Web design business

Joseph · 02-10-2008 4:00pm #1

The last few months I've been putting alot of thought into starting a web design business and for the most part things have been fitting nicly in my head. Though I do have some queries on things.

I was going to buy digiwebs Enterprise hosting package for 350E a year and then distribute hosting and domain management through myself, i.e. customer wants a fishing site let's say. He will have average traffic etc and wants a .ie name fishersfriend.ie let's say.

That seems fine so far, but I've recently found out that there are alot of terms and conditions to registering a .ie name (I would be trading with small-medium businesses/organizations - so they would fall under category 4 here. Am I legally entitled to register the .ie name on their behalf? Apparently "the applicacant need only the RBN number". What is the RBN number, would businesses be okay with me having that number to register them?). Then I would link the .ie to my hosting account (can host unlimited domains) and then maximise profit by saving on money and charging yearly fees.

Is there anything I would be doing wrong above? Any hints/tips/advice in this area of business/ingeneral would be appreaciated! Been putting alot of thought, time and money (so far anyway) into this. I would be really fustrated if there was some legal complication or something.

King Regards

blue4ever · 02-10-2008 4:26pm

Deaddude wrote: »

The last few months I've been putting alot of thought into starting a web design business and for the most part things have been fitting nicly in my head. Though I do have some queries on things.

I was going to buy digiwebs Enterprise hosting package for 350E a year and then distribute hosting and domain management through myself, i.e. customer wants a fishing site let's say. He will have average traffic etc and wants a .ie name fishersfriend.ie let's say.

That seems fine so far, but I've recently found out that there are alot of terms and conditions to registering a .ie name (I would be trading with small-medium businesses/organizations - so they would fall under category 4 here. Am I legally entitled to register the .ie name on their behalf? Apparently "the applicacant need only the RBN number". What is the RBN number, would businesses be okay with me having that number to register them?). Then I would link the .ie to my hosting account (can host unlimited domains) and then maximise profit by saving on money and charging yearly fees.

Is there anything I would be doing wrong above? Any hints/tips/advice in this area of business/ingeneral would be appreaciated! Been putting alot of thought, time and money (so far anyway) into this. I would be really fustrated if there was some legal complication or something.

King Regards

I see form here that you may have to ‘farm’ out that bit – which in the greater scheme of things to your business idea no big deal. Don’t trip yourself up on this one – strike a deal with one of the registration people and move on to the next box that has to be ticked.

http://www.domainregistry.ie/BecomeAReseller.php

Joseph · 02-10-2008 5:03pm

You see that's where I'm confused, I'm reselling, but not as described on that site since I'm doing it through digiweb, and it will be THEM who will be doing the registration all I need to provide for them is an RBN number. Wanted to know was I entitled to do so

Snowdrop · 02-10-2008 8:59pm

Providing the registered business name bears a resemblance to the .ie domain name, there should be no problem getting it registered. I registered a .ie recently which consisted of two out the three words in my RBN and I had no problems. RBN's are easily accessible for all businesses in Ireland by doing free company search on cro.ie

Joseph · 02-10-2008 9:27pm

Found out that an RBN is a registered business name number 6 digits available from searches on cro (ta snowdrop)

That solves that problem, onto the next as they say!

Any tips/advice for this line of business?

Snowdrop · 02-10-2008 10:35pm

No problem. I have sent you a PM.

Darragh29 · 03-10-2008 12:19am

OP, just on this topic, what you'll find is that many clients you will be getting will have their domain name set up and registered and hosted by another web hosting company and you'll just have to get nameserver info updated to point to the nameservers for your hosting provider...

I'm just in the process of starting up a web design & development business, where I am getting my business from is trade contacts who I know who have had a website designed a few years ago and now want it redesigned and also want to trade through that website...

Axwell · 03-10-2008 12:32am

Darragh29 wrote: »

OP, just on this topic, what you'll find is that many clients you will be getting will have their domain name set up and registered and hosted by another web hosting company and you'll just have to get nameserver info updated to point to the nameservers for your hosting provider...

Thats only the case with existing businesses, and in most cases a lot have a web design company they deal with from when the site was originally done if it was done by a decent company. There is obviously those that got a site designed that wasnt the best and want a fresh look like you are aiming at Darragh.

To the OP the process is handy anyways, they register a business name and give you the RBN, as someone said above this information is freely available on the CRO site. You then just go to the hosting company you have a reseller package with and sort out the domain registration with them and get the DNS settins pointing to your shared hosting and you are good to go. The domain usually goes through within 24 hours and there is a DNS reload usually twice a day around 12 and 5 so your good to go by the next day in most cases.

What i would also say is at the minute there are a lot of people taking up this kind of work and doing sites for cheaper than the bigger companies.Like anything else there are standards to be met and offering cheap web design only costs the customer more in the long run, have a look over on the IWF for more specific chat on web design and regarding the companies popping up lately offering budget websites in little or no development time.

Joseph · 03-10-2008 7:23am

I was going to get this package here. Would it be okay to use that as a reseller for hosting or would I need to get a virtual dedicated server - going to give them a ring anywho.

Joseph · 03-10-2008 7:27am

On the note of a virtual dedicated server. Would that be sufficient to host approximatly let's say 20 websites with low-med traffic.

Would it be easily picked up to do the DNS + email management for domain dns setting pointing?

Kind Regards,

Axwell · 03-10-2008 1:31pm

Hosting talk isnt really allowed on the forum here, see the charter on the web development forum, so you should avoid asking about hosting and just research the different companies and the packages they offer.

But yes a package like that would allow you to host many sites. Each of those sites would have space space allocated to them by you which is used to serve their website and email. When you set it up initially you just add the domain to the list of DNS so that the domain points to the space you have setup.

Joseph · 03-10-2008 5:18pm

Nice one, could you then explain to me how the DNS redirection works, when I pay for the domain name let's say this time on blacknight (though it doesnt really matter which one) do I get specific info that will allow that domain to connect to my server?

Kind Regards,

Axwell · 03-10-2008 5:31pm

Deaddude wrote: »

Nice one, could you then explain to me how the DNS redirection works, when I pay for the domain name let's say this time on blacknight (though it doesnt really matter which one) do I get specific info that will allow that domain to connect to my server?

Kind Regards,

When you register the domain they will ask do you just want the domain, do you require hosting or do you have hosting already that you want it directed too. You then fill in the nameservers or ip address for your hosting package and the domain will then point to there.

Trojan · 03-10-2008 5:57pm

I'd be more concerned about the business side of things rather than the technical. Have you any business experience? If not, then first stop should be your county enterprise board and do a "start your own business" course, also I recommend "Starting a Business in Ireland" by Brian O'Kane.

Joseph · 03-10-2008 7:23pm

Axwell wrote: »

When you register the domain they will ask do you just want the domain, do you require hosting or do you have hosting already that you want it directed too. You then fill in the nameservers or ip address for your hosting package and the domain will then point to there.

Cheers Alan that's cleared that up for me.

Trojan wrote: »

I'd be more concerned about the business side of things rather than the technical. Have you any business experience? If not, then first stop should be your county enterprise board and do a "start your own business" course, also I recommend "Starting a Business in Ireland" by Brian O'Kane.

I am in direct contact with the enterprise board and they are helping me each step of the way and have read though http://startingabusinessinireland.com/. In answer to your question - you are indeed correct I have no prior business experience :pac:

Web design business

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