Hosting a Number of Sites

[jhellyer]

Hi,

I have 5-6 mini sites that I am soon going to launch and I am now wondering what the best method of hosting is.

Do I need each domain name hosted individually or are there hosting options that allow me to host a number of websites for a one of annual fee. Eventually I intend to have over a dozen+ sites here in Aust, but also a number OS (.co.uk mostly). So I would love to do it right the first time and not waste any more money, like I already have on shitty domain names...lol

Please excuse my lack of knowledge here, but I really would greatly appreciate some guidance and solid advice in regards to the best way to host a number of sites.

 

[ScottNugent]

G'Day mate,

You can have three options in my opinion:

1. Purchase separate hosting plans for each site - probably quite expensive, and maybe a bit tricky to administrate.
2. Purchase a reseller hosting plan - again, expensive; slightly easier to configure (in my opinion). You can create separate cPanel accounts for each site.
3. Use addon domains - Purchase one good hosting account and put multiple addons domains on there. Problems can somtimes arise with multiple sites, but with only [static] minisites, it shouldnt be a problem. For example the Syd-Economy-2 (http://www.ventraip.com.au/hosting/economy-plans/sydney/) plan from VentraIP could suffice for this.

If you're having trouble or need assistance, feel free to PM me

 

[snoopy]

Get a reseller account or a hosting account with unlimited domains, lots of companies offer this, eg ventraip. Shouldn't be much more than about $10/mo.

 

[prawn]

For this purpose, I have an account with a host in the US and then add more domains to that. Have got 25 domains on one account (about $10/mo total after reseller discount) and up to 50 on another. I use a variant of mod_rewrite to direct all the traffic and for some of the simpler MFA sites, I have a little engine I built that displays content with AdSense wrapped around it. The near-zero cost of hosting means that for a lot of the crappier sites, as long as they return above their registration renewal costs, I am not too fussed about holding on to the domains year after year.

 

[djuqa]

Get a reseller account or a hosting account with unlimited domains, lots of companies offer this, eg ventraip. Shouldn't be much more than about $10/mo.

Best advice!

 

[sp@rky13]

I agree with what's been said above. Scott gives you the summary of the options. If you want it easier to use, go reseller though add on domains aren't too much harder (only fractionally)

 

[djuqa]

Best advice!

Get a reasonably priced Reseller account with cPanel . If you ever need to sell the minisite (as I usually do), then it is simple process to transfer account to new owner.
If using a Multi-Domain Account then is more difficult to split out the site from the rest.
Reseller accounts are cheap and plentiful.
If number of domains increase beyond reasonable limits then MOST hosting companies can either increase size or the reseller or transfer accounts to a VPS or Server account.

 

[xwdomains]

I would suggest reseller hosting you can host around 100 sites on a decent cpanel reseller hosting account.

 

[jhellyer]

Hi All,

So I have gone with the Syd B hosting plan with VentraIP at this stage until I get above 5 sites, however, I wish to start to developing the add on domains I have added to the hosting account with Wordpress. However each time I log into C Panel it only shows the main domain and I can not seem to load Wordpress onto the add on domains......probably simple but I am not super smart...lol....any help would be so very greatly appreciated.

 

[joe]

Hi All,

So I have gone with the Syd B hosting plan with VentraIP at this stage until I get above 5 sites, however, I wish to start to developing the add on domains I have added to the hosting account with Wordpress. However each time I log into C Panel it only shows the main domain and I can not seem to load Wordpress onto the add on domains......probably simple but I am not super smart...lol....any help would be so very greatly appreciated.

This is the process I follow:

Download wordpress (if you haven't done so recently)
Add the domain in cPanel
Setup a database/user for it with the database wizard
Optional: make an email address for the domain i.e. info@
Add db/user/password and host details to wp-config.php (or wp-config-sample.php and save it as wp-config.php)
Access your account via FTP, navigate to the addon domain (i.e. public_html/yourdomain.com.au)
Upload the contents of your wordpress folder (the one with wp-content, wp-admin folders etc) to the domain folder
Visit the domain and follow the installation instructions

That should do the trick

 

[paz]

Or use Installatron.

It's like 4 clicks and it's installed on any domain on your account.

 

[jhellyer]

I tried Installatron....hmmm...maybe I missed something? I'll have another look and see how I go...thxs guys, much appreciated....I'll keep you posted

 

[marketingweb]

A reseller hosting account makes things MUCH easier. You can set up each domain on a seperate account and the installs tend to just work rather than having any mucking around.

Two possible good options:
1) http://www.ventraipwholesale.com.au/resell-web-hosting/ (from $29.95/month)
2) http://www.panthur.com.au/reseller-hosting.php (from $14/month - or $29.00 for plan thats roughly equivilent to option 1, give or take)

Both are very good, and both have their pros and cons but are known as two of the best and best value out there, so you won't go far wrong with either. I actually have accounts with both (plus a third option I wouldn't recommend). Overall VentraIP has a slightly more sophisticated product offering being a larger company, while Panthur has the advantage of 24 hour phone support as standard.

Matt

 

[orange]

Hi All,

So I have gone with the Syd B hosting plan with VentraIP at this stage until I get above 5 sites, however, I wish to start to developing the add on domains I have added to the hosting account with Wordpress. However each time I log into C Panel it only shows the main domain and I can not seem to load Wordpress onto the add on domains......probably simple but I am not super smart...lol....any help would be so very greatly appreciated.

might of been said already but have you set the name servers to the right ones on the original site you registered the domain/s?

cheers
Paul

 

[vilsonkarl]

Yes reseller hosting is best, we have 30 websites under it and work well.