compare the developer alliance with its alternatives
As a web designer or programmer, you may frequently find yourself in the position of having to find suitable hosting services for your clients. Clients trust your hard-earned expertise, and it is logical that you should earn some income for researching alternatives and staking your reputation on a hosting solution. There are a variety of ways to go about doing this, and we will explore them here.
Setting up your own server
At first, it can seem easy to host your own site. Broadband is affordable and many operating systems have web servers built right in. What could be simpler? Set it up, keep the power on and rake in the dough!
The default installation for most server-enabled operating systems is designed for workstation ease of use, not for security-critical internet hosting. Hardening your server takes skill and time, and web hosting has hidden tasks of managing services for DNS, SSL, email, user administration, log analysis, security and system monitoring, backup power and network, recurring billing and accepting payments.
A complete and in-depth understanding of your host's operating system and software is required to provide adequate service, and you must commit to a stringent backup and software upgrade schedule. Without updates, your server is virtually a guaranteed target for destructive and humiliating compromises from "root kits" frequently downloaded and executed by teenagers. And without regular backups, you're faced with having to tell your customers their site is gone.
Hosting is more about diligence than aptitude. In order to handle all of these tasks, most hosting providers have staff members carry a pager 24 hours a day and dedicate time to maintenance tasks. Independent developers and small shops can't always afford to have someone a few minutes from an internet-connection at all times, and clients suffer from inadequate service.
After all the hassle, what are the benefits? Hosting competition is stiff, and at competitive rates hundreds of clients are required to cover hardware, software and connectivity overhead plus the billable hours lost on server maintenance. Hundreds of clients means hundreds of free support requests, which will eat away at your time even more. What if you spent all that time focusing on growing your development business or building something new?
Dedicated and Virtual Servers
Dedicated Servers are web servers that you either buy or rent, and they are stored in a datacenter that is managed by a datacenter company. This option is also called co-location or server rental. This option is often used by corporations for large projects that need specialized tools or have uncommon security or resource requirements. The datacenter company takes care of the network, power and physical security and you manage everything else.
Not to be confused with Dedicated Servers, Virtual private servers run a complete and separate instance of the operating system and processes such as sendmail and Apache multiple times on one server. The process for doing this was only created for debugging purposes, and can result in extremely poor website performance when misused for mass client hosting.
If a physical server has fifty virtual servers configured, that means fifty extra copies of sendmail, Apache and other required services are running. This uses up memory and CPU, reduces efficiency and limits security and administration. The illusion that you have a server to yourself doesn't change the fact that other users are using the same hardware as you, only less efficiently than with shared hosting.
Modern operating systems such as UNIX, Linux and FreeBSD were carefully designed to share resources among processes and web server software such as Apache was written to efficiently pool processes between low- and high-volume sites. By creating many artificial server environments, virtual private servers reduce the effectiveness of these best practices and add hardware and administrative costs. Hosting providers must pass these costs on, either in the form of reduced service or increased prices.
The perceived benefit of dedicated and virtual servers is administrative or "root" access. Along with this comes the ongoing responsibility of backups, software patches and other administrative tasks, resulting the same "hassle factor" as setting up your own server. Since software can be written to handle common web administration tasks, where is the benefit in all of this when it comes to virtual hosting?
Branded Reseller programs
With all of the hassles of hosting your own site, branded reseller programs seem like an attractive alternative. Someone else manages the servers and uptime, you pay them a reduced rate and then bill your customers directly. The host benefits from this because they don't have to support your clients, but what are you getting out of the deal? And your clients?
Usually, developers sign up for reseller programs to earn extra money and to provide a single point of contact for their clients' web site and hosting needs. The fact that the clients believe that you're actually responsibile for hosting may seem like an added benefit that makes you look more professional.
Hosting is a 24x7 business, and when your clients have problems or advanced questions, resolution time is dependent on the time it takes for them to reach you plus the time it takes for you to contact the hosting provider. It can really start to look bad if you're on vacation or otherwise unavailable. If there is a problem that can't be resolved immediately, clients might doubt your capabilities as a host - and possibly as a developer. That's quite a burden for something you don't have any control over!
Do your clients really need to believe that you're responsible for both development and hosting of their site? Wouldn't they prefer to know that each task is handled by an expert in that area? And in the event of a server issue, wouldn't you prefer to provide your clients alternative means of getting support instead of making them think it is your problem?
Simple Referrals or Affliate links
Many webmasters prefer to get around all this complexity by passively referring their clients to a hosting provider. They may simply refer their client to their preferred host or provide a special affiliate link to earn a one-time commission on the new site.
Hosting services can be very confusing! By simply sending your client off to a hosting provider, you are forcing them to wade through hosting complexities and to make decisions for a technology they may not understand. The end result can be frustration, incorrect service selection and long delays while clients learn how to set everything up on their own.
If you decide to take a more proactive approach by helping customers through the selection and setup process, they may look to you for hosting questions as the process continues. That's a good thing! They think of you first when it comes to web questions and that can lead to more billable hours when upgrades or training are necessary. But If you're only earning a one-time affiliate bonus you may have to choose between providing helpful service and staying profitable.
The pajunas advantage
The pajunas interactive developer alliance program was put together by a developer who looked into these alternatives for herself and decided that there isn't a program out there that provides valuable, honest benefits for all parties involved.
You will receive an ongoing 30% commission on all domain registrations, hosting, SSL certificates and additional services that you set up on behalf of your client with pajunas interactive. They will look to you as a proactive, helpful expert, and they will have multiple ways of getting the support they need. They can rest assured that their web site is being hosted by a stable, respected hosting provider and you can spend your time on more important things than server configurations, monitoring and billing.
And best of all, you can focus on what truly makes you unique: your strength as a web designer or developer. We're hoping that you will use the time you have saved to grow your business or build something truly unique and special.
