant, and you should consult your tax adviser before filing your tax return.
Regarding business status, the simplest type of business with the least amount of paperwork is a sole proprietorship. Another way to simplify
Your business and paperwork is to avoid having any employees. You can avoid hiring employees by only using help on a contractual basis (in other words they are a contractor vs. an employee). There are several restrictions in this regard (you can’t set a contractor’s hours, etc.), so it would be best to do some serious research and/or consult an attorney before making any contractual or employment arrangements.
About The Author
Eric Holmlund operates several successful online businesses, and uses the flexibility of working at home to spend time travelling, working in the ministry (
prayway.com), and having fun with his wife and kids in beautiful Colorado. Be sure to check out his full e-course on setting up a web hosting business at
howtosellhosting.com
