Web Host Billing Systems
When starting a web hosting business you will realise just how much you rely on a web hosting billing system to take care of certain tasks which are central to the operation of your business and if the application doesn’t carry these tasks out correctly, you may find that your business could suffer financially. In order to ensure that your web hosting business is able to function correctly without the need for you to be at a computer constantly or for you to have to be monitoring things constantly, it is important that you choose a reliable web host billing system that you can use to bill your clients but to also handle all your clients and the support/sales requests which you may receive from them. Web host billing systems are also capable of automatically setting up web hosting accounts on your behalf without the need for you to be there to do it yourself; this means that in theory you can let your business tick over without the need to be actually doing anything. Web host billing systems aren’t excactly few and far between since there are many available, although all come with different features and you may be looking for one based on a specific criteria. Such applications also act as gateways to third-party services that you may be using to help you sell certain products – it is this third-party integration which you should be considering in any billing application.
Advantages
Using a professionally designed billing system which is aimed towards web hosting providers can offer you many advantages when it comes to the running and management of your web hoting business. Financial reports can be drawn up by most billing systems meaning that when you come to doing the accounts for your business, you only have to rely on the information provided by the billing system that you are using – not only will this help you save time on what you are doing but it will also cut down on the amount of paperwork you have to go through to work out the financial figures which you need for your accounts. Using a web hosting billing system will also provide you with a better identity to your customers since if you allow them to pay for their web hosting services over the internet using services such as PayPal or 2Checkout then you will find that their overall satisfaction is greater since they can do this at their leisure. Other advantages may include:
- built-in support desk – most web hosting billing applications come with a built in support desk/ticket system which you can setup to allow your customers to open tickets or email you through your new helpdesk without the need to purchase any expensive third-party software which you may otherwise would have to have done – using a helpdesk will help you organise any emails or tickets which you receive from your customers and will allow you to keep track with issues without the need to go through large volumes of emails which would otherwise be clogging up a support or sales email inbox
- automatic account provisioning – you can make use of web hosting billing systems these days to automatically provision web hosting accounts that are based on some of the most popular web hosting control panels that are available and are used by many web hosting provider – being able to automatically setup web hosting accounts is something that you can boast about and is one factor which many customers will look for in a web hosting provider since at the end of the day they want their web hosting package to be setup as soon as possible after they have ordered it, you should still however carry out fraud screening where appropriate
- easier management – by using a web host billing system you will find that you can find everything you need in one place which will make it easier for you to manage your web hosting business – i.e. you will be able to search your client database as and when needed which will also provide you with the ability to see which clients have which web hosting services as well as the servers that they are hosted on – if you choose to use the support desk which is built into your chosen web hosting billing application then you will also find that you can keep your support requests centralized along with your client accounts.
By using a web hosting billing system you are given the ability to build a successful web hosting business which with the right marketing could provide you with a respectable income. All popular web hosting providers use some sort of billing system to allow them to bill customers online. As a customer you will notice the ease that is provided if your web hosting provider allows you access to an area in which you can pay your due invoices and manage your multiple web hosting services.
Disadvantages
There are also disadvantages to using web hosting billing systems. Although they can provide your business with the necessary advantages to help it grow, depending on the system that you choose to use you may face disadvantages that could have an adverse affect on your business. It is up to you to ensure that you choose an application which is suitable to your business and is able to cope with sustained growth over a short amount of time. It is important to ensure that you only have to purchase the one application to suit your needs instead of having to purchase the one billing system as well as add-ons and a support desk if appropriate. Web host billing systems can also be quite expensive, but if bought via other means you may be able to get the license for the application you need at a fraction of the original price; most licenses can also be rented on a monthly basis which will allow you to reduce your overall outgoing for the one month in which you will purchase the application. The main disadvantages which you may face could include:
- high costs – as a web hosting provider you may find that purchasing the billing application which you need to meet your requirements could cost quite a bit, but if you decide to purchase your license through a reseller then you could save up to 10% of original purchase price which is charged by the software vendor by which the application concerned is produced – you can also rent such applications on a monthly basis which will mean that you can cancel the application as and when needed if your business doesn’t go as well as you would like it to, licenses can also be rented through third-party resellers
- additional licenses – if you purchase an application which meets your needs in some areas but not others then you may be forced to spend additional money on other software licenses – i.e. you may purchase a billing application which suits your needs but you need to make use of a more advanced helpdesk application which would mean that you have to pay for a license for a more advanced support desk application which is able to suit your requirements, you may also find that you have to pay for add-ons for specific applications that you have already purchased which could potentially put you off from using the application concerned in the future
- installation – if you aren’t familiar with installing dynamic applications then you will find that you might have a hard time installing a web hosting billing application since not only do you have to cope with the initial setting up and installation of the application along with its database backend, you will find that you also need to setup the necessary permissions to ensure that the application is able to function correctly when being used on your server – cron jobs will also need to be configured in most cases so that such applications can do their intended job of invoicing your clients automatically when appropriate.
Despite the disadvantages which may or may not have an effect on the ability of any application to help you run your web hosting business, being able to use a billing application as a web hosting provider these days is just common sense since you want to be able to give your customers what they want and this includes the ability to pay for invoices online and have web hosting accounts set up more or less immediately.
In conclusion, web hosting billing systems provide you with the ability to manage your web hosting business using one application which includes the ability to manage your clients as well as the web hosting services that they have purchased from you. Since such billing systems are now becoming more and more dynamic they are able to provide you with new ways in which you can diversify your web hosting company; since most applications can integrate with third party APIs you are able to sell the products of other companies that may be offering an API for automatic product provisioning.
