Rent Or Own Your Website?

One of my Watersweb Shops competitors claims on her website that while her cart is the same as many other similar carts, hers is better because you can actually own it.

From her site directly:

However, the AAO Easy Site Builder plan offers the ability for the customer to actually OWN your shopping cart/site builder! There are NO differences in our site builder when compared to the other sites listed.

All other plans on the list are for a monthly “rental” of the cart and hosting, but you will not be able to take the cart with you if you should ever leave their hosting. If you ever left your host you would essentially be leaving your web site!

Now, before I make any comments, I want to state for the record that I’m not trying to suggest that there is any reason to not use her service. As I (and the website) mentioned, the cart is essentially the same.

That said, I’d like to point out that you really cannot truly own your shopping cart and sitebuilder or your web hosting account. Well, you could, but the expense and learning curve would be outrageous for a small home business. I’ll talk about that more in a bit.

I am intimately familiar with the shopping cart/sitebuilder that this site discusses, and know for a fact that the only owner of the software is the developer who created it. She then licenses the right to resell the cart. The resellers then license the right to use the cart. So, at this point, you can’t really own the cart, no matter what anyone says.

Let’s talk a bit about the hosting account. She is right in that with her version of the cart, you can take it from one hosting account to another without starting over. (Of course, if you decided you wanted to switch carts, you’d still have to start over.)

With the other competitors and our ecommerce solution, you must host the cart on our servers. (FTR, I do allow you to purchase an un-hosted license, but it does not come with free support.) We do this so we can immediately rule out server issues when problems arise, cutting out situations where the host says the problem is with the cart and the cart owners says the problem is with the host… And you’re stuck in the middle.

Sounds like “renting” isn’t so bad now. Or maybe you’re not convinced. You really want to completely own your website.

We talked about some of the basics of owning your copyright and your domain name in an earlier blog post. Those are very important tips to remember. But should we take it further? Should we make sure we completely own the website? Let’s talk about what this would require.

First, to truly own your website 100%, you’ll need your own server. This means you’re have to purchase and/or install:

• Computer and networking hardware
• Server software (Apache web server)
• Email software (Argosoft Email Server)
• FTP software (BulletProof FTP)
• Database software (MySQL)
• Script software (PHP, CGI, etc.)
• DNS software (SimpleDNS)

And that will just get your server up and running. According to one do it yourself web server site, you can use your own DSL or cable connection to connect to the Internet, if your ISP allows it.

Of course, if all of this sounds like Greek to you, you’ll also need to hire someone to update your server, maintain it and troubleshoot problems. That’s where you start running into some money…

On the other hand, if you’ve been digging around the innards of computers since 1986, this might be right up your alley.

Let’s take this a step further though. If you’re wanting to truly own your site, you will need to hire someone to create a cart for you. And you’ll need to make sure that your contract with the programmer gives you full ownership rights over the final product. Otherwise, if you just outsource the project, the creator of the code is the owner and he may just license you the right to use the code. So, you’ll have paid thousands of dollars - -and be right back where you started.

So now you own your web server and you’ve purchase your very own cart. If you really want to own everything, you’re going to need to create your own payment gateway. Authorize.net and Paypal take their cut of your money, so let’s go all the way and create your own. And while we’re at it, let’s start your own bank.

OK, so yes, I’m taking this way out into left field.

But let’s look at it. What’s the purpose of having a website? It will make running your business more effective, cost efficient and just plain easier. And what is the best way to do this? Outsource tasks to people who specialize in what you need.

So yes, outsourcing your web hosting makes sense. You don’t own the server — but it doesn’t own you either. When problems arise, you submit a helpdesk ticket and someone else worries about it.

“Renting” a shopping cart makes sense for the same reason. If you have trouble, you know exactly who to turn to for help — and you may not even have to pay extra for it, if it’s on their servers.

What’s the morale of this story?

1. It’s OK to “rent” your hosting and shopping cart. It’s even a smart business decision to outsource your critical services to experts.
2. Make sure you choose the right host and the right cart for the long term, even if it means spending more. Then you won’t have to worry about changing hosts or shopping carts.

Wise Words Wednesday: How Unlimited/Oversold Hosting Affects Your Business

If you’ve spent any time at all looking for a web host, you’ve probably been bombarded by ads for unlimited bandwidth, Terrabytes of disk space and all that for less than $3 a month.

As a web host who sells reasonable, yet affordable, hosting accounts and hosted ecommerce solutions, I’ve been keeping a close eye on this trend towards promising customers the moon for $2.99 per month.

I like to keep up with publications and communities that discuss the web hosting industry and today, I found an article at Host Review that makes a few points I thought you’d be interested in.

First, the article points out that overselling is a reaction to competition, not customer demand. What does this mean for you? Simple. That company who is offering enough bandwidth to power a space shuttle isn’t as concered about you as it is about what the “Jones” Company is doing next door.

According to the Host Review article:

In fact, when practicing overselling a host has to hope and pray that
(even just a fraction of) users don’t try to use all of the disk space
and bandwidth allotted to them: if this was to occur, the host would be
too underfunded to provide all of the resources, and in serious
financial trouble. Even worse, however, overselling requires no
commitment from the host in terms of finances, intellectual property,
or human assets; this means that any host can engage in overselling, so
most do.

Does this sound like a company you want to put in charge of your uptime? In charge of your ability to do business on the Internet, when that is your main source of income for your company?

Second, your ability to spot a good hosting deal may have been affected by overselling.

Ten years ago, people spend $50 or more for a domain name and hundreds of dollars for hosting on a shared host. Today, people expect a 100 times more disk space and bandwidth for a fraction of the cost. It is true that bandwidth and other server resources are less expensive to offer these days. However, these hosting price wars are taking things too far.

Overselling has also distorted customer knowledge of the hosting market
and needs-based analysis of hosting plans. Instead of learning to use
rational evaluation techniques of each hosting plan under
consideration, customers have been “trained” through constant exposure
to ads emphasizing high disk space and bandwidth (and little else) to
choose the host that offers the most disk space and bandwidth for the
least amount of money. In this scenario, hosts not overselling really
don’t have any choice but to also oversell - customers only think
they’re getting a good value when purchasing services from an
overseller.

Let’s think about this. You’ve heard the old adage that you get what you pay for. What you’re getting from these companies who are overselling is a product you can’t fully use and a company that hopes you never do — and actually won’t let you. To me, this is starting out in a dishonest partnership from the beginning. If you can’t trust your host to tell you what you’re actually paying for, how can you trust them with the health of your business?

This is why I don’t oversell. I’d rather sell someone a $10 plan with 10 GB of bandwidth and 1000 MB of disk space that they can actually use. Some of my clients use every last bit of their resources, and then they have the option to purchase more. Or they can scale back to stay within their plan.

My customers don’t have to worry about their websites suddenly disappearing one day with no warning.

Host Review goes on to say that overselling is not a sustainable practice and that hosts will soon start raising their prices and adding extra services to increase prices.

My advice: Avoid the oversellers all together. Look for hosts that have built their accounts based on the needs of their customers, not on the desire to compete with other oversellers.

Additionally, learn how to evaluate what you need in a hosting account and what you an afford. If you only need 15 GB of bandwidth each month, it’s smart to buy 20 GB to be safe. It’s not smart to buy an “unlimited” bandwidth package, particularly since you have no idea how much of it that your host will actually let you use before they find a reason to get rid of you.

Also, find ways to store files offline, instead of on the server. You can buy a flash drive to keep files, or an external hard drive. This is better than storing your files on a server that may disappear one day when the host decides it can’t afford to stay in business. Once you’ve cleaned up your hosting account, check to see how much space you’re actually using.

Finally, determine how much you can actually afford. In my opinion, it’s better to spend $20 per month for resources you can use, than $2.99 a month for resources that may or may not be there and customer service who probably doesn’t care.

What are your thoughts?

Wise Words Wednesday: Should You Sell On Etsy Or Your Own Web Store?

Artists, WAHMs and entrepreneurs who are new to ecommerce are often in a situation where they need to choose one website tool to spend their money on. So the question ends up being:

Should I sell my products on my own site with my own domain name, or just get an account at Etsy, or ebay or some other similar site?

Many people choose the Etsy or Ebay route first, and I can understand why.

Both sites have built in traffic (which can be hard to generate for brand new websites), and are very well known, either generally or in specific online communities.

The sites are easy to setup — you don’t have to worry about site design, ecommerce, a domain name, hosting, etc. You can have your site up and selling within about a day.

You don’t have to worry so much about customer fraud, since Etsy, Ebay and Paypal handle this for you (or at least will step in if you aren’t able to handle the situation satisfactorily yourself).

In my opinion, this is OK if you’re building a hobby.

However, if you’re building a business, you need to seriously consider the benefits of having your own website.

1. You will have your own domain name. I highly recommend you make absolutely certain is registered in your name with a company you trust. This way, if your hosting account goes belly up, you can move without losing all the backlinks you’ve earned.

With Etsy or Ebay, if your site is shut down or you just decide to move, you’ve lost all your marketing. You can’t take mywebsite.etsy.com with you when you go.

2. You will have control over your own fraud prevention. Now, at first it may like a good idea to have Etsy or Ebay helping you with this. But that doesn’t work out so well when one of these companies decides you’re the bad guy. Even if you aren’t.

If you are using a payment method such as authorize.net, you have access to the information you need to verify your customers yourself. And if one sets of your spidey-sense, you can always opt not to do business with them. (I mean really — when someone places an order from “Houstn, New York” and the IP address is out of Nigeria, it’s a pretty good bet that the order is bogus.

3. You can tailor your site to your target market. Etsy and Ebay both serve very specific target markets. Etsy buyers are after handcrafted items. Ebay buyers are after a great deal on everything. In Etsy’s case, you might not be able to branch out of the Etsy community without your own website. And in Ebay’s case, you are destined to sell your products at bargain basement prices — which is not conducive to profiting from your business — or even making enough to pay the bills.

4. With your own website, you can have the best of both worlds. Setup your own website (which can be easy and inexpensive with a $10 a month hosting account and Wordpress) and use the site to promote your Etsy shop and Ebay auctions. Once you have established a clientèle, you can guide them (within the rules of the other sites) to your main site, where you can sell without the fees and where you can be in charge.

Some of my baby sling clients sell the bulk of their products on their website — and then auction off their seconds and returns at Ebay.

Some crafters sell products on their main websites, but use Etsy and Ebay to expand their reach.

What has your experience been?

Wise Words Wednesday: Top 3 Reasons For Mom To Work At Home

If you are considering working at home, you probably already have your own very good reasons. I’ve heard many over the years.

One client started a business because her children had moved out and she discovered that cleaning the house got boring after awhile, especially since no one was around to mess it up.

Other clients had an idea for a product that they wanted to create, and it only made sense for them to go into business for themselves. Renting a brick and mortar store can be extremely expensive for a startup business with little capital, so it only made sense to stay at home.

Perhaps this list will help you add to yours, or validate your thoughts. If you’re new to the home business concept, perhaps this will give you some concrete ideas to go along with what you’re feeling.

These ideas apply whether you want to start your own product selling business, or work for someone else at home.

1. If you have young children, working at home allows you to continue being their primary caregiver. The first three years of your child’s life are especially important. Even better, you’ll no longer miss those major milestones like the first step and first words. If you are breastfeeding mom, you can nurse your baby while working at the computer. Your toddlers can play at your feet and your preschoolers can help you type. (OK, so mommies of preschoolers might want to do some outsourcing…LOL!)

This was my main reason for staying at home when my son was born in 2000. I couldn’t imagine leaving him for 8 hours a day. And it wouldn’t work since I was nursing him. Most of my ecommerce clients stay home for the same reason – they have nursing babies and toddlers running around.

2. Save a boatload of money on childcare. If spending extra time with your children isn’t enough to convince you or your significant other, perhaps saving piles of money is. Childcare for just one kid can cost upwards of $70 per week — even if you don’t use the childcare all day, every day. If you must have some time, then a Mommy’ Day Out program can give you a few hours a couple of days a week and still save you tons of money.

My virtual assistant, who works out of her home in Ohio, has four children. Working outside the home would be financial disastrous for her. Even if she were to find a job outside of the house, she wouldn’t make enough money to cover the childcare costs. At that point, she might as well stay at home and find a way to earn extra income.

3. You can set your own schedule. Notice, I did not say that you are free from a schedule. I’ve learned over the years that having a schedule is terribly important. But you can schedule around school plays, field trips, doctor’s appointments, etc. Not to mention, it’s just nice to be able to take a day off, here and there, to enjoy the weather.

With the help of my assistants and tech support people, I’ve been able to attend my children’s award ceremonies, most of their baseball games and practices and help out in the office at my church.

Even better, when both kids are in school, I’ll be able to attend Chamber of Commerce meetings, teach a web design class at the local technology center and spend more time developing projects. And when the school bell rings, I’ll be right there to pick up the kids and hear all about their day. Of all the reasons I’ve given, I’d say this one is the best.